Peace Day Wall

Avaaz is considering a massive, network-wide push for a "global wake-up call" to world leaders on September 21st. This would be the biggest organizing effort we've ever done, aiming to bring our whole network out (peacefully!) to the streets, ringing alarms, holding massive rallies in major cities, and gathering to send wake-up messages from schools, homes, and public squares. From all these places, we would flood world leaders with phone calls, and the actual sound of these millions of voices would be recorded, condensed and presented to heads of state at the UN climate summit in New York the next day.

If we do this, Avaaz will spend the next 4 weeks almost non-stop on it, and it will take hundreds of thousands of us joining efforts to pull it together -- hosting and attending events, reaching out to our communities, using all our creativity and dedication. This is an important decision, and we need to make it together. From now until September 21 -- should we do it?


The goal of our wake-up call is a big one: to convince the world's leaders to meet at the final climate talks in Copenhagen this December and sign an ambitious, fair and binding treaty to stop catastrophic climate change.

Talks on the treaty have been building for years. Now, 100 days from Copenhagen, we're nearing a tipping point -- and a huge global roar could make the difference.

If we take this on, we won't be alone. Avaaz has been working closely with a new, massive coalition of global civil society groups, from Oxfam to WWF to Greenpeace, to multiply the world's voices for climate action. The joint campaign's name is Tck Tck Tck -- the sound of a ticking clock, as time runs short. Every group involved shares the vision of success in Copenhagen, and we can't succeed without everyone. The question is -- should Avaaz make this climate wake-up call its #1 priority through September 21?

The result of the vote is 96% YES!

 

Dear friends,

the results are in – more than 100,000 Avaaz members took part in the worldwide vote about whether we should go all out to organise a massive global wake-up call on climate change on September 21, and over 96% of us voted YES!

Now let’s get to work. More information about what will happen on the day is below, but the first step is to consider registering a climate wake-up call event to take place in your local area on the 21st. These will be quick, politically powerful, and a lot of fun. Our goal is to organise thousands of wake-up events (or "flashmobs") in public places all over the world -- showing a massive public demand for our lagging leaders to sign a fair and binding deal to stop climate catastrophe and unleash a new green economy this year.

The basic plan is so easy that anyone can register an event, and Avaaz technology will do the work of helping other people find one near them. We’ll send simple instructions about how to make these events successful: people will gather in groups at an agreed time on Sept 21st for a few minutes, and together make a phone call to their elected leader to press for climate action. Photos, videos and phone-calls from these events around the world will then be compiled into a powerful package and delivered to world leaders and the media at the UN climate summit the next day!

Click below now to register a climate wake-up event in your area, or keep reading to learn more:

http://www.avaaz.org/en/sept21_hosts

The climate wake-up events are based on the idea of “flashmobs” -- fun, peaceful demonstrations in which participants assemble suddenly in a public place, blending in with the crowd, perform an unusual action simultaneously for a few minutes, and then quickly disperse. They will be mostly self-organising, so should be easy for everyone involved.

On the morning of September 21, everyone participating will set our alarms and gather together a few minutes before the assigned time, at locations chosen by the hosts in our local area. When our alarms go off, we'll hold up our mobile phones and find each other, and then, as a group, call our leaders to urge them to go to Copenhagen and sign a fair, ambitious, and binding climate treaty this year. We'll make as much noise as we can, while recording videos and photos for the UN presentation -- then head back to work, school, or home to upload the results!

Your role is straightforward: you just need to choose the location (a good public place near you) and register a Sept 21 event using our online tool, encourage friends to attend, and read through a short kit beforehand so you have all the information you’ll need. Get creative or keep it simple -- it's a fun way to contribute to the climate movement, and a great way to meet other Avaaz members.

Thousands of simultaneous events will give us a great chance to seize the attention of world media and of leaders everywhere. Our partners in the TckTckTck campaign will be working alongside us -- citizens’ groups and NGOs everywhere, helping to organize wake-up call events on the same day, from film screenings and dancing to aerial photography. But at the heart of it all are these grassroots wake-up call events which we as citizens need to make happen... so if you think you can commit to attend one of these events on the 21st September and you can think of a good place for it near you, register a local event at this link now:

http://www.avaaz.org/en/sept21_hosts

The climate crisis is a massive challenge. Together we can beat it, but time is short -- we can't rely on old tactics to generate new results. Let's get creative!

See you on Sept 21,

Ben, Iain, Taren, Paul, Graziela, Ricken, Paula, Luis, Alice J, Pascal, Benjamin, Alice W, Brett, Milena, Raluca, Julius, Margaret, Veronique, Chris -- and the whole Avaaz.org team

PS: If you can’t commit to host an event, don’t worry -- just keep an eye out for more wake-up call messages from us soon, giving you the opportunity to sign up to participate in one of the events or to take action from home.

These Climate Wake-Up Call events are an experiment in so-called "flash mobs". You can learn more about flash mobs here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flash_mob

The default time for the wake-up events will be 12.18pm on September 21, standing for the 18th day of the 12th month (the final day of the vital UN climate conference in Copenhagen, the deadline for a new climate treaty) -- lunchtime -- but you can set another time for your event on the 21st if that works better for you. Thousands of simultaneous climate wake-up call flash mobs will help focus global attention on the climate crisis. Be the first to register an event in your area now! http://www.avaaz.org/en/sept21_hosts