Beyond Copenhagen:
A Convening of an “Urgency Coalition”
To Mobilize a Global Campaign to Move From Rhetoric to Action

The central contradiction in the global warming crisis is that while the urgency is getting increasingly acute, our governments are negotiating as if we have another forty years to solve the problem. This timeframe is at the heart of the Copenhagen negotiations – reducing carbon emissions by 80% by 2050.  But we do not have another 40 years to solve this crisis. We have only a few at the most to take the action required and at some level virtually everyone paying any attention knows that.  We must be guided by science not political expediency when scientists are saying that global warming is about ready to spin out of control with devastating consequences to civilization as we know it. 

We must therefore take decisive action immediately. We must accomplish by 2020 what our governments are negotiating for 2050. Only reducing carbon emissions by 80% by 2020 will suffice to solve the escalating crisis we are in because only this level of reductions in this timeframe will stabilize the global temperature rise and carbon concentrations at about 400 ppm, after which we must reduce levels to 350 ppm. This necessitates that we begin now to take decisive action, particularly in the next three to four years, to design 80/20 strategies and implement solutions. This is the stark reality we must face.

The crisis is of such dimensions that we cannot wait for our governments to lead. Each and every one of us must become climate leaders.  All of us are responsible for global warming. All of us must come together to solve it. For the first time in our lives, indeed for the first time in our history, all of us must take personal and immediate responsibility for our climate. This necessitates as dramatic a transformation in our personal lifestyles and cultural values as the transformation required in our energy sectors and economic systems. There is simply no other way to either understand or solve the crisis we are in.

Our intention is not to protest. Our intention is to act and to catalyze widespread action. Our commitment is to bring together organizations from around the world to produce a unified sense of purpose and direction in the aftermath of the failure of Copenhagen that will certainly have decentralized responses but which will all be operating within a common timeframe. The goal is to create new alliances between organizations that may be saying the same thing in different ways, with the strategic goal of proactive action on the part of cities, states and regions understanding the urgency and willing to take action independent of our national governments.

80% by 2020 is the framework for our sense of urgency.  We equally endorse the goals of 350.org because 350 ppm is the threshold above which catastrophic climate change is unavoidable. We embrace the “Four Years.Go” campaign being launched by Wieden & Kennedy and the Pachamama Alliance because the urgency is such we must make decisive progress in the next 48 months. And we support the 10:10 Campaign in the UK, which calls upon every one of us to reduce our CO2 emissions by 10% in 2010.  All these efforts, plus many others which emphasize different aspects of the solution and timeframe for action, are all united by a common sense of urgency and need for immediate action. What is required is a radical collaboration between them to build a global mobilization that will turn the tide. 

Our call is for anyone sharing the same sense of urgency to join us and discuss the strategy for moving forward and to learn about all the innovations that can make the 80/20 goal not only attainable but achievable in a manner that leads to savings, jobs, and opportunities for extraordinary growth and prosperity.

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The ultimate goal of the Urgency Coalition is to catalyze a network of individuals, communities, institutions, cities, states, regions and countries willing to work within the 350/80/20/Four Years.Go/10:10 framework. The Urgency Coalition will invite Barack Obama to attend the Summit and discuss these goals, if not take leadership in their implementation, an invitation we would also make to leaders from all levels of government and society worldwide.

The strongest initial support for the 2020 Campaign has come from Brazil, where President Lula has announced that Brazil will commit to an 80% reduction of Amazonian deforestation by 2020, affirming the basic goals of the 2020 Climate Leadership Campaign. All five governors of the Brazilian Amazonian states have also declared their support for this effort and have appealed for international assistance. Globo TV, the largest communications company in South America, has initiated a national public information campaign to increase awareness and political action in Brazil in support of the 80/20 goal.  This is unprecedented and marks the first time anywhere in the world that a major communications company has taken climate leadership. The 2020 Campaign is now working with Globo and the Amazonian governors to convene an Amazon Climate Summit in the Amazonian state of Para. The Summit will seek to consolidate a pan Amazonian commitment of all nine nations that comprise the Amazon to the 80/20 goal and to mobilize a global campaign of support by enabling cities, states and regions worldwide to make their own 80/20 commitments. 

We are mindful that there is much uncertainty in how things will unfold and thus we remain open and flexible to responding to changing conditions, but we are convinced that the time has come for people of good will to come together to lead the way.