SUBSCRIBE TO OUR FREE NEWSLETTER
Daily news & progressive opinion—funded by the people, not the corporations—delivered straight to your inbox.
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
Youth climate activists including Swedish teen Greta Thunberg (center) gather for a demonstration in Festival Park in Glasgow, Scotland on November 1, 2021, the first full day of the United Nations Climate Change Conference, also known as COP26. (Photo: Andrew Milligan/PA Images via Getty Images)
Letter Accusing World Leaders of Climate 'Betrayal' Signed by 1 Million People--And Growing
"There is still time to avoid the worst consequences if we are prepared to change. It will take determined, visionary leadership. And it will take immense courage—but know that when you rise, billions will be right behind you."
Nov 01, 2021
As activists gathered Monday outside the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Glasgow, Scotland to protest world leaders' collective failure to address the worsening planetary emergency, a petition led by four young women at the center of the fight for climate action quickly gathered over a million signatures.
"This is not a drill. It's code red for the Earth."
The open letter--led by Sweden's Greta Thunberg, Dominika Lasota of Poland, Ugandan Vanessa Nakate, and Mitzi Tan of the Philippines--called world governments' climate failures a "betrayal." As of Monday afternoon, more than 1.2 million people around the world had signed the urgent call to action.
"We are catastrophically far from the crucial goal of 1.5degC, and yet governments everywhere are still accelerating the crisis, spending billions on fossil fuels," the letter states, referring to the Paris climate agreement's preferred goal for temperature rise this century.
"This is not a drill. It's code red for the Earth," the petition continues. "Millions will suffer as our planet is devastated--a terrifying future that will be created, or avoided, by the decisions you make. You have the power to decide."
"As citizens across the planet, we urge you to face up to the climate emergency," the activists implore. "Not next year. Not next month. Now."
The letter demands that world leaders take the following immediate actions to address the climate emergency:
- Keep the precious goal of 1.5degC alive with immediate, drastic, annual emission reductions unlike anything the world has ever seen;
- End all fossil fuel investments, subsidies, and new projects immediately, and stop new exploration and extraction;
- End creative carbon accounting by publishing total emissions for all consumption indices, supply chains, international aviation and shipping, and the burning of biomass;
- Deliver the $100 billion promised to the most vulnerable countries, with additional funds for climate disasters; and
- Enact climate policies that protect workers and the most vulnerable, and reduce all forms of inequality.
"We can still do this," the letter's authors insist. "There is still time to avoid the worst consequences if we are prepared to change. It will take determined, visionary leadership. And it will take immense courage--but know that when you rise, billions will be right behind you."
Addressing governments' inadequate response to the planetary emergency, Thunberg--who was not invited to speak at the conference--told a crowd outside the Glasgow summit on Monday: "We say, no more 'blah, blah, blah.' No more exploitation of people and nature and the planet."
"No more whatever the fuck they're doing inside there," Thunberg added, drawing uproarious applause. "We're sick and tired of it, and we're gonna make the change, whether they like it or not."
An Urgent Message From Our Co-Founder
Dear Common Dreams reader, It’s been nearly 30 years since I co-founded Common Dreams with my late wife, Lina Newhouser. We had the radical notion that journalism should serve the public good, not corporate profits. It was clear to us from the outset what it would take to build such a project. No paid advertisements. No corporate sponsors. No millionaire publisher telling us what to think or do. Many people said we wouldn't last a year, but we proved those doubters wrong. Together with a tremendous team of journalists and dedicated staff, we built an independent media outlet free from the constraints of profits and corporate control. Our mission has always been simple: To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. Building Common Dreams was not easy. Our survival was never guaranteed. When you take on the most powerful forces—Wall Street greed, fossil fuel industry destruction, Big Tech lobbyists, and uber-rich oligarchs who have spent billions upon billions rigging the economy and democracy in their favor—the only bulwark you have is supporters who believe in your work. But here’s the urgent message from me today. It's never been this bad out there. And it's never been this hard to keep us going. At the very moment Common Dreams is most needed, the threats we face are intensifying. We need your support now more than ever. We don't accept corporate advertising and never will. We don't have a paywall because we don't think people should be blocked from critical news based on their ability to pay. Everything we do is funded by the donations of readers like you. When everyone does the little they can afford, we are strong. But if that support retreats or dries up, so do we. Will you donate now to make sure Common Dreams not only survives but thrives? —Craig Brown, Co-founder |
Our work is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Feel free to republish and share widely.
As activists gathered Monday outside the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Glasgow, Scotland to protest world leaders' collective failure to address the worsening planetary emergency, a petition led by four young women at the center of the fight for climate action quickly gathered over a million signatures.
"This is not a drill. It's code red for the Earth."
