Is a four-degree temperature rise acceptable?

You may have heard about the recent meeting in Sydney of the Asia Pacific Partnership for Clean Development and Climate, a group that includes countries responsible for close to 50% of global greenhouse gas emissions.

At this meeting the Australian Government proposed a doubling of greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, implying that an increase in the global average temperature of 4°C is acceptable to the Government.

However, scientists tell us that a rise of little more than 2°C in global average temperature will have very severe economic, social and environmental consequences.

Do you think a 4° temperature rise is acceptable? Do you feel this is this a responsible approach to climate change?

Please make your voice heard by contacting your local MP - by phone or sending a letter - you can find the MP for your electorate, including their address details, here. (Not sure what your electorate is? You can find out here)

Sample text for your letter

Simply copy the text below into your word processor (e.g. Microsoft Word), replace the text "[[INSERT YOUR NAME AND ADDRESS HERE]]" with your details, and then fax or post it using the details mentioned above.

If you can, please also send us a copy of the letter so that we can gauge how many letters have been sent.

Dear [[Insert your local member's name here]],

I would like to express to you my serious concern about global warming and the federal government's approach to addressing climate change, as recently announced in its report to the meeting of the Asia Pacific Partnership for Clean Development and Climate.

In this report the Australian Government proposed a doubling of greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, implying that an increase in the global average temperature of 4°C is acceptable to the Government. However, scientists tell us that a rise of little more than 2°C in global average temperature will have very severe economic, social and environmental consequences, including:

• South-eastern NSW and Victoria and south-western Western Australia becoming hotter, drier and more affected by droughts and bushfires - with similar changes to existing temperature and rainfall patterns occurring in many other countries;
• Droughts, floods, cyclones and severe storms occurring more frequently in Australia generally - with more extreme weather events becoming more frequent in many other countries as well;
• Coastal areas of Australia, Asia and Oceania becoming inundated by rising sea levels;
• Tropical diseases spreading south (in the northern hemisphere - north) into the temperate zone including to Sydney, Perth, Newcastle and Wollongong.
• It follows that the Australian Government's acceptance of a rise of more than 4°C will lead to even more severe consequences.

Please convey my concerns to Prime Minister John Howard and ask him to:

• Establish a long-term target to cut greenhouse gas emissions of 20% below 1990 levels by 2020, and by more than 60% by 2050
• Establish a national emission trading scheme
• Establish a mandatory target to boost Australia's use of clean green energy technologies (such as wind power, solar and bio-mass)
• Implement initiatives to improve the efficiency of industry, electrical appliances and cars
• Work positively to reduce global greenhouse pollution by ratifying the Kyoto Protocol

Yours sincerely

[[INSERT YOUR NAME AND ADDRESS HERE]]

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Is a four-degree temperature rise acceptable?

Sample text for your letter

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