Nigel Griffiths
Kyoto campaign
Kyoto Campaign - Getting the President's friends to change the President's mind
A campaign to change President Bush's mind on Kyoto is launched today - Tuesday - by anall-party Group of MPs led by Nigel Griffiths MP (Edinburgh South), Peter Bottomley (Conservative), Tom Brake MP (Lib/Dem), Joan Ruddock PM, Joan Walley MP and Alan Simpson MP, sponsors of a motion in the House of Commons, EDM 569.
The President of NUS Owen James also attended the launch. He is helping to co-ordinate Mr Griffiths' tour of student campuses between now and the Bonn summit in July.
President Bush's repudiation of the Kyoto agreement and his declaration that CO2 is not a pollutant has dismayed the world. For young people, the health and the future of our Earth is something they care passionately about.
Last year Coca Cola gave the Republican campaigns nearly $400,000, and Coca Cola Enterprises gave over $440,000. Coca Cola has a new slogan: “Think Globally. Act Locally.” MPs want every young Coke customer — in fact every Coke drinker of whatever age — to contact Coke and tell them to get their friend, the President to change his mind by July and go to Bonn as a leading advocate for Kyoto, not its implacable opponent.
Speaking today, Nigel Griffiths said: “We turn not to the foes of President Bush, but to his friends. Those whose wise counsels have influenced the President. Those whose wide pockets have sustained him. We want Coke to act locally to get the president to think globally. Coco Cola are the sole marketing partner of Harry Potter, the world's best known wizard. We want them to work their magic on the US President.”
“We are encouraging every coke drinker to email the UK Vice President, Thomson Long on tlong@eur.ko.com, urging him to impress on President Bush the vital importance of ratifying the Kyoto protocol. We also urge people to email President Bush on president@whitehouse.gov.”
Coco Cola are the sole marketing partner of Harry Potter, the world's best known wizard. We want them to work their magic on the US President. I will meet with my co-organisers in July to assess the effectiveness of Coke's representations to the President.
Mr Griffiths is liaising with Senator Joe Lieberman in the US who is leading a cross-party campaign to ensure that US Utilities comply with Kyoto targets.
STATEMENT FROM NIGEL GRIFFITHS MP - Tuesday 10 April
Kyoto Campaign - Getting the President's friends to chancg the President's mind
I want Coca Cola's customers to become environmental activists, to put into action Coca Cola'‘s new slogan, "Think Globally - Act Locally".
I have been a member of Friends of the Earth for over 20 years and represented FOE at the Berlin conference on Sustainable Energy. I currently chair the national New Deal pilot project promoting domestic energy conservation.
In all the two-plus decades I have been involved with Friends of the Earth, no issue affects more people than global warming; no cause is more important; no timescale more urgent; no delay more grave and no call for action is more critical.”
Over 150 MPs have signed the Early Day Motions tabled in the House of Commons on the US repudiation of Kyoto.
When even Margaret Thatcher accepted Kyoto and impressed on the world the bleak and barren future in a hothouse planet, it is time for us to rise up and say, for the sake of our children and our planet, we can delay no longer the cuts in carbon dioxide emissions.
For young people, the health and the future of our Earth is something they care passionately about. So do we — and today we want to galvanise young people and every citizen who cares about the ecology and future of our planet.
I say to the people of the United States — some of your energy conservation programmes, like wind generation and alternative power units for cars, have been shining examples to others of what can be achieved where there's a will.
Today, we turn not to the foes of President Bush, but to his friends. Those whose wise counsels have influenced the President. Those whose wide pockets have sustained him. Last year Coca Cola gave the Republican campaigns nearly $400,000, and Coca Cola Enterprises gave over $440,000.
Coca Cola has a new slogan: “Think Globally. Act Locally.” I believe that's exactly what their young consumers want them to do. And I want every young Coke customer — in fact every customer of coke of whatever age — to contact Coke and tell them to get their friend, the President to change his mind by July and go to Bonn as a leading advocate for Kyoto, not its implacable opponent.
Think about it. If only a few of the tens of millions of Coke customers in hundreds ofcountries tell Coke to tell the President — then their's will be a mighty voice for commonsense, common cause and conservation. The 1990s produced the warmest decade of the 20th century. The demand for energy soared exponentially and pollution from power stations and vehicles rocketed.
Nor should we think that global warming will just hit the developing world, the 43 members of the Alliance of Small Island States and the low countries. The Government's Climate Change Impact's Review Group warned that temperatures in the south of England could rise by up to 2.60C by 2050, and in the north of Scotland by nearly 2.0C, creating more extreme events more frequently - like heavy rainfall, flooding and landslides, with sewage problems, insect pests and diseases.
Coco Cola are the sole marketing partner of Harry Potter, the world's best known wizard. We want them to work their magic on the US President.”
Kyoto Campaign - Getting the President's friends to change the President's mind.