The open letter--led by Sweden's Greta Thunberg, Dominika Lasota of Poland, Ugandan Vanessa Nakate, and Mitzi Tan of the Philippines--called world governments' climate failures a "betrayal." As of Monday afternoon, more than 1.2 million people around the world had signed the urgent call to action.
"We are catastrophically far from the crucial goal of 1.5degC, and yet governments everywhere are still accelerating the crisis, spending billions on fossil fuels," the letter states, referring to the Paris climate agreement's preferred goal for temperature rise this century.
"This is not a drill. It's code red for the Earth," the petition continues. "Millions will suffer as our planet is devastated--a terrifying future that will be created, or avoided, by the decisions you make. You have the power to decide."
"As citizens across the planet, we urge you to face up to the climate emergency," the activists implore. "Not next year. Not next month. Now."
The letter demands that world leaders take the following immediate actions to address the climate emergency:
- Keep the precious goal of 1.5degC alive with immediate, drastic, annual emission reductions unlike anything the world has ever seen;
- End all fossil fuel investments, subsidies, and new projects immediately, and stop new exploration and extraction;
- End creative carbon accounting by publishing total emissions for all consumption indices, supply chains, international aviation and shipping, and the burning of biomass;
- Deliver the $100 billion promised to the most vulnerable countries, with additional funds for climate disasters; and
- Enact climate policies that protect workers and the most vulnerable, and reduce all forms of inequality.
"We can still do this," the letter's authors insist. "There is still time to avoid the worst consequences if we are prepared to change. It will take determined, visionary leadership. And it will take immense courage--but know that when you rise, billions will be right behind you."
Addressing governments' inadequate response to the planetary emergency, Thunberg--who was not invited to speak at the conference--told a crowd outside the Glasgow summit on Monday: "We say, no more 'blah, blah, blah.' No more exploitation of people and nature and the planet."
"No more whatever the fuck they're doing inside there," Thunberg added, drawing uproarious applause. "We're sick and tired of it, and we're gonna make the change, whether they like it or not."
As activists gathered Monday outside the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Glasgow, Scotland to protest world leaders' collective failure to address the worsening planetary emergency, a petition led by four young women at the center of the fight for climate action quickly gathered over a million signatures.
"This is not a drill. It's code red for the Earth."
The open letter--led by Sweden's Greta Thunberg, Dominika Lasota of Poland, Ugandan Vanessa Nakate, and Mitzi Tan of the Philippines--called world governments' climate failures a "betrayal." As of Monday afternoon, more than 1.2 million people around the world had signed the urgent call to action.
"We are catastrophically far from the crucial goal of 1.5degC, and yet governments everywhere are still accelerating the crisis, spending billions on fossil fuels," the letter states, referring to the Paris climate agreement's preferred goal for temperature rise this century.
"This is not a drill. It's code red for the Earth," the petition continues. "Millions will suffer as our planet is devastated--a terrifying future that will be created, or avoided, by the decisions you make. You have the power to decide."
"As citizens across the planet, we urge you to face up to the climate emergency," the activists implore. "Not next year. Not next month. Now."
The letter demands that world leaders take the following immediate actions to address the climate emergency:
- Keep the precious goal of 1.5degC alive with immediate, drastic, annual emission reductions unlike anything the world has ever seen;
- End all fossil fuel investments, subsidies, and new projects immediately, and stop new exploration and extraction;
- End creative carbon accounting by publishing total emissions for all consumption indices, supply chains, international aviation and shipping, and the burning of biomass;
- Deliver the $100 billion promised to the most vulnerable countries, with additional funds for climate disasters; and
- Enact climate policies that protect workers and the most vulnerable, and reduce all forms of inequality.
"We can still do this," the letter's authors insist. "There is still time to avoid the worst consequences if we are prepared to change. It will take determined, visionary leadership. And it will take immense courage--but know that when you rise, billions will be right behind you."
Addressing governments' inadequate response to the planetary emergency, Thunberg--who was not invited to speak at the conference--told a crowd outside the Glasgow summit on Monday: "We say, no more 'blah, blah, blah.' No more exploitation of people and nature and the planet."
"No more whatever the fuck they're doing inside there," Thunberg added, drawing uproarious applause. "We're sick and tired of it, and we're gonna make the change, whether they like it or not."
We've had enough. The 1% own and operate the corporate media. They are doing everything they can to defend the status quo, squash dissent and protect the wealthy and the powerful. The Common Dreams media model is different. We cover the news that matters to the 99%. Our mission? To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. How? Nonprofit. Independent. Reader-supported. Free to read. Free to republish. Free to share. With no advertising. No paywalls. No selling of your data. Thousands of small donations fund our newsroom and allow us to continue publishing. Can you chip in? We can't do it without you. Thank you.