Isn't Avaaz.org's new petition too alarmist? "30 months to save the world!"
The articles cited at the bottom include one from the Independent mentioning Semiletov's latest take on the ESAS methane plumes, but I don't see anything online from him this month.
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Dear Avaaz community,
This may be the most important email I’ve written to you. Arctic scientists have found gigantic plumes of Methane gas spewing into our atmosphere through melting ice, accelerating the destruction of our planet -- it could be a climate tipping point and we CAN stop it, if we act very fast, and all together. We have 30 months until the biggest climate summit ever. To win it, we need to blast out of the starting gate. Click below to pledge a donation to help us get there:
This may be the most important email I've ever written to you.
Scientists mapping hundreds small plumes of dangerous Methane gas coming from the arctic ocean have been shocked to find they've suddenly grown to gigantic KILOMETER-wide towers of gas spewing into our atmosphere! NASA has just confirmed alarming patterns of arctic methane, a gas 20 times as damaging to our climate as carbon dioxide.
Investigations continue, but this could be what the experts warned us about. As the earth warms, it creates many "tipping points" that could accelerate the warming out of control. Warming thaws the Arctic sea ice and permafrost, releasing millions of tons of Methane, which massively accelerates warming, which warms the Arctic more, and so on. We spin out of control. Already -- storms, temperatures -- everything is off the charts.
We CAN stop this, if we act very fast, and all together. And out of this extinction nightmare, we can pull one of the most inspiring futures for our children and grandchildren. A clean, green future in balance with the earth that gave birth to us.
We have 30 months until the Paris Summit, the meeting that world leaders have decided will determine the fate of our efforts to fight climate change. It might seem like a long time - it's not. We have 30 months to get the right leaders in power, get them to that meeting, give them a plan, and hold them accountable. And it's us vs. the oil companies, and fatalism. We can win, we must, but we need to blast out of the starting gate with with 50,000 pledges of support -- we'll only process the donations if we hit our goal. For the world we dream of, let's make it happen:
Fatalism on climate change is not just futile, it's also incompetent. The hour is late, but it is still absolutely within our power to stop this catastrophe, simply by shifting our economies from oil and coal to other sources of power. And doing so will bring the world together like never before, in a deep commitment and cooperation to protect our planetary home. It's a beautiful possibility, and the kind of future Avaaz was born to create.
Facing this challenge will take heart, and hope, and also all the smarts we have. Here's the plan:
1. Go Political -- Elect Climate Leaders - 5 crucial countries have elections in the next 30 months. Let's make sure the right people win, and with the right mandate. Avaaz is one of the only major global advocacy organizations that can be political. Charities can't be political because of the kind of tax breaks they get from governments, but we can. And since this fight will be won or lost politically, it could be at some points just us vs. the oil companies to decide who our politicians listen to.
2. Make Hollande a Hero -- French President Francois Hollande will chair the Paris summit - a powerful position. We have to try every tactic and channel -- his personal friends and family, his political constituency, his policy advisors -- to make him the hero we need him to be to make the summit a success.
3. Take it to the Next Level -- The scale of this crisis demands action that goes beyond regular campaigning. It's time for powerful, direct, non-violent action, to capture imagination, convey moral urgency, and inspire people to act. Think Occupy.
4. Out the Spoilers -- Billionaires like the Koch brothers and their oil companies are the major spoilers in climate change - funding junk science to confuse us and spending millions on misleading PR, while buying politicians wholesale. With investigative journalism and more, we need to expose and counter their horrifically irresponsible actions.
5. Define the Deal -- Even in the face of planetary catastrophe, 195 governments in a room can be just incompetent. We need to invest in top quality policy advice to develop ingenious strategies, mechanisms, and careful compromises so that when the summit arrives, a critical mass of leaders are already bought in to a large part of the deal, and no one can claim that good solutions don't exist.
We need 50,000 of us to pledge small donations to blast out of the starting gate on this plan. The amount doesn't matter as much as much as the choice - to hope, and to act:
https://secure.avaaz.org/en/30_months_h/?bBvxmab&v=25979At the last major climate summit in Copenhagen 2009, we played a pivotal role in German and Japanese 'climate' elections, in shifting Brazilian policy, and in helping win a major global deal on financing, with rich countries promising $100 billion per year to poor countries to help them address climate change. Back then, Avaaz was 3 million people. After Copenhagen, we reflected that we needed to be a lot bigger to meet the challenge posed by climate change. Now, we're 22 million, and growing by 1 million per month.
Climate change is the ultimate global collective action problem, requiring cooperation from every government in the world. And Avaaz is the ultimate collective action solution, with millions of us united in common vision across every nation. This is our time, to build a world for our children that’s beauty matches our dreams. Let's get started.
With hope and appreciation for this amazing community,
Ricken and the entire Avaaz team
MORE INFORMATION:
Scientists Close in on the Cause of Arctic Methane Leaks (Climate Central)
http://www.climatecentral.org/news/scientists-close-in-on-the-cause-of-arctic-methane-leaks-15090NASA warns Arctic thaw could have huge impact on global warming (The Verge)
http://www.theverge.com/2013/6/12/4422078/nasa-arctic-permafrosts-carbon-emissionsFive Reasons We Need a New Global Agreement on Climate Change by 2015 (Switchboard NRDC)
http://switchboard.nrdc.org/blogs/jschmidt/five_reasons_we_need_a_new_glo.htmlThe Doha climate talks were a start, but 2015 will be the moment of truth (The Guardian)
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/dec/10/doha-climate-talks-global-warmingVast methane 'plumes' seen in Arctic ocean as sea ice retreats (The Independent)
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/vast-methane-plumes-seen-in-arctic-ocean-as-sea-ice-retreats-6276278.htmlNote -- there is a debate in the scientific community about the scale and significance of the methane plumes, as there is about a number of alarming developments in climate science, and has been in the past about issues like the loss of arctic sea ice. As it has for decades, the scientific community as a whole is moving conservatively, slowly embracing a gradually more and more alarming consensus as evidence rules out other possibilities. But the vast majority agree, with many desperately trying to the get our societies to understand, that we are facing catastrophic threats unless we act.
Avaaz.org is a 22-million-person global campaign network that works to ensure that the views and values of the world's people shape global decision-making. ("Avaaz" means "voice" or "song" in many languages.) Avaaz members live in every nation of the world; our team is spread across 18 countries on 6 continents and operates in 17 languages. Learn about some of Avaaz's biggest campaigns here, or follow us on Facebook or Twitter.
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