Monday, September 29, 2008

Letter from Sierra Club Canada

Sierra Club Canada

September 24, 2008


Dear Sunshine Walk - Climate Justice Walk to Ottawa Organizers,

Sierra Club Canada wishes to convey its full support of the Sunshine Walk – Climate Justice Walk to Ottawa taking place between October 4th and 20th, 2008. We hope that your action will help to increase the awareness of the impacts of climate change on Canadians and Canadian ecosystems as well as global ecosystems and populations.

Climate change is an unparalleled and unequivocal man-made environmental crisis. Around the world we are already witnessing numerous climate change impacts, including ice-loss, drought, flooding, extreme weather events, and forest fires. In Canada, we have seen the melting of glaciers, the dramatic loss of sea-ice in the Arctic, loss of permafrost, and the destruction of forests by the pine beetle. Without immediate action, long-term impacts such as rising sea levels will result in millions of environmental refugees and destruction of crops will lead to world-wide famine.

In order to prevent catastrophically dangerous climate change, the global average temperature increase above pre-industrial levels must be kept below 2 degrees Celsius. In order achieve this, global greenhouse gas emissions must be stabilized and begin to decline before 2015, and be further reduced to less than 50 per cent of 1990 levels by 2050. This means that developed countries, including Canada, must reduce emissions 25 to 40 per cent by 2020, and 80 to 95 per cent by 2050. Canada’s current efforts to address climate change are insufficient and we must do much more.

We hope that your walk is a success and helps to further educate Canadians and governmental officials on the urgent need for action to address climate change.

Sincerely,

Stephen Hazell
Executive Director
412-1 Nicholas Street,
Ottawa ON
K1N 7B7
Tel: (613) 241-4611
Fax: (613) 241-2292
email: info@sierraclub.ca
web: http://www.sierraclub.ca/

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