Climate Activists Wish Obama Happy Birthday with Copenhagen Ticket
Where: The White House, northwest gate
Who: Climate activists with Avaaz.org
What: Photo op with activists and giant Obama face in party hats holding giant plane ticket to Copenhagen, Denmark for UN Climate Change Negotiations
WASHINGTON, DC — Today climate advocates with Avaaz.org will celebrate President Obama’s Birthday dressed for the party. And don’t worry, they won’t forget the party hats and noise-makers. They will be delivering a giant plane ticket to Copenhagen, Denmark and will be eating (and distributing) danishes in order to encourage Mr. Obama to travel to the UN climate negotiations in Copenhagen this December, where they hope he will play a major role in negotiating an ambitious, fair, and binding climate change treaty.
President Obama will even be showing up at the party, or at least a giant Obama head, to receive the gift and celebrate with the other party-goers. The party organizers say it’s crucial that President Obama attends the negotiations in Copenhagen in order to ensure the treaty meets the scale of the problem, while jump-starting a new era of prosperity based on clean energy. “The clock is ticking for fighting climate change, and Copenhagen is the crucial moment for global action,” said Julie Erickson, one of the birthday party attendees. “If Obama goes, it will set a different tone, dramatically raise the stakes for other countries, and ultimately result in a better deal.” Obama the candidate pledged he would lead on climate change and would work with foreign allies to ensure this problem is handled with the urgency that the science demands.
One crucial sticking point at negotiations is the question of how much developing countries will commit to help poor and especially vulnerable countries cope with the impacts of climate change. At the G8 meeting last month, President Obama asked the G20 finance ministers to look into funding possibilities, and the party-goers say they hope that this effort will be fruitful in moving a global treaty forward. But they insist that the President’s presence in Copenhagen will be absolutely necessary for bringing hope, ambition, trust and fairness to the negotiating table.
The party-goers will be dancing, clapping, and celebrating while making sure that president Obama knows that he should use his birthday plane tickets (and the tickets for Michelle, Sasha, and Malia) wisely this coming December to show the world that the United States is truly serious about fighting global warming.
