Dramatic pictures: emergency stop for climate change‏

Just a few hours ago, Greenpeace activists climbed aboard the coal conveyor and hit the safety switches, taking action to shut down the Munmorah coal-fired power station on the NSW Central Coast, the oldest in the state. As you read this email, our activists are still there. They've already prevented hundreds of tonnes of dangerous climate pollution and are receiving national media attention.View videos and live pictures of our activists on the scene at the coal power plant, and sign our urgent petition.We realise this sounds dramatic, even radical. Yet, drastic action to reduce emissions is what the world's scientists are calling for to avoid the worst impacts of temperature rises. The fact is coal is killing our climate, and left unchecked will cause a social and economic disaster for Australia. Meanwhile, the climate policies both major parties are taking to next week's election will actually see emissions increase.
Click here to sign Greenpeace's major new petition addressed directly to our next Prime Minister - of whichever party. Tell him we're tired of in-action, we're not going to be confused by false solutions, and we're very concerned for our children's future.
There is no escaping it. Stopping climate change will mean drastic reductions in climate pollution, and that means closing down coal-fired power stations. Munmorah, one of the oldest and dirtiest in Australia, would be a great place to start.
The total annual output of Munmorah could be replaced if half the households in NSW switched to solar hot water. And a recently announced wind farm near Broken Hill would produce twice as much electricity as Mumorah - but it may never be built if our politicians do not implement policies promoting renewable energy over dirty coal.Australians are innovators and rise to a challenge - and there is no need to admit defeat.
Help us close Munmorah, and all Australia's coal plants by joining our petition - to be delivered soon. Our activists today at Munmorah are in regular contact and every person who signs their name adds strength to our joint message.
Thanks for taking action, please consider forwarding this call to your friends,
Greenpeace
PS: The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change reports this week, and Greenpeace is in Canberra providing analysis for journalists and policy-makers. Our climate guru, scientist Melanie Fitzpatrick, explains the latest IPCC report on our blog.

Beautiful video

World to US Congress: act now on climate‏

The United States has long been the world's most powerful opponent of progress on climate change. But next week, that could begin to change. US activists are organizing a massive outcry against President Bush's position--and on Monday, thousands of youth leaders will converge in Washington to lobby their members of Congress on climate policy.The youth leaders have asked for messages from around the world about the climate crisis--and have promised to hand-deliver them to Senators and members of Congress.The timing is on the mark: in less than a month, UN negotiations begin on successor to the Kyoto Protocol. A strong worldwide message now could stiffen the nerve of US leaders to support decisive action. Send your message to the US Congress by clicking below:http://www.avaaz.org/en/congress_climate_message/5.php/?cl=35061007The United States, with just 5% of the world's population, emits 25% of all greenhouse gases. What's more, the US government has undermined the wider international community's ability to act, giving cover to those, such as Australia's John Howard, who refuse to ratify the Kyoto Protocol. But the next US president, who will be elected this coming year, is likely to be very different from Bush. And already, the US Congress is showing a willingness to change. This progress has been driven from below--by a surging movement to change the United States' role in the climate crisis.Let's show the young people at the forefront of this movement that the world stands with them. Avaaz will gather the messages this Sunday to make sure they're in the youth leaders' hands on Monday morning. The most effective messages are personal, sincere, and respectful. Click below to tell US leaders why their climate policy should change : http://www.avaaz.org/en/congress_climate_message/5.php/?cl=35061007Throughout this year, we've built momentum for a breakthrough--from the G8 in Germany to APEC in Australia, we've worked together to bring hundreds of thousands of citizen voices into the climate debate. If the United States steps up, the UN summit in Bali this December could be a turning point for our planet. We can help make it happen.

