Aging Harper and Obama, apologize for climate chaos

Feature story - November 29, 2009
People walking on Bank Street near Parliament Hill were greeted today with apologies for not stopping catastrophic climate change from an aged Prime Minister Harper and President Obama.

Bank street Harper photo

Futuristic photos of Prime Minister Harper and President Obama in 2020 on street signs highlight the importance of the United Nations climate change conference in Copenhagen from December 7 to 18.

The headline on the images reads: "I'm sorry. We could have stopped catastrophic climate change … We Didn't." Tag lines read: "Act now Change The Future" and What will you tell your children?"

Eight street-level signs with the Harper and Obama images line Bank Street between Laurier and Wellington streets. They will remain up until the end of December.

In Copenhagen, world leaders must agree to implement science-based targets for reducing greenhouse gas emissions between 2012 and 2020.

Canada continues to be a laggard in climate leadership

Harper recently announced his intention to attend part of the Copenhagen summit. Unfortunately, he continues to support "modest" targets for reducing Canada's greenhouse gas emissions and not the level of reductions that climate scientists say are necessary. Obama has proposed targets for the US that are also inadequate.

The ads remind the two leaders that avoiding climate chaos is in their hands and the hands of other world leaders in Copenhagen. Millions are already suffering from the impacts of climate change. World leaders have a moral responsibility to their citizens to avert the catastrophic effects of global climate change.

Greenpeace and the global coalition, tcktcktck.org, placed the street signs as part of their campaign to encourage a fair, ambitious and legally binding deal in Copenhagen.