"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