Delay Kills

Today over 40 environmental ministers from countries around the world, including the biggest emitters US and China, wrapped up their final hours of talks before the United Nations climate negotiations in Copenhagen on Dec 7th. The meetings conclude two days after the Obama administration seemed to suggest strong support for Danish Prime Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen’s (who made this guy the mouthpiece of the climate plan anyway? It’s kind of like Gov Schwarzenegger wanting to manage Disneyland because it’s California.) delay proposal to push aside a treaty in Copenhagen.

As the final hours ticked town in the Pre-COP meeting the world is left to make sense of comments that a global climate treaty this December is out of reach. Yet, it seems now more than ever, that ‘impossible’ is not an option for leaders. DELAY KILLS!

Any further delay of a global climate treaty will only diminish the possibility of curbing climate change before it is too late. Every year over 300,000 people die due to climate change related events. Simply put – every day there is no treaty over 800 people die because of climate inaction. This is a grave problem and the solution is apparent, we only wait for the ambitious leadership to achieve it.

As the international press rolled out “the sky is falling” headlines about the potential failure in Copenhagen, the Avaaz Action Factory went on a full-on blitz on Yvo De Boer and the Environmental Ministers in Copenhagen. They are making it crystal clear that they are accountable for delaying a treaty, and DELAY KILLS.

Over 40 people joined together to stage a “die-in” (photos) to remind the Ministers what is at stake in Copenhagen – human lives. As the “die-in” developed people collapsed to represent deaths attributed to extreme drought, sea level rise and floods, spreading of diseases, and extensive heat waves. As dozens of people lay dead at the entrance of the press conference excerpts from the “Suicide Pact or Survival Pact” speech given by President Nasheed of the Maldives at the Climate Vulnerable Forum was read aloud. The die-in then turned into a resurrection as the victims arose chanting President Nasheed’s cry of “We will not die quietly” (video). President Nasheed’s calls strike to the core of why a climate treaty is needed, and reinvigorates the commitment that we will not stand quietly as ambition is lowered and climate commitments are avoided.

This week world leaders again dropped the bar of ambition for Copenhagen even lower. Nations like the US and China continue to work on a mandate of delay rather than a mandate of possibility, with half measures and political gamesmanship. Delay kills, but possibility allows for greatness.

We will not go quietly. With t-minus 21 days, anything is possible.

You can follow actions at the COP meeting at www.twitter.com/copactions

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