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R2NN: Reporting on the Great Shift & Catalyzing the Second Renaissance

Positive News for Global Citizens from the Renaissance2 News Network: December 2008

The collective action of hundreds of thousands of people is finally enhancing our global capacity to respond to climate change and our environmental, social and economic crises. For example, here are some of the positive developments in the past month around the world, and some of the actions you can take to make a difference:

1.    Global

 a.    The Obama Effect- since Barack Obama’s election as the 44^th US President on 4 November the level of hope for peaceful solutions to some of the world’s greatest challenges has risen dramatically. Neither he nor the USA can do this alone however- we (global citizens everywhere) need to ensure that he does not meet the fate of other American Presidents who have had transformative visions for the world yet were unable to deliver on those visions. The EU in particular needs to work very closely with the new President and also take a lead globally as this will further amplify the new President’s efforts which still face opposition from fundamentalists and traditionalists everywhere.

b.    Taking Longer Term Measures to Deal with our Global Economic Crisis-

On 20th April 2009 the 20 leaders of the world’s 20 largest economies comprising 80% of our planets economic output will be meeting in Washington DC. Their job is to create international institutions which will ensure that we never again experience a global credit crunch or a global financial crisis. We recommend that these leaders take bold steps to not only reform the United Nations, the World Bank and the IMF but that they also agree the principles of a Global Green New Deal which will achieve 3 important goals:

(1) To ensure that we meet the UN Millennium Development Goals of reducing poverty and disease and improving the well being of the poorest 4 billion people on Earth who will suffer the most from climate change.

(2) To create a global framework for investment in renewable technologies and green initiatives and to link this into the successor to the Kyoto Treaty.

(3) To create a robust regulatory framework for the global financial industry which makes it impossible for hot money and tax avoiding magnates to escape their obligations to pay their fair share of the cost of transforming our planet from a type 0 civilisation powered by fossil fuels at great human cost to a type 1 civilisation powered by the sun while creating equal opportunities for all.

c.    Declaration of a Global State of Emergency- The Club of Budapest (founded by Ervin Laszlo, Mikhail Gorbachev, the Dalai Lama and other luminaries), has issued the first draft of its “Declaration of a Global State of Emergency”. This is a powerful document which should be read, commented on and endorsed by all global citizens with a social conscience. 

ACTION: Read the declaration:

http://www.worldshiftnetwork.org/declaration/index.html

2. European Union

a.     UK

                   i.      New Legislation- The UK committed to an 80% emissions reduction goal enshrined in recent new legislation.

                 ii.      Saving the Rainforests- As HRH The Prince of Wales turns 60, he tells us that halting deforestation offers the quickest possible route to tackling climate change. The bottom-line is, ‘We have to ensure the forests are worth more alive than dead’.

ACTION: Sign up to support Prince Charles’ laudable project Check out his new Rainforest Project. 

ACTION:  Support Earth Charter Day hosted by Green Cross Holland in Eindhoven on July 5th (http://www.ecd2009.nl) to be followed up by the full Global Emergency Consultation being planned for Toronto in September.

b.     Earth Hour-

WWF International and their ambitious project aimed at engaging one billion people. Should be no problem with Google on the team

ACTION: Check out Earth Hour.

c.      European Union

On the 11th of December, EU Leaders will decide Europe’s response to climate change for the next 12 years. Italy, Poland and other EU newcomers are opposing the plan. Without the right deal at the Brussels summit, it could seriously derail progress in time for the critical global conference at Copenhagen in December 2009.

ACTION: Click here to tell the EU its time to lead:

http://weblog.greenpeace.org/makingwaves/archives/2008/09/the_heat_is_on_tell_your_mep_i.html

3. USA

a.     The New Presidential Agenda- In the past year America has finally moved from being part of the problem to being part of the solution. Barack Obama is committed to an 80% emissions reduction goal. Watch Obama speak about America’s new chapter on climate change.

b.     US EPA Limits Coal Emissions: America’s Environmental Protection Agency has just ruled that coal power stations must limit their emissions. Congratulations to the Sierra Club and everyone who fought hard for this victory. America’s clean energy economy is on the way.

c.      Real Vision - Al Gore’s inspiring Repower America campaign caught our attention. In an editorial published in the New York Times, Al Gore outlined the Repower America Plan on how to achieve 100% clean electricity within ten years. The editorial is in full below, so you can cut and paste it into an email or a letter. If America can have such a plan, why can’t your country too.

ACTION - Send Al Gore’s editorial to your leader(s) and ask them, ‘What’s Our Plan?:

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/09/opinion/09gore.html?_r=1&partner=permalink&exprod=permalink

A leader could be your country leader, the leader of your community, your employer’s leader or the leader of a school. Why not ask them all? Let’s ask the big question. Let’s push the big vision.

AND FINALLY…..REMEMBER TO ACT!

Of course this is all good news and we believe we may have reached the turning point in our global crisis now that Barack Obama is about to take office as the 44th President of the United States of America. On 20th January 2009 he will outline a bold set of initiatives to ensure that in the next decade we eliminate our dependence on fossil fuels and create a major new global industry around renewable technology and green initiatives. We also believe President Obama will commence a series of global peace making deals which could make our planet a much less dangerous place than it is today. In the meantime however, we need to get the leaders of the European Union acting more boldly and aligning themselves to these ambitious goals.  By taking the actions recommended above you can do your bit to influence our leaders and bring about a better future for us all.

This is R2NN signing off for 2008, have a great festive season and a good start to the New Year. We will be back on air in January 2009 to update you with the latest, most important developments.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, December 3rd, 2008 at 6:33 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.