Taken from the book “Breakthrough”, special edition for TEDxAmsterdam 2009.

In Europe, for the second year running the United Nations Regional Information Centre for Western Europe (UNRIC) has launched a European public information campaign. CoolPlanet2009 is the centerpiece of the European chorus to “Seal the Deal”. It is geared at generating interest and involvement in climate change issues and to explore what else is happening in and around Europe.

The website, www.CoolPlanet2009.org, went live at a press conference of the five Nordic Prime Ministers at the Blue Lagoon, Iceland, on the 27th of February this year. UNRIC is working with artists, individuals and NGOs to put climate change on the agenda and mobilise support for a new climate agreement in December. On the website you can see what Europe is doing in terms of events, project and innovations. Using the wall of events you can post your own initiatives or be inspired by what others are doing.

The calls to Seal the Deal was first introduced in Europe at a press conference in Brussels on 23 April by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and European Commission President José Manuel Barroso. President Barroso promised the European Union’s support:

“We have to Seal the Deal, this is indeed our priority now to Seal the Deal in Copenhagen and I want to say that we are going to work hand in hand with the United Nations to make that a great success for the future of our planet.”

In order to spread the message further and promote the global chorus, Cool-Planet2009 has joined forces with numerous Cool Friends andPartners, such as French photographer Yann Arthus Bertrand and his NGO Good Planet, the Icelandic rock band Sigur Rós, Björk´s NGO Náttúra; UK green band Weapons of Sound and the three chairwomen of Road to Copenhagen initiative, Margot Wallström, Vice President of the European Union, Gro Harlem Brundtland, UN Special Envoy on Climate Change and Mary Robinson, former President of Ireland.

The first concerned European citizen to join the campaign was the Icelandic artist Björk who participated in a press conference in Brussels on 6 November 2008, where the CoolPlanet2009 initiative was first presented. Among our other supporters, Cool Planet2009 is promoting is a new Wear-Seal-the-Deal concept designed in partnership with the Belgian designer Jean-Paul Knott, featuring downloadable Seal the Deal campaign tools based on a do-it-yourself philosophy. It includes Seal the Deal postcards, pins and t-shirts. Jean-Paul Knott explains every step of the production in a 3 minute Wear-Sealthe-Deal video clip.

You can also watch the new 30 second video of Seal the Deal Europe, all of which can be found on the website or on YouTube.

The web-based campaign’s aim is to galvanize public support and to get Europeans to join the rest of the world in sending a message to world leaders that will gather in Copenhagen in December. The message is simple but urgent: “Seal the Deal” in December to protect people and the planet we live on. Time is of the essence. The latest scientific statistics shows our climate is changing more rapidly than estimated in the 2007 Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report. Millions of people are already suffering from the effects of climate change. Hundreds of millions more could be affected if we do not act immediately. Leadership at the highest level is needed to protect the planet, save lives, and build a more sustainable global economy for all. Reaching a deal by the time the meetings end on December 18th will depend not only on he political negotiations but also on the public pressure from around the globe. Public support must be galvanized.

More information can be found on CoolPlanet2009.org.