Papers share worldwide green message

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In an unprecedented initiative, 56 major newspapers in 45 countries on Monday published a shared editorial calling on politicians and negotiators gathering in Copenhagen to strike an ambitious deal on combating climate change.

The editorial appears in 20 languages including Chinese, Russian and Arabic.

It says the Copenhagen summit has the power ''to shape history's judgment on this generation: one that saw a challenge and rose to it, or one so stupid that we saw calamity coming but did nothing to avert it. We implore them to make the right choice.''

The editorial was drafted by a team from the The Guardian in London, in consultation with more than 20 newspapers.

The editorial concludes: ''Overcoming climate change will take a triumph of optimism over pessimism, of vision over short-sightedness, of what Abraham Lincoln called 'the better angels of our nature'.

''It is in that spirit that 56 newspapers from around the world have united behind this editorial. If we, with such different national and political perspectives, can agree on what must be done then surely our leaders can too.''

The Guardian editor-in-chief Alan Rusbridger said: ''Newspapers have never done anything like this before, but they have never had to cover a story like this before.''

- © Fairfax NZ News