Port Alberni residents gathered at Harbour Quay on Monday for an event they hope will change the course of global climate negotiations.

As synchronized phone alarms sounded, people came together in “flash mob” style to take a photograph before making phone calls to Prime Minister Stephen Harper, MP James Lunney and MLA Scott Fraser urging federal and provincial governments to deliver a fair, ambitious and binding global climate pact.

Attendees successfully contacted the prime minister’s office earlier in the day, group spokesperson Chris Alemany said.

Harper’s message box was full by the time of the event at 5:30 p.m. Flash mobbers also left messages with Fraser and Lunney.

Port Alberni flash mobbers were part of a larger call for climate action. Some 2,682 events in 134 countries sounded the alarm in advance of a meeting of world leaders meeting in New York on Sept. 22.

A UN climate deal in Copenhagen in December risks failure unless world leaders revive bogged-down negotiations, Alemany said in a press release.

A broad coalition of major environmental and anti-poverty organizations as well as faith, civic and youth networks — called the TCKTCKTCK campaign for the ticking-clock urgency of climate change — is backing the campaign effort.

Ricken Patel, executive director of campaign network Avaaz.org which created an online hub for its 3.6 million members to organize events said:

“Climate change is not just a dire problem, it’s a massive opportunity to unleash a new green, clean economy. Port Alberni residents have joined people around the world in sending an unmistakable message,” he said.

“Our leaders need to wake up and smell the opportunity.”