"...to reverse the failure of Copenhagen and create the conditions for a strong legally binding global climate agreement"
Green Party leaders from the US have joined Green elected officials and leaders from countries throughout Latin America and Europe in Cancun, Mexico, to participate in the 16th session of the Conference of the Parties (COP 16) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).
Greens are calling on the world's leaders attending COP16 to "to reverse the failure of Copenhagen and create the conditions for a strong legally binding global climate agreement" on steps to avert catastrophic climate change in the next century, according to a statement issued by the Global Greens Coordination. The statement is appended below.
The Global Greens Coordination) is a committee established to oversee Global Greens affairs, including issuing Global Greens statements and organizing Global Greens congresses.
"In the US, Greens are challenging the White House, Congress, and state and municipal governments to take action, by conversion to safe and clean energy, drastic reduction of fossil fuel use and greenhouse gas emissions, more public transportation and less car traffic, carbon taxes, creation of millions of living-wage green jobs in conservation and retrofitting of homes and buildings, protection for publicly-owned fresh water resources, and by leading the world in forums like COP16 in calling for expansion of the Kyoto Protocols," said Sanda Everette, former co-chair of the Green Party of the United States, who is attending COP16.
"Unfortunately, the Obama Administration has caved in to the demands of polluting industries, with the President's endorsement of the 'clean coal' myth, refusal to act against mountaintop removal mining, approval for new taxpayer-funded nuclear plants, promotion of emissions trading schemes, which give polluters a license to continue polluting, and other retreats. In this century of global warming, the Green Party has become an imperative in the US and abroad," Ms. Everette added.
Along with Ms. Everette, other US Greens in Cancun for COP16 are current Green Party co-chair Mike Feinstein and Massachusetts Green-Rainbow Party member Maggie Zhou. Green Party members are present as delegates from NGOs or have press credentials, since conference rules bar political parties from any official status.
California Republican Party Vice Chairman Tom Del Beccaro today issued the following statement regarding President Obama's State of the Union address:
