The Yes Men have done it again

On September 21, nearly a million New Yorkers were treated to a “special edition” New York Post blaring headlines that their city could face deadly heat waves, extreme flooding, and other lethal effects of global warming within the next few decades. The news came from an official City report.

The paper was created by the Yes Men and a coalition of activists as a wake-up call to action on climate change. It was distributed throughout New York the day before the UN summit where Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon pushed world leaders to make serious commitments to reduce carbon emissions before the Copenhagen climate conference in December.

The activists say that although the 32-page New York Post is a fake, everything in it is 100 per cent true, with all facts carefully checked by a team of editors and climate change experts.

“This could be, and should be, a real New York Post,” said Andy Bichlbaum of the Yes Men. “Climate change is the biggest threat civilization has ever faced, and it should be in the headlines of every paper, every day until we solve the problem.”

The fake Post’s cover story “We’re Screwed” reports the frightening conclusions of a blue-ribbon panel of scientists commissioned by the mayor’s office to determine the potential effects of climate change on the City. That report was released in February but received very little press at the time.

The Post hoax was one of 2632 events held in 134 countries as a response to the “Global Wake-up Call” on climate change.  That day, tens of thousands of calls crashed government lines, and actions directly reached heads of state and cabinet ministers from Australia to Europe.

For information visit www.tcktcktck.org/wakeup