As the climate negotiations in Poznan, Poland get under way, Greenpeace activists from the Climate Rescue Station settled in for another the night at the top of a coal stack and the intensity of action around the world has stepped up a notch.
The pressure for strong outcomes in Poznan is building.
The Rainbow Warrior continues the quit coal tour in with an action in Belgium, the homeless polar bears make an appearance in Pozna, the world is watching photo wall has almost reached 12,000 people and a SarkObama campaign gets underway in France.
Posters resembling the “Yes we Can” Obama posters, starting popping up all over Paris. The two-toned posters featuring French President Nicolas Sarkozy, included one liners - 'Making polluters pay?", 'Producing clean and sustainable energy for Europe?' 'Saving each household 1,000 euros a year?” and '‘Creating 3 millions jobs in Europe?’
A public debate started over who was responsible for them and a few French websites - suspecting a pro-Sarkozy publicity stunt - launched a reader appeal to try to identify the poster gang. The makers of the posters responded by posting a series of online clues. They posted photos of themselves, faces masked behind the "SarkObama" images and plastered the posters on file sharing websites. President Sarkozy's office and the right-wing UMP party came out publicly denying any association with the poster campaign. It turns out it wasn’t Mr. Sarkozy and the UMP but the handy work of our activists. This morning, the activists fessed up to the clever creations. They covered up billboards in the “République” metro station with similar posters, this time with the message “Commit now to a 30% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions in Europe by 2020? Yes you must!”
President Sarkozy is hugely responsible for watering down the Climate and Energy package, and for offering Christmas gifts to all the countries which have been defending their own national and short terms interests. Instead, we need Mr. Sarkozy to take leadership of the Climate and Energy package negotiation and get serious about climate action in Poznan.