[Committee] climate change campaign

[Marc Kaufmann]

I think that I already explained what this new campaign in Cambridge was
about, but just to reiterate:

quick summary of what we want:

- avoid dangerous climate change, ie stay below a 1.8 - 2.0 degree Celsius
increase.
- global per capita emissions converging to be equal by (say) 2030 (this one
is not fixed yet)
- This implies 1t CO2/year by date of convergence, which has to be the goal

The climate bill is going through parliament in October, we thought of
having some visual stunt for the media, ideas were:

- acting a parliament session on the climate bill how it should be (ie
stronger targets etc) in the union
- dressing up in gowns and going to a)Downing street b)Westminster and
'dying' there, maybe with petition hand-over
- get support from scientists, economists, politicians, anyone else we can
get hold of to sign the petition, come along, make a statement.
- At the same time we should also advertise the 8th December event, if
possible

Longer with some explanations:

CUSU green and some green groups are going to kick off a cc campaign in
cambridge. We agreed (at the meeting) that we should push for national
targets based on a global framework and that the climate bill should be the
imminent priority, as it will be going through parliament (or how do you
call this process?) sometime from October to December. As its targets are
far too modest we should push for more being included in the Bill.

We will have to get in touch with Christine and Dan (the green officers) to
see how we will go about it, but the following is what we felt had to be
included in the manifesto:

- We have to avoid dangerous climate change (NB: which definitely means
runaway climate change) with a certain likelihood (NB: high preferred, 50/50
might be good enough?).
- The EU has defined this to mean to aim for 2 degrees Celsius or less
increase on the (is it 1960 or preindustrial, ie 1850 ish, level?? I really
ought to know this) baseline. James Hansen believes that as little as 1.8(or
1.7) degree celsius could lead to large-scale melting and collapse of the
west antarctic ice-shelf and of greenland (Steve, where is that article with
those numbers? ). Our aim should definitely be 2 degree or less (maybe have
a moving target as the science progresses, or does that lead to too little
focus?).
- Global per capita emissions have to converge, as the proposed solutions
won't be viable otherwise

Together with stabilising emissions at a sustainable level (ie emissions =
absorptions = 7Gt globally), this leads basically to a 1t CO2 (equivalent I
guess) per person per year by the date of convergence at the current
population levels. It is from here that we derive national targets
(including the time by which it is achieved) which will frame all our
efforts (local as well as local), especially with respect to the climate
bill.

Voice any concerns, additions or corrections that you have.

Steve (or anyone else with the knowledge), could you send out a list of the
links with the references for the EU figure (or rather document containing
their definition), James Hansen's article refering to the 25m increase for
temperature increases above 1.8 C and the one showing how or why 7 Gt is
sustainable. We shouldn't get caught out on those crucial numbers.

I think that's it on climate change campaign for now, lot's to think about
though, and we need to get it out to people, so talk about it whenever you
can,

Yours climactically, (yeah, I'm good with puns, I know)

Marc

-- 
Zero Carbon Society - 90% less GHG by 2030
www.zerocarbonnow.org

Three Seas - Combat Climate Change
www.threeseas.org.uk

'Shared joy is double joy, shared sorrow is half sorrow' - Swedish Proverb
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