The NOW! team has written an official letter to ask the German government to demand that our request for a declaration of a Global Climate Emergency is tabled for debate during its presidency at the UN Security Council. This letter has been signed by German politicians, at the national, local and European level.
Dear Chancellor Merkel,
Climate change is a threat to our existence now, and not a dramatic phenomenon that will happen far away in the future. It has already started destroying lives on our planet: climatic changes already are estimated to cause over 150,000 deaths annually, and more than 22.5 million people per year are forcibly displaced due to extreme weather disasters. Individual countries and regional organisations have not been able to come up with a coordinated approach on how to stop climate change and now this is a ticking bomb that can only be disarmed if we work as One.
People around the world have marched, struck and it's time for their voices to be heard. Believing or not in climate change is not a matter of opinion, belief, religion nor education, but really the overwhelming evidence shows that because of our actions, the world is in peril. One alley only remains: the global approach. Countries must come together now to push forward new solutions to stop the disastrous consequences of climate change. We need binding actions that will really push each and every one of the biggest polluters in the world to stop what they are doing and start to take climate change seriously.
We, elected representatives of the German people, ask that asking that the Federal Republic of Germany tables this topic for debate at the first available meeting of the United Nations Security Council. As the member holding the rotating Presidency of the United Nations Security Council in July, you have considerable influence over the matter. We are demanding that you recognize climate change as a threat to peace under Chapter VII of the Charter of the United Nations, and as a result, declare a Global Climate Emergency and decide on measures to counter the climate crisis.
That is why we, current elected and appointed representatives from Germany, ask the Chancellor to:
- Support and push forward this request to be tabled during the German presidency of the United Nations Security Council in July,
- Act upon this existential threat to our existence by working with the other members of the United Nations Security Council to propose a coordinate approach,
- Stand up against climate change!