From 12.18 today, join the rest of the world, and start phoning our country's leaders to wake up and act!

According to Avaaz: We have just 78 days left until the final UN meeting in Copenhagen, where we'll succeed or fail to get an historic global treaty to place binding global limits on carbon pollution, stop a climate catastrophe and unleash a new clean and green economy. Our leaders are nowhere near success, they're not even planning on going to Copenhagen.

We want leaders to commit to go to the Copenhagen climate meeting in December, and to agree on a global climate deal that is fair, ambitious and binding (FAB).

Call Jacob Zuma's toll-free hotline on:
17737

or his office on 012-300 520 / 021 - 464 2100

What to say:
Ask them to register your call and convey to Jacob Zuma that we want South Africa to attend the global climate talks in Copenhagen in December. And we want South Africa to agree on a global climate deal that is fair, ambitious and binding!

Other numbers you can try (because when we tried the hotline this morning it was permanently engaged, and there is no system in place to record calls, or place you in a queue!)

President Assistant Private Secretary
(+27) 012-300 5226 / (+27) 021-464 2174/2181

Minister of Water and Environmental Affairs Ms Buyelwa Patience Sonjica
(+27) 012-336 8733 / (+27) 021-464 1500

If you would like to join a wake-up call or flashmob, Cape Town has one in Rondebosch. There will also be a gathering outside Parliament in Cape Town, a "flashmob" outside the City Hall in Tshwane (Pretoria) and a rally on Central Beach at Plettenberg Bay, all due to start at 12.18. Other events will be held in Johannesburg, Klerksdorp, East London, Port Elizabeth, Durban, Pietermaritzburg, Nelspruit and more towns around South Africa.

An amazing diversity of wake up call events are happening today, from a drumming circle in Guatemala to a coastal ceremony in French Polynesia to a march in Kinshasa. But one exciting global event is the premiere of the new climate change film The Age of Stupid.

These phonecalls have already had a great deal of success around the world. According to Avaaz, they tie up staff and shut down phone lines, but never miss the mark. For example 14 000 calls reversed the Brazilian President's position on a new climate protection law, and 3 000 calls persuaged the German Chancellor's party to engage with climate groups.

This wake-up call will be followed on October 24 by another international day of action driven by the organisation 350, which is calling for the stabilisation of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere at under 350 parts per million – the level above which scientists believe global warming could become unstoppable.

Both Avaaz and 350 are partners in a new global alliance called tcktcktck, established to draw attention to the urgency of addressing climate change in the countdown to the summit.