Climate protesters demand swifter U.N. action

Reuters 6 Dec 08;

POZNAN, Poland (Reuters) - Thousands of climate protesters, some dressed as polar bears, devils or penguins, demanded on Saturday swifter action from the United Nations to combat global warming.

Outside U.N.-led talks in Poland aimed at pushing 187 countries toward stiffer targets to fight global warming, some 1,000 demonstrators said governments were risking the planet's future by delaying action to squabble over who was to blame.

Several thousand more protesters took part in a march through London to demand "urgent and radical action" from the British government on climate change.

"So far I think it's going really slowly," Susann Scherbarth from Friends of the Earth in Germany said of the talks in the western city of Poznan.

She and other protesters in Poznan waved a banner reading: "Stop clowning around, get serious about climate action."

Others carried pictures of seas inundating cities and villages, and the suited hand of a businessman squeezing the planet.

The march fell short of organizers' predictions of a turnout of several thousand and many inside the talks did not see it.

"It's not a matter for negotiators, it's a matter for politicians. They are the ones who have been blocking the whole process," said Rae-Kwon Chung, South Korea's climate change ambassador, adding that he was unaware of the event outside.

Marches, bicycle rides and other events were scheduled around the world on Saturday to mark a "Global Day of Action on Climate," said the Global Climate Campaign, an umbrella group for participants.

London police said between 4,000 and 5,000 people took part in a rally which organizers said was aimed at reminding governments not to let the issue of climate change slip down a global agenda dominated by the financial crisis.

"The current economic downturn does not make the catastrophic consequences of failing to deal with the climate crisis any less catastrophic," said Phil Thornhill, Britain's national coordinator of the Campaign Against Climate Change.

(Reporting Gerard Wynn and Megan Rowling, additional reporting by Kate Kelland in London, editing by Michael Roddy)

Thousands join climate change demo in London
Yahoo News 6 Dec 08;

LONDON (AFP) – Thousands of campaigners marched in London on Saturday to demand that the government take more action to prevent climate change.

Organisers said 10,000 people took part in the colourful procession to the Houses of Parliament, which coincided with a meeting of 192 nations in Poznan, Poland, to draft a new international climate change treaty.

Kate Tansley, of the march organisers Campaign against Climate Change, said the protest highlighted four issues, including a call for plans to build a third runway at London's Heathrow airport, one of the world's busiest, to be scrapped.

She said: "There are four 'no' issues and one 'yes' one.

"These are no to a third runway at Heathrow and the general expansion of aviation, no to coal, and no to agro-fuels," she said, referring to biofuels.

"It's good to have a more positive message though, and that is yes to investment in renewable energy and all the green jobs that it would bring."

The protesters came on bicycles and on foot, carrying placards and banners.

Student Jon Roberts, 26, said: "The turnout today shows the government how many people care about energy issues in this country and are aware of the impact it is having around the world.

"I really hope the government takes more action on energy. There may be bills and proposals to combat climate change but they need to actually do something to enforce them."

The Poznan meeting aims to lay the groundwork for a "shared vision" on how to broaden the fight against climate change after the first set of commitments made by industrialised nations under the Kyoto Protocol expire in 2012.

A new climate change treaty is scheduled for completion by December next year, although the global economic slowdown has made already delicate negotiations even more difficult.