| International Call to Action on Root Causes of Climate Change
On Final Day of G8 Summit 8th July 2005
The G8 is coming. The leaders of the world's 8 richest countries will soon gather in Scotland, hoping to carry on carving up the planet. We forecast a high tide of greenwash in the run-up to the summit, as Tony 'Hot Air' Blair claims to be making climate change a top priority. It looks like it's up to us to unmask the G8 Climate Criminals and expose the hypocrisy of their agenda. This is a call for a global day of action on the root causes of climate chaos on July 8th. Come to Scotland with your inspired ideas for action and join us on the streets and on the golf courses. Or do whatever you can wherever you are to resist the fossil fuel madness and make the dream of a socially just, sustainable future a reality. But whatever you do, let the world know about it! Stop climate chaos - flood the G8!
or an older version: International Day of Action on the root causes of climate change 8th July 2005, (final day of the G8 summit) Tony Blair set part of the agenda for the July 2005 G8 summit when he claimed that leaders will "tackle climate change". We reject any market-led techno-fixes to this current climate of crisis by an unelected global elite. We believe that oil fuels capitalism and that there cannot be an end to global warming without an end to the system that causes it. Any claim to tackle climate change whilst fighting wars for control of the planet's dwindling carbon-based energy reserves is as hypocritical as it is ridiculous. Nuclear power is not an alternative, as it too depends on a finite natural resource, is massively oil intensive, is wasteful and inextricably linked to the most destructive weapons on the face of the earth. Nuclear energy is a by-product of nuclear arms, not the other way around. Just as the oil industry exploits people and the planet for financial gain, so could it exploit alternative power if it is controlled by big companies and not owned by communities. The natural world can provide us with the resources we need to sustain those communities. We need a radical rethink of our societies to cut our energy consumption drastically. We have a unique opportunity and a global responsibility to take action for the millions of more repressed people, for ecosystems and for future generations. We believe that anti-capitalist environmentalists and all those committed to a sustainable, socially just world, can work together over the linked issues of oil, war, climate change, and use the moment of the G8 summit in the UK to expose the hypocrisy of the government's green rhetoric. We can demand a stop to their plans for new roads, wars for oil, airport expansions and support of the oil, gas and nuclear industries with loans and grants that perpetuate north-south, north-east exploitation and neo-colonialism. We are building a network of groups and individuals around the country and hopefully worldwide who can share their inspiration and ideas for concrete plans for action around energy, climate change and oil. Existing ideas for action include a Critical Mass to Scotland, a mass "call in sick" day for those working in the oil industry and calling for synchronised mass and decentralised actions on energy profiteers in Scotland and around the globe. We see the G8 2005 mobilisation as an opportunity to move beyond symbolic protests against a symbolic summit. We want to take action in the only way that really makes politicians and corporations listen: economically. And we need to take action on this issue before it is too late. |
|||