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Climate rally to call for action | Climate rally to call for action |
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Climate change campaigners are due to rally in London as part of global protests calling for world leaders to act urgently on the issue. | Climate change campaigners are due to rally in London as part of global protests calling for world leaders to act urgently on the issue. |
The day's events include the March for Global Climate Justice from the US embassy in London to Trafalgar Square. | The day's events include the March for Global Climate Justice from the US embassy in London to Trafalgar Square. |
Ashok Sinha, director of Stop Climate Chaos, said "climate change is the biggest threat the planet faces" and called for "urgent political action". | Ashok Sinha, director of Stop Climate Chaos, said "climate change is the biggest threat the planet faces" and called for "urgent political action". |
The events are ahead of UN climate change talks in Nairobi on Monday. | The events are ahead of UN climate change talks in Nairobi on Monday. |
They also follow the publication of the Stern Review which suggests that global warming could shrink the global economy by 20%. | |
The language of fear and of terror and of anguish - it disempowers people Mike HulmeTyndall Centre for Climate Change Research Chaotic world of truth | |
During a day of events in London, cyclists will go on a "protest bike ride" and hand a petition into Downing Street calling for a reduction in annual emission targets. | During a day of events in London, cyclists will go on a "protest bike ride" and hand a petition into Downing Street calling for a reduction in annual emission targets. |
Phil Thornhill of the Campaign against Climate Change, which is part of the coalition of protest groups, said "As the Stern report makes clear it is vulnerable communities in the developing world who are most at risk from climate change." | |
He said some people were already suffering from the impacts of climate change, such as victims of drought in East Africa. | He said some people were already suffering from the impacts of climate change, such as victims of drought in East Africa. |
'Huge injustice' | |
"The high-carbon lifestyles of the West are mainly to blame and the West must lead the way in instituting an effective international emissions reductions treaty which is the only way we can prevent this huge injustice swelling to the scale of a global catastrophe," he said. | "The high-carbon lifestyles of the West are mainly to blame and the West must lead the way in instituting an effective international emissions reductions treaty which is the only way we can prevent this huge injustice swelling to the scale of a global catastrophe," he said. |
Mr Thornhill said a rally was being held outside the US embassy because that country had "consistently blocked progress on such a treaty". | Mr Thornhill said a rally was being held outside the US embassy because that country had "consistently blocked progress on such a treaty". |
Musicians Razorlight and KT Tunstall and comedian Simon Amstell will be among those appearing at the "I Count" event at Trafalgar Square, say organisers Stop Climate Chaos. | |
HAVE YOUR SAY The scale of the threat to life warrants an unprecedented effort - more akin to a war effort Jon Fuller, Westcliff on Sea href="http://newsforums.bbc.co.uk/nol/thread.jspa?threadID=4623&edition=1" class="">Send us your comments It says people from all over the UK, including surfers bringing their boards from the South West and walkers from the Midlands, will be in the capital where there will also be speakers and street bands. | |
However, one of the UK's top climate scientists warned although climate change is "an observable reality", the language being used by some campaigners is becoming exaggerated and could weaken the arguments for policy changes. | |
'Self defeating' | |
Mike Hulme, of the Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research, told BBC Radio 4's Today programme he was concerned over a phenomenon called the "amplification of risk". | |
"That type of language is actually self defeating," he said. "What it does it disempowers - the language of fear and of terror and of anguish - it disempowers people." | |
But scientist and broadcaster Adam Hart Davis responded that although the issue of global warming was raised more than 10 years ago, politicians had not acted. | |
"It may need this sort of hype and this type of meeting today to get the politicians off their backsides to actually do something," he said. | |
The United Nations Climate Change Conference will take place in Nairobi, Kenya, from Monday to 17 November. | |
The summit will look at what progress has been made by the Kyoto Protocol that requires industrial nations to cut their emissions by an average of 5.2% from 1990 levels by the period 2008-2012. |