Archived press release

Climate change in spotlight at London 'I Count' event

1 August 2006

The Stop Climate Chaos coalition today announced it is to stage `I Count', a huge event in London's Trafalgar Square, on Saturday 4<sup>th</sup> November, 2006 at 1pm. Thousands of people who care about climate change are expected to turn out, be counted and demand politicians take action. The event is part of the wider `I Count' campaign to stop climate chaos, launching at the beginning of October.

People will be travelling to the event from across the UK in ingenious low-carbon ways and welcomed to the Square by comic compres introducing addresses from high-profile supporters and music performances.

Ashok Sinha, Director of Stop Climate Chaos, said: "Climate change is affecting us all, now. We urge everyone who is concerned to join us on Saturday 4^th November and `be counted'. Whether you're a gardener suffering with unpredictable weather, a parent worried for your child's future, someone concerned about drought and famine in Africa or a nature-lover watching our native species disappear, `I Count' is an opportunity for us all to come together and make our voices heard."

Everyone who signs up to the campaign via text message or by logging onto the campaign website (to be launched in October at www.icount.org.uk) will be counted `virtually' on the day. A live counter will clock up those in the Square and those who care but couldn't come.

The `I Count' event precedes the next round of climate change negotiations in Nairobi, Kenya, that start on 6<sup>th</sup> November. The UK Government will be at the table, and the `I Count' campaign is calling on them to provide:

Action for justice: To provide all necessary assistance to developing countries to both adapt to climate change and, in the longer term, get access to sufficient clean energy to meet their developmental needs.

Action internationally: Make it a top priority to ensure that global greenhouse gas emissions are irreversibly declining by 2015.

Action in the UK: The first step the government can take towards delivering annual reductions in greenhouse gas emissions of 3% (through the creation of a comprehensive Carbon Budget), as well as providing proper support for developing countries, is to announce in the forthcoming Queen's Speech that it will introduce a new Bill to pave the way for the legislation necessary to do this.

Stop Climate Chaos is a growing coalition of many of the UK's leading environment, development and women's organisations, activist and faith-based groups. Its members include Christian Aid, Friends of the Earth, Greenpeace, Islamic Foundation for Ecology and Environmental Sciences, Oxfam, People & Planet, RSPB, Tearfund, UNISON, The Wildlife Trusts, National Federation of Women's Institutes and WWF.

Notes

1. www.stopclimatechaos.org or www.icount.org.uk

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Published by Friends of the Earth Trust