World to US Congress: act now on climate

[Simon]

The United States has long been the world's most powerful opponent of progress on climate change. But next week, that could begin to change. US activists are organizing a massive outcry against President Bush's position--and on Monday, thousands of youth leaders will converge in Washington to lobby their members of Congress on climate policy.

The youth leaders have asked for messages from around the world about the climate crisis--and have promised to hand-deliver them to Senators and members of Congress.The timing is on the mark: in less than a month, UN negotiations begin on successor to the Kyoto Protocol. A strong worldwide message now could stiffen the nerve of US leaders to support decisive action. Send your message to the US Congress by clicking below:

http://www.avaaz.org/en/congress_climate_message/5.php/

The United States, with just 5% of the world's population, emits 25% of all greenhouse gases. What's more, the US government has undermined the wider international community's ability to act, giving cover to those, such as Australia's John Howard, who refuse to ratify the Kyoto Protocol.

But the next US president, who will be elected this coming year, is likely to be very different from Bush. And already, the US Congress is showing a willingness to change. This progress has been driven from below--by a surging movement to change the United States' role in the climate crisis.

Let's show the young people at the forefront of this movement that the world stands with them.

Avaaz will gather the messages this Sunday to make sure they're in the youth leaders' hands on Monday morning. The most effective messages are personal, sincere, and respectful. Click below to tell US leaders why their climate policy should change :

http://www.avaaz.org/en/congress_climate_message/5.php/

Throughout this year, we've built momentum for a breakthrough--from the G8 in Germany to APEC in Australia, we've worked together to bring hundreds of thousands of citizen voices into the climate debate. If the United States steps up, the UN summit in Bali this December could be a turning point for our planet. We can help make it happen.

With hope,

Ben, Iain, Galit, Graziela, Pascal, Ricken, Sarah, Milena, and Paul--the Avaaz team

PS: We'll also be delivering the Avaaz climate petition to US Congressional leaders on Monday, in front of a crowd of Senators, students--and journalists. It's got 450,000 signatures on it already--including yours.

PPS: For more information on the growing climate movement in the US, please visit our blog:

http://www.avaaz.org/blog/en/climate_change/