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Marches, Speeches and Promises

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‘Honored delegates, leaders of the world, I pretend for a living, but you do not… The time to answer humankind’s greatest challenge is now. I beg of you to face it with courage and honesty.’ Leonardo DiCaprio, who has recently been made the UN Climate Change representative, made a strong plea to combat Climate Change with this message during the opening of the Climate Summit 2014. The summit had many high moments and riveting speeches and concluded on a high note with promises and pledges.

For those of you who missed it, here are the highlights:

  • 4,00,000 people turned out for the People’s Climate March in New York on the weekend before the Summit, including Hollywood stars & noted environmental activists Mark Ruffalo & Leonardo DiCaprio.
  • Apart from New York, rallies were held in over 150 cities around world across the UK, Australia, France, India, Indonesia, Argentina, Brazil, Italy and Afghanistan.
  • The opening of the summit had another powerful moment when Kathy Jetnil-Kijiner, a 26 year old poet from Marshall Islands, a small nation in the western Pacific, read a poem that essentially shamed world leaders for not acting fast enough to prevent sea level rise.
  • The mood of the Summit based on the speeches made by the World leaders in attendance seemed to reflect that countries are now recognizing the effects and Climate Change like cyclones, droughts, larger wildfires, intense heat waves. These incidents are now spurring countries to action that was not visible in the last Summit held in Copenhagen in 2009.
  • A total of about $1.3 billion in new pledges were announced from Denmark, France, South Korea, Norway, Mexico and three smaller nations towards the Green Climate Fund, which was established at the 2009 Copenhagen Summit. The US, however showed a lack of financial commitment.
  • 25 top global Companies, including Unilever and Philips, committed to pricing carbon internally, and boosting their efforts to cut greenhouse gas emissions. Before the Summit, 73 countries and over 1,000 businesses, had signed a World Bank initiative to encourage governments to set a price on carbon.
  • The New York Declaration on Forests, was signed by governments, companies and nongovernmental organizations. The declaration proposes cutting the rate of natural forest loss by 50% by 2020, and eliminating it altogether by 2030, among other actions.

SOME OF THE PROMISES MADE

USA signed an executive order directing all federal agencies to begin factoring climate resilience into international development programs and investments. The U.S. is also deploying experts and technology to help vulnerable nations better prepare for weather-related disasters and plan for long-term threats.

European Union will cut emissions by 40% by 2030 compared to 1990 levels, and aspire to cut emissions by 80 to 95% compared to 1990 levels by 2050. It will also provide 14 billion Euros of public climate finance to partners outside the EU over the next 7 years.

China will cut carbon intensity up to 45% by 2020 over 2005 levels and double annual financial support for South-South cooperation.

India will double the amount of energy from wind and solar by 2020.

WHAT IS CLIMATE CHANGE

Here is a quick video that can get you up to speed on the subject.

If you are a numbers person, this video form 350.org’s DO THE MATH can help get a little perspective on Climate Change.

Now that you are an expert on the subject, here’s a quick look at some myths around Climate Change. Armed with this eye opening myth-buster, you can answer the toughest questions and silence the naysayers once and for all.

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