Support the release of the UN Report on climate change by joining today's 5 minutes of electical rest for the planet.
Turn off your lights and electrical appliances on February 1, 2007 at:
19:55 for Paris, Brussels, and Italy
18:55 for London
1:55pm in New York
1:55pm in Ottawa, Canada
10:55am on the Pacific Coast of North America
For more information follow me below the fold.
The announcement of the 5 minute boycott is coming from the French website L'ALLIANCE pour la planète. The Alliance for the Planet is an umbrella of about 50 green associations, including Greenpeace and WWF, and professional organizations connected with the environment.
They are calling for a global mobilization. They're asking "all citizens" of the planet to create 5 minutes of electrical rest for the planet.
The email I received regarding it, explains that the boycott is being called to help bring attention to the UN Report on global climate change, which is being released to the press from Paris.
This is not just about saving 5 minutes worth of electricity; this is about getting the attention of the media, politicians, and ourselves.
Five minutes of electrical down time for the planet: this does not take long, and costs nothing, and will show all political leaders that global warming is an issue that needs to come first and foremost in political debate.
There's still discussion about language in the report, apparently the report will use the words "very likely" to describe the role of human activity in climate change. "Very likely" translates to 90%.
Officials from 113 countries agreed Thursday that a much-awaited international report will say that global warming was "very likely" caused by human activity, delegates to a climate change conference said. Dozens of scientists and bureaucrats are editing the new report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change in closed-door meetings in Paris. Their report, which must be unanimously approved, is to be released Friday.
It's hard to imagine what would happen if a mobilization like this really spread across the planet and was successful. It seems like the Earth would benefit from such action, that it's more than a political statement, and in fact, could serve some larger purpose. In any event, I think it's important to involve ourselves in global actions and wanted to alert the KOS community that this was happening.
In a related note, Al Gore is being considered for the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize.