Some of us joined the Wave in London on Saturday.  Between forty and fifty thousand ordinary folk surrounded Westminster in a good-tempered demonstration, supported by video waves from all over the world. You can even see Stretton Climate Care’s rather self-conscious contribution by putting ‘Stretton’ in the search box (my favourite is the Leeds gymnastic club’s cool stylish version).

SCC Executive member Jane

And today world leaders in Copenhagen started the talks we hope will result in agreement on a sensible level of carbon reduction over the next few years. To accompany it, 56 newspapers from 45 countries (including the Guardian in UK) published a common editorial in an unprecedented joint appeal to those leaders to “make the right choice”.

In a burst of optimism the editors suggest that “the shift to a low-carbon society holds out the prospect of more opportunity than sacrifice. Already some countries have recognized that embracing the transformation can bring growth, jobs and better quality lives. The flow of capital tells its own story: last year for the first time more was invested in renewable forms of energy than producing electricity from fossil fuels.”

It ends: “Kicking our carbon habit within a few short decades will require a feat of engineering and innovation to match anything in our history. But whereas putting a man on the moon or splitting the atom were born of conflict and competition, the coming carbon race must be driven by a collaborative effort to achieve collective salvation.

“Overcoming climate change will take a triumph of optimism over pessimism, of vision over short-sightedness, of what Abraham Lincoln called “the better angels of our nature”.

Fingers crossed, everyone…

(Read the full Guardian Text here)