350.org to Candidates: Commit Now to UN Climate Talks in December

Is there a way to put Obama and McCain to a simple but powerful "truth test" on their stated support for a global climate treaty?

Yes.

Publicly invite them to agree right now to attend the December UN climate change conference in Poland (COP 14) as the president-elect. Then see who commits.

That’s the latest game plan of grassroots group 350.org. Best part? Citizens are charged with emailing the invites. They’ve already fired off 14,765 at the time of publishing this post. The goal is 35,000. Whatever the number, let's hope it's big enough to force a response from both campaigns.

The group’s co-founder Bill McKibben explains how it works here:

You can send an invitation to both men, asking whichever one wins in November to make their first foreign trip a visit to the international climate conference that will be held in December in Poland. If they show up, it will not only electrify that meeting and put the world back on track toward some kind of solution -- it will also be an indication that climate change really will prove central to their presidency.

It’s a rare yes/no test for the candidates on this issue. And it couldn’t be timelier. To date, the mainstream media has largely failed to underscore or even notice climate change and the policy differences between the candidates -- let alone push them hard for answers.

(Big exception, of course, was in the most recent debate, when this question on climate was asked by the now famous Ingrid Jackson. It was selected by Tom Brokaw and his team from a pool of six million questions. Kudos.)

So go on, click here and send your invite. As McKibben says, it’s fine time to "push these guys."

Certainly you know the drill. Make noise on the Web and expose the liars -- and hopefully accountability and change will follow.

A clever video from 350.org on the "President-to-Poland" campaign is featured below, along with the full invite to the candidates.

Dear Sen. Obama/Sen. McCain

I'm writing with a simple request: attend the UN Climate Meetings this December and rejoin the world's fight against the climate crisis.

The need for an international deal has never been greater. NASA's top climate scientists have said that to avoid disaster the planet needs a plan both to cut carbon emissions sharply and immediately, and to steer a long term path back below 350 parts per million Carbon Dioxide.

And time is running out. The UN Climate Meetings mark a one year countdown to finish crafting an international climate deal

I call on the U.S. Presidential candidates to commit to going to the UN meeting in Poland in December 2008 to:

**Commit the US to mandatory reductions of Greenhouse gas emissions that meet the urgency science calls for and transition the US to a clean energy economy.

**Commit to helping developing countries reduce their emissions and adapt to the impacts of climate change, and to transfer the technology that will help bring the world to more sustainable economies.

Sending this strong signal to the world will help spur the negotiations so that a genuine global agreement meets the seriousness of the problem.

The world is ready for action.

Thank you.

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