Star the political activist
<td _base_target="_blank"> </td><td _base_target="_blank">Dear friends,

This weekend, leaders of 21 nations--including the USA, China and Japan--are meeting at the APEC summit in Sydney, Australia. The summit has become the epicentre of a vital debate: whether to set binding global targets to avert catastrophic climate change, or to retreat to voluntary "aspirational goals" amounting to nothing more than hot air.

We've teamed up with Australian allies GetUp to create spectacles inSydney, the climate-endangered Great Barrier Reef and around theworld—heading off an "Axis of Global Warming" through a mediafirestorm, and sending our petition to key leaders. Can you help us break the half-million barrier this weekend? You've already signed the petition, but you can help by forwarding this email to five more friends to ask them to add their voices:

http://www.avaaz.org/en/apec_petition/i.php

Over 400,000 people have already signed, and on Friday we're launching a massive 144-square metre floating canvas "target" at Sydney's iconic Bondi Beach where it will be taken out to sea by surfers. Next stop, Saturday, swimmers will float this banner over the Great Barrier Reef --which current predictions suggest will be killed off by climate changebefore 2030. Thousands of people from every continent have joined in byuploading climate target pictures of their own.

George Bush of the US and Australia's John Howard are seeking to derailour efforts for a new global climate deal, and to convert the waverers.But both are lagging behind their publics, with elections expectedsoon. We need to reinforce the efforts of leaders like New Zealand's Prime Minister Helen Clark,whose chief of staff has confirmed to Avaaz she will be working forbinding targets at APEC. Let's win over the undecided countries, andadd hundreds of thousands more voices round the world: only bindingtargets can prevent a climate disaster.

http://www.avaaz.org/en/apec_petition/i.php

The APEC summit isn't just a talk-shop. It's the kick-off to a stringof top-level meetings in the coming months, all leading up to alandmark conference in Bali, Indonesia which will begin to write thenext Kyoto Protocol. What happens in Australia could set the direction,for good or bad. But thanks to the worldwide movement that has beengrowing all year--from the G8 to Live Earth--we now have a real chanceto shape the outcome.

Scientists agree, now is humanity's window of opportunity to stop aclimate catastrophe. The world can't afford to miss this chance -- soplease, spread the word today.</td>