Going Blue In The Face Over Climate Change -- Holding Your Breath Not Necessary!

A quick overview of climate change facts:

• Climate change has been cited as one of the main reasons for poverty (or a return to poverty) for areas such as Uganda, Darfur, the Maldives and China -- these are often among the first to suffer the harsh effects of chronic droughts and extreme flooding.
• Deforestation, reforestation, desertification and urbanization often contribute to changes in temperature, wind, precipitation and overall climate in the places they occur.
• U.S. and global annual temperatures are now approximately 1.0°F warmer than they were at the beginning of the 20th century.
• The rate of global warming has accelerated over the past 30 years.
• Since the mid-1970's, the earth has warmed at a rate approximately three times faster than the century-scale trend.
• In America alone, the past nine years have all been among the 25 warmest years on record.
• A report from The Arctic Climate Impact Assessment Average found that between 2000 and 2004, temperatures in Arctic regions such as Alaska, western Canada, and eastern Russia rose at twice the global average.
• Global sea ice was estimated to measure "1.34 million sq. km less in February 2009 than in February 1979" and if patterns continue, the region may have its first completely ice-free summer by 2040 or earlier.

If the information above doesn't compell you to modify your lifestyle habits and support non profit organizations that are dedicated to combating climate change, Oxfam International is hoping that their latest campaign might change your mind. Relying on the age old notion that celebrity power is the key to motivating the troops, the poverty relief agency -- known for their Fair Trade and Make Poverty History campaigns -- is launching their Here & Now -- Demand Action Until You're Blue In The Face program to raise awareness about climate change. The video below shows several popular British musicians submitting to various blue facial enhancements, including Jarvis Cocker and Fatboy Slim. Oxfam hopes that when they screen the clip at next week's Glastonbury Music Festival -- running Wednesay June 24 to Sunday June 28 in Somerset, England -- inspired citizens will offer their own faces as climate change canvases at Oxfam's portable concert tent. Reps plan to send all of the photos they accumulate during Glastonbury to the Climate Conference in Copenhagen this December along with a petition demanding a new climate policy where the parties of the UNFCCC and governmental representatives from 170 countries will be in attendence.