**********PLEASE FORWARD WIDELY TO YOUR NETWORKS************
*** U.S. DELEGATION AT THE WORLD SUMMIT THREATENS THE FUTURE OF RENEWABLE ENERGY! ***
We, the Greenpeace Youth Delegation at the World Summit (WSSD) in Johannesburg, have witnessed the continual undoing of major international agreements by the U.S. delegation.
We are calling upon you to join the U.S Youth here at WSSD to commit to renewable energy solutions. Please sign onto the following letter to President Bush urging the United States to make binding commitments to facilitate the global transition to a path of sustainable development. Additionally, please also include a brief description of actions you and your organization are taking to support sustainable development.
Please fax/email the signed letter to President Bush at:
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Ave, N.W.
Washington, D.C., 20500
F: 1-202-456-2461
T: 1-202-456-1111
E: president@whitehouse.gov
Please note: it will be most effective to follow-up after faxing/emailing the letter with a telephone call to the White House.
To announce our commitment, we have planned a press event to expose this fact and pledge our commitment to the binding agreements for clean, renewable energy. The U.S. youth press event will be tomorrow, on Tuesday, 3 September, 2002 (10.15am - 11.30am, Sandton Square, Jo'burg) and will include youth from over 20 organizations and college campuses across the country. Jan Pronk, the UN Secretary-General's Special Envoy to the WSSD and former chairman of the Kyoto Protocol negotiations, will endorse the signing of the U.S Youth Action Plan by not only U.S. youth representatives, but also the official U.S. Youth Delegate.
*** HELP U.S. YOUTH AT WSSD TAKE ACTION TO COMMIT TO SUSTAINABLE ENERGY SOURCES! ***
Sincerely,
The Greenpeace Youth Delegation to WSSD
Andrea Avolio - CA
Kristin Casper - CO
Julian Dautremont-Smith - OR
Nadia del Callejo - CA
Patricia Feeney - AL
Abigail Krich - MA
Melony Lewis - LA
Maggie Loo - NY
Roberto Nutlouis - AZ
Noah Scher - VA
Joshua Tulkin – CA
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Resource Links:
1. Current negotiations at WSSD:
http://archive.greenpeace.org/earthsummit/weblog/
2. Renewable Energy:
http://www.repp.org
http://cleanenergy.org/cleanenergy/
3. Greenpeace Youth Delegation to WSSD:
http://archive.greenpeace.org/earthsummit/student_intro.html
4. SustainUS:
http://www.SustainUS.org
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September 2nd, 2002
President George W. Bush
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Ave, N.W.
Washington, DC 20500
Dear President Bush,
We, the youth of the United States of America, call for immediate action from the U.S. delegation at the World Summit on Sustainable Development (W.S.S.D.). The United States must make binding commitments to facilitate the global transition to a path of sustainable development.
Specifically, we call on our delegation to make binding commitments to ensure:
* That the global renewable energy target in paragraph 19e does not include large-scale hydro-electric power, nuclear power, incineration, or unsustainable biomass. Instead, it must increase the share of clean renewable energy in the world’s energy supply to at least 10% by 2010, specified as a binding outcome from the summit;
* That fossil fuel subsidies that inhibit sustainable development are phased-out, and that 20% of those phased-out monies be redirected into an international fund for sustainable energy projects in developing countries, and economies in transition (paragraph 19p.bis);
* That a moratorium is declared on fossil fuel exploration, particularly against exploration on or near land of indigenous peoples and poor communities, as they often bear a disproportionate share of the human and ecological devastation associated with unsustainable energy production operations, and
* That the ratification of the Kyoto Protocol be supported in paragraph 36.
In addition, we support the creation and empowerment of a global organization that will have powers to enforce sustainable development law, multi-lateral environmental agreements and a sustainable future that cannot be undermined by the WTO.
Sincerely,