Copenhagen: in case you missed it

At a packed meeting on Thursday 4 February, Reading groups campaigning to stop dangerous global warming were shocked at the revelations of political skulduggery that led to the failure of the UN summit on Climate Change in Copenhagen in December.

The meeting, organised by Greenpeace and GREN, was shown a film put together from independent news reports and video footage from inside the Copenhagen conference centre by local Greenpeace campaigner, Graham Judd.

Stunned by the pursuit of naked self-interest by rich countries like the US and the UK to protect corporate profits and continue indulgent lifestyles, Campaigners committed to radical action to help prevent resulting global temperature rises that could cause millions of deaths in continents like Asia and Africa.

Greenpeace Berkshire organiser, Trish Whitham said “rich countries, led by the United States, are trying to tear up the legally binding Kyoto agreement to reduce greenhouse gasses and replace it with some vague political commitments that have no legal force. The UN climate panel itself has said that what is now on the table will result in devastating climate change for millions of people on the planet; in the UK we are not immune from this. It’s not surprising that people at the meeting were calling for radical direct action to stop new coal fired power stations in the UK and a third runway at Heathrow”

Despite the political failure, campaigners were inspired by the massive global citizens movement that the film showed sweeping across the world. Reading campaigners vowed to play their part in this global movement, supporting positive change and taking action to raise awareness of the need to change our lifestyles.

As a start, groups are planning a coordinated public campaigning day and GREN is organising election meetings on Climate Change in both Reading constitiuencies