"We have only two years to negotiate an agreement to avert aglobal catastrophe. We can't leave it up to the government any longer.Canadians want to be leaders not laggards in the fight against globalwarming," said Arthur Sandborn of Greenpeace Canada.
KYOTOpluswill gather the pledges of citizens and politicians who want Canada totake a leadership role on global warming - both domestically andinternationally. It calls on elected Canadian politicians to "work toensure that Canada honours its Kyoto commitment and sets a nationaltarget of cutting its greenhouse gas emissions by at least 25 per cent,relative to the 1990 level, by 2020."
"By signingthe pledge, the three opposition leaders are the first of what we hopewill be a majority of Canadian politicians committing to doing theright thing on climate change.KYOTOplus givesCanadians the opportunity to mobilize and pressure their government toprotect our climate," said Emilie Moorhouse of Sierra Club Canada.
It is widely accepted that in order to preventcatastrophically dangerous climate change, the global averagetemperature increase above pre-industrial levels must be kept as farbelow 2 degrees Celsius as possible. This will require a25 to 40 per cent reduction (from 1990levels) of greenhouse gas emissions by the world's developed countriesby 2020.
"KYOTOplusis a historic opportunity for Canadians and their leaders to pledgetheir support for deep reductions in greenhouse gas emissions," saidJohn Bennett of ClimateforChange.ca.
TheKYOTOplus campaigncalls for action on Canada's Kyoto commitment and support for crucialU.N. negotiations on a post-Kyoto agreement that will conclude inCopenhagen, Denmark, in December 2009. TheKYOTOplus campaignwill engage citizens, politicians and civic leaders in all provinces,territories, towns and cities to support the Kyoto process and put anend to global warming.
Canadians can sign on atkyotoplus.ca.
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High resolution photos can be downloaded at gallery.greenpeace.ca.
For moreinformation:
ArthurSandborn,
Climate and Energy Campaigner,Greenpeace Canada : 514-235-5955
Emilie Moorhouse,
Atmosphere andEnergy Campaigner, Sierra Club of Canada :613-858-7021
JohnBennett,
Executive Director,Climateforchange.ca : 613-291-6888
Graham Saul,
Executive Director,Climate Action Network : 613-558-3368
Jocelyn Desjardins,
Media andPublic Relations Officer, Greenpeace Canada : 514-212-5749