The UK Parliament is set to have an open debate tomorrow (Wednesday) on whether the whole government should adopt the 10:10 campaign. This is a perfect opportunity to leverage the massive momentum building for this weekend and give MPs a little jolt of what the people demand, so if you’re a Brit, get ready for even a little more action this week.
For those who don’t know it, the 10:10 campaign is simple – next year, 2010, everybody, every school, every business, every institution should commit to reducing CO2 10%. 350 puts the science right smack in front of politicians in creative ways so they can no longer say "it’s not politically feasible." We’re making it politically feasible. And 10:10 shows that governmnent is actually going to have to catch up to the people, because while they stall, we’re moving ahead.
So, got a UK address? Shoot your MP an email and tell them to catch up to all of us on the front lines: http://38degrees.org.uk/get-parliament-to-vote-1010
While we’re on the subject, some in the UK government are helping to lead, and, I would add, doing an excellent job of outreach to civil society (people like us) in the lead up to Copenhagen. The Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) and the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) are running a campaign called Act on Copenhagen which I’ve been meaning to link to for a while now. On it, they’re pushing ambition, national action, and global action (seems pretty much right up our allee) and trying to link up civil society with professionals with the broader public.
With 10:10 tomorrow and 350 big day this weekend, we can help DECC tighten those definitions a little bit – UK action means 10% cuts next year, and international ambition means staking out a coherent plan to get us back to safety below 350 ppm CO2, starting now. People at DECC have repeatedly come back and spoken to me about collaborating, and their outreach to the broader public is a great step. Now that channels of communication are more open than ever, let’s make the most use of them this week and weekend!
Exciting times…