We want discussions in Copenhagen to focus on efforts that cut carbon and improve the lives of the poor. One example are cookstoves that require less firewood, which make life safer for mothers in eastern Congo like 25-year-old Mukeshimana Zawadi. Photo: Miguel Samper for Mercy Corps
December 3, 2009
Dear friend,
Next week I'm headed to Copenhagen, where I'll represent Mercy Corps at the much-anticipated Climate Change Conference hosted by the UN.
When I booked my trip months ago, I had high hopes that this important gathering would result in real change — like solid emissions targets for greenhouse gases and commitments from key nations.
While today my expectations aren't quite as high, I believe the stakes have never been higher — especially for the families Mercy Corps works alongside every day. I'll be there seeking every opportunity to turn people's attention to helping these families confront climate change and contribute to clean-energy solutions. Follow me on my blog, on Facebook and on Twitter.
Mercy Corps is already working in impoverished communities to blunt the worst effects of global warming. We're also finding ways we can create economic opportunities by cutting carbon emissions.
- In the war-ravaged Congo, we've taught 20,000 women how to build fuel-efficient stoves that lessen the impact on surrounding forest and lower carbon emissions.
- In Ethiopia, we're turning household waste like fruit rinds and potato peels into fuel briquettes for cooking and heating.
- In Bosnia, we're helping turn discarded frying oil into fuel to power municipal buses.
What's next? We need to help the poor switch to cleaner and better energy. We need to help millions in massive coastal slums prepare for rising seas. We need to prepare famine-risk countries for increasingly erratic weather and diminished access to water.
In the meantime, please keep the pressure on the decisionmakers in your country and your community to address climate change. As dull as it sounds, we need to get onto our political representatives and ask them to take this seriously. Families in the world's poorest and most vulnerable communities need you.
Thanks for your interest and commitment to our cause. Stay tuned, and don't forget to follow me next week on my blog, on Facebook and on Twitter.
Best,
Jim Jarvie
Director, Climate Change, Environment and Natural Resources