Celebrate! Good news for the world Kyoto Protocol takes effect February 16, 2005

Join city council members in celebration of an international climate agreement
Wednesday, February 16, 2005 from 7pm to 9pm, at three local Japanese restaurants

Please choose one of the three participating restaurants, call directly for reservations, and mention being part of Kyoto Day. Participating restaurants will give a percentage of their income from celebrants for climate protection. Supporters can also donate extra for climate protection. As part of the celebration at Osake Japanese Restaurant, Electric Auto Association members will show their electric vehicles.

Join people worldwide in observing the significance of the Kyoto Protocol, an agreement among 128 countries that specifies how they will reduce emissions that damage Earth’s climate.

Of all counties in the U.S., Sonoma County is on record as the most committed to climate protection. All Sonoma cities and the County have pledged by resolution to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions, and all have completed baseline studies of their emissions, two unprecedented national actions.

For more information, please contact the event’s sponsors, the Climate Protection Campaign (707) 829-1224, the Community Clean Water Institute (707) 824-4370, and the North Bay Electric Auto Association (707) 573-9361.

More about the Kyoto Protocol

Under the Kyoto Protocol, industrialized countries are to reduce their combined emissions of six major greenhouse gases during the five-year period 2008-2012 to below 1990 levels. For example, the European Union is to cut emissions by eight percent, and Japan by six percent.

Only four industrialized countries have not yet ratified the Kyoto Protocol, Australia, Liechtenstein, Monaco, and the United States. Australia and the United States account for over one third of the greenhouse gases emitted by the industrialized world.

According to the most current scientific research, humanity’s emissions of greenhouse gas will raise global average temperatures by 1.4 – 5.8°C by the end of the century. They will also affect weather patterns, water resources, the cycling of the seasons, ecosystems, and extreme climate events.

Climate change is already affecting major natural systems, for example, shrinking glaciers and polar ice caps, lengthening growing seasons, and changing the patterns of insects, plants, and migratory birds.

The Protocol’s entry into force means that from 16 February 2005:

1. Thirty industrialized countries will be legally bound to meet quantitative targets for reducing or limiting their greenhouse gas emissions.
2. The international carbon trading market will become a legal and practical reality. The Protocol’s "emissions trading" regime enables industrialized countries to buy and sell emissions credits amongst themselves; this market-based approach will improve the efficiency and cost effectiveness of emissions cuts.
3. The Clean Development Mechanism will become fully operational. This mechanism encourages investments in developing-country projects that limit emissions while promoting sustainable development.
4. The Protocol’s Adaptation Fund, established in 2001, will prepare for assisting developing countries to adapt to the negative impacts of climate change.

For more information, United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change www.unfccc.int