Trekking 1000 miles to Save the Planet

down | environment | press release Monday July 09, 2007 11:16 by Florence Mutesasira - Christian Aid Ireland fmutesasira at christian-aid dot org ++35316110801

Longest protest march in UK history to launch from Bangor, Co Down

Christian Aid's Cut the Carbon 1,000 mile march from Northern Ireland to London will launch from Bangor Marina at 12 noon on Saturday, 14 July 2007. The march will highlight the devastating impact global warming is having on millions of poor people in developing countries.

Christian Aid's Cut the Carbon 1,000 mile march from Northern Ireland to London will launch from Bangor Marina at 12 noon on Saturday, 14 July 2007. The march will highlight the devastating impact global warming is having on millions of poor people in developing countries.

Twenty marchers, including Irishman Rev Neil Cutcliffe and ten of Christian Aid's overseas partners, will sail from Bangor across the Irish Sea to Troon in Scotland in a flotilla of yachts led by the 'Four Sisters', a flagship of the Ocean Youth Trust in Ireland. There will be a reception ceremony in Troon at 4pm on Sunday, 15 July 2007.

The twenty walkers will take eleven weeks to walk via Edinburgh, Leeds, Birmingham, Cardiff and the Labour Party conference in Bournemouth before arriving at the London Stock Exchange on 2 October 2007. They will call on companies trading inside the London Stock Exchange to publish a full account of their global carbon footprint in their annual reports and commit to at least a 5% cut in CO2 emissions per year.

The march will visit 70 towns and cities from Bangor to London. More than 50,000 people are expected to get involved along the way by joining the walkers on parts of the route and attending rallies and demonstrations across the UK.

Christian Aid is also calling on the UK government to:

· Develop a mandatory standard that companies can use to calculate their CO2 emissions.

· Require companies to publish details of their CO2 emissions using this standard.

· Push for a fair international agreement that will deliver at least an 80 per cent cut in global CO2 emissions by 2050.

Deborah Doherty, organiser of the Northern Ireland launch of the Cut the Carbon protest said: “This is a huge undertaking for the volunteer walkers and we want to ensure that we give them a great send off from Northern Ireland. They can be assured of our thoughts and prayers as they march in solidarity with the world’s poor who are experiencing the impact of climate change now.”

Rev Neil Cutcliffe, is the Rector of Mossley Parish, Newtownabbey, Co Antrim. Neil says, “95% of people in the British Isles are aware of the fact of global warming and 28% are aware that it is already causing dramatic change as we speak. The trouble is only 7% of people are aware that, as individuals, there is something we can do about it. It is that figure of 7% we hope to increase as a result of this Cut the Carbon march.”

Details of the rallies and key events:

July 14: Bangor Marina, Co Antrim - Launch off of Cut the Carbon march at 12 noon
July 21: Edinburgh - Stop Climate Chaos /icount Rally, The Meadows at 4.30pm
August 4: Newcastle - St Thomas' Church, Haymarket at 11.30am
August 11: Leeds - Stop Climate Chaos /icount Rally, Victoria Gardens at 4.45pm
August 27: Birmingham - Stop Climate Chaos /icount Rally, Canonhill Park at 2pm
September 8: Cardiff - Stop Climate Chaos /icount Rally, Cooper’s Field at 3.30pm
September 23: Bournemouth - Labour Party Conference
October 2: London - Stop Climate Chaos /icount Rally, London Stock Exchange, service in St Paul’s Cathedral at 2pm to mark end of the march

For further details contact:

Deborah Doherty
Northern Ireland Co-ordinator
Christian Aid
Tel: (Belfast) 9038 1204
ddoherty@christian-aid.org.