Help to save the habitat for tigers and other wildlife

Help Save Habitat for Tigers and Other Wildlife
The insatiable demand for cheap wood products and luxury hardwoods in the United States, Europe and Japan is driving illegal logging operations worldwide -- logging that destroys vital habitat for endangered tigers, jaguars, orangutans and other wildlife.
Take action now to save tigers and other wildlife threatened by illegal logging. Fill out the form below to send your Senators a message urging them to support the Combat Illegal Logging Act of 2007 (S.1930), legislation that would make it a crime in America to knowingly import, sell, buy or transport illegally-sourced wood and wood products.

Take action: https://secure2.convio.net/dow/site/Advocacy?pagename=homepage&page=UserAction&id=817&autologin=true&s_einterest=C3C4&JServSessionIdr007=r0jmkdt9j6.app25a

Greenhouse gases

This weekend, leaders of 21 nations--responsible for half the world's greenhouse gases--will meet at the APEC summit in Australia. Climate change tops their agenda. But according to leaks, a growing number around US President Bush and Australia's John Howard want to ditch the binding global targets needed to avert catastrophic climate change, and replace them with empty rhetoric about "aspirational goals" and voluntary action. The global climate movement has built up tremendous energy this year--we mustn't let the cynics hijack our campaign and turn it into hot air. We need to make sure the Asia-Pacific leaders, and the 1100 journalists covering the summit, can't ignore the world's call for binding targets. To grab their attention, let's create a spectacular photo petition of "target" images all over the world--we already have "target ceremonies" planned at the Great Barrier Reef, Patagonia, Palau, and many more! Submitting your own target photo is easy and fun--click here to learn how: http://www.avaaz.org/en/apec/b.php
To contribute, you can just draw a target--a dot with circles around it--on the palm of your hand, and snap a photo with your cell phone,
You could print the special target logo from our website, and take a picture of yourself holding it up as a sign,
Or get creative--paint it on the side of your house, carve it into a snowbank or a beach, or get friends together and make a human target in a park.Once you have your picture, click through to our website at this link to send it to Avaaz-- it will pop up in our global photo map right away. We'll also show the first wave of photos at a big press conference in Sydney this Wednesday 5th September, so there's no time to spare! We'll also deliver the biggest global petition for binding climate targets--we can use the "targets" spectacle to amplify our efforts. Avaaz has worked with Australian allies at GetUp to plan a stunning series of target ceremonies--including a 144 square-metre target banner that swimmers will float over the Great Barrier Reef. (If climate change is not reined in, the Reef will be extinct by 2030. Its caretakers are excited to help keep it alive!) These powerful images will join the photos contributed by the rest of us around the world, to send an unmistakable, global call to action. We want to make sure the leaders gathering in Australia see targets on the news as they go to sleep, and in the newspapers when they wake up. So click here to see all the targets that have been sent in so far, and to send in your own: http://www.avaaz.org/en/apec/b.php Last week, after international campaigners revealed prime minister Howard's plans to junk real targets at APEC (the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Summit), Australia's main opposition party took up the rallying cry. Howard is set to call an election shortly after the summit. By focusing public attention on this issue, we can multiply the pressure on him and other leaders in the "Axis of Global Warming"--and strengthen the hands of those leaders who support the right policies, from New Zealand to Chile and the Philippines. Most of all, we can try to pin down those wavering leaders in the middle, unsure which way to decide. Every leader must answer: do they support global, binding targets? Or are they full of hot air and voluntary "aspirations"?The APEC summit is the first of a string of critical meetings this fall, leading up to a major conference in Bali, Indonesia where work will begin on the next Kyoto Protocol. What happens in Australia will shape everything that comes after. And because of the worldwide movement that hundreds of thousands of Avaaz members have driven forward--from the G8 to Live Earth--we now have a real chance to shape what happens in Sydney. The world needs binding global targets to stop climate catastrophe. Let's join together, demand action, and aim high -
Here are some links for more information on the issue of climate change at APEC, as well as the Summit's implications for the rest of the world:
http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/09/03/africa/apec.php
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/6976617.stm
http://www.avaaz.org/blog/en/