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For Immediate Release, December 18, 2009

Contact:  Kassie Siegel, ksiegel@biologicaldiversity.org, (951) 768-8301 (U.S. cell in Copenhagen);
Bill Snape, bsnape@biologicaldiversity.org, (202) 536-9351

Center for Biological Diversity Statement on "Deal" at Copenhagen

COPENHAGEN— Upon news of a non-legally binding accord today in Copenhagen, Kierán Suckling, executive director of the Center for Biological Diversity, had the following response:

“We all know what we must do to solve global warming, but even the architects of this deal acknowledge that it does not take those necessary steps. Merely acknowledging the weaknesses of the deal, as President Obama has done, does not excuse its failings. If this is the best we can do, it is not nearly good enough. We stand at the precipice of climatic tipping points beyond which a climate crash will be out of our control. We cannot make truly meaningful and historic steps with the United States pledging to reduce carbon dioxide emissions by only 3 percent below 1990 levels by 2020. The science demands far more.

“The people of the United States voted for President Obama based on his promise of change and hope. But the only change today’s agreement brings is a greater risk of dangerous climate change. And the only hope that flows from Copenhagen stems not from the president’s hollow pronouncements but from the birth of a diverse global movement demanding real solutions and climate justice — demands made with a collective voice growing loud enough that in short order politicians will no longer be able to ignore it.”

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The Center for Biological Diversity is a national, nonprofit conservation organization with more than 240,000 members and online activists dedicated to the protection of endangered species and wild places.


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