The Nag

I’ve just written to my Member of Parliament and my Members of the European Parliament (MEPs)
to get them to pester my government and the EU to take a much stronger
line on climate change in the next two weeks by asking the world to
commit to the key targets of 350ppm (parts per million) and 1.5°C, and push for a deal in Copenhagen that’s genuinely fair, really ambitious, and binding. Will you do the same, and ask your friends to do it too? It’s crucial to write now because the EU’s position will be decided definitively in the next two weeks, and after that we’ll have missed a valuable opportunity. If
you don't live in the EU, please write to your national representatives
anyway, because 350ppm and 1.5°C can do with all the help they can get,
and pressure from any government is helpful! Just replace ‘the EU’ with
‘the Government’.



To find your MEPs, search the European Parliament’s web site here
and if you are offered the choice, click on your region — all the MEPs
listed there represent you. If your country isn’t divided into regions,
you can assume that all the MEPs in your country represent you, and
write to them all! You might also find Wikipedia's list of MEPs helpful.



Find your representatives in your national congress, parliament or assembly on its web site — Wikipedia will have a link to it. In the UK, use WriteToThem.com.



Remember to include your full postal address, as well as your email
address and telephone number. Your postal address will allow your
representatives to check that your views are their responsibility.





It’s best to write in your own words, but here are some notes from my message — the most important part first:

1. I’m really concerned about climate change.


2. I would like you to urge the Government, the European Commission
   and the Swedish Presidency of the EU [if you live outside the EU, you
   can miss these out] to push hard to include 350ppm and 1.5°C in the EU’s consensus negotiating position at the Copenhagen climate summit this December.


3. The EU’s current position of 450ppm and 2°C will not make the world safe.


4. This consensus will be finalised by 22 October at the latest, so you must act quickly. (See UNF*C* the world by Kirsty Schneeberger.)

Then I gave a bit more background information:

1. The EU has been asking for the UN to agree that the
   world should not warm by more than 2°C, with greenhouse gases not going
   above 450ppm (parts per million).


2. But this isn’t enough to avoid “dangerous climate change” —
   up-to-date science suggests that 350ppm and 1.5°C are much safer levels
   to reach.


3. The UK’s Hadley Centre recently reported that a 4°C rise in the next 50 years is possible — this would lead to climatic and human catastrophe.


4. Norway has pledged to reduce its emissions by 40% by 2020 on 1990 levels
   — a target more consistent with 350ppm and 1.5°C than anything else a
   Western country has proposed. If Norway can do it, so can the EU. So
   can my country.


5. The Copenhagen summit in December could save the world, or condemn it. The time for action is now!

I finished by reminding them what I wanted them to do, and that they should do it now — and I also asked them to support the 350.org campaign which is a big part of this movement:

• Seize the moment — act now to represent me and make the EU push for a fair, ambitious and binding deal that enshrines 350ppm and 1.5°C.


• Please announce your support for the 350.org campaign before the Day of Climate Action on 24 October.

You could also take inspiration from the great speech made to governments’ delegates by the International Youth at the latest UN ‘intersessional’ meeting in Bangkok, on Friday 9 October.



Thanks... your children will thank you!



Me



PS Remember to share this with your friends! :-)



PPS Finally, here are some great tips for effective letter-writing adapted from ‘MP’s toolkit (thumbscrews provided)’ by Isabel Bottoms:

• If you are young — under 30! — say so!


• If you will be attending the Copenhagen summit, say so!


• Send a handwritten letter, by post, if you can.


• Go to meet your representative, face to face, after sending your message! They may hold regular meetings near where you live.