Earth Hour 2015: SATURDAY 28TH MARCH, 8:30 PM
Together we are on track for the biggest Earth Hour yet.
Tuesday, October 21, 2014
Earth Hour 2014- Impact Beyond The Hour
Earth Hour 2015: SATURDAY 28TH MARCH, 8:30 PM
Together we are on track for the biggest Earth Hour yet.
Saturday, October 4, 2014
It's Not All Doom and Gloom: What We Can Do Now for the Arctic by Richard Branson
Last week I was in New York, where policy makers and the public alike spoke out about climate change. None of us are strangers to the realities of climate change -- steadily climbing temperatures and carbon dioxide (CO2) levels, melting ice and rising sea levels. However, fewer people are aware of how they can help to tackle the problem.
While we often think about the effect of climate change on our lives and on the land we inhabit, it's also important to focus on the blue spaces that make up so much of the Earth.
The ocean covers two thirds of the planet, produces almost half of all the oxygen we breathe and sequesters more than a quarter of the CO2 we emit into the atmosphere. It is, in essence, the kidneys of our planet, keeping systems healthy, giving life -- and there is no way to put it on dialysis.
The ability of this life system to continue to provide these essential ecosystem services is being compromised. As rising temperatures reduce the oxygen carrying capacity of the ocean and the amount of CO2 being absorbed causes acidification , marine organisms and ecosystems are suffering. Habitats are being destroyed, fish stocks are over exploited and marine predators are becoming extinct at an alarming rate.
In the Arctic, the problem is particularly clear: it's melting. Beyond the four million people living there who are affected every day by rising temperatures, we all face the consequences of the changes in the Arctic. Extreme weather, rising sea levels and food insecurity, particularly in the most impoverished parts of the world, are all growing problems. As the ice is melting, a new ocean is being born -- one that some may try to exploit through fishing and oil and gas drilling, which is fraught with uncertainty and has the potential for devastating harm.
So where do we go from here? There is an extraordinary opportunity to rescue this new ocean, 'refreeze' what we can by establishing structures to protect this beautiful place before it's even fully born and understood. Just as a healthy body is more resilient to disease, a healthy ocean is more resilient to harmful change.
The International Declaration on the Future of the Arctic is a charter for Arctic protection being spearheaded by our friends at Greenpeace. I have signed the declaration and look forward to working with the leaders of the Arctic States and representatives from the United Nations to ensure that the Arctic is fully protected before it's too late.
In this time where we feel paralyzed by messages of doom and gloom, let's remember that we can change things. We can make a difference and we have a responsibility to future generations to ensure that our actions today don't destroy their future.
Millions have already declared their support for protecting the Arctic. Join us - sign the pledge here.
While we often think about the effect of climate change on our lives and on the land we inhabit, it's also important to focus on the blue spaces that make up so much of the Earth.
The ocean covers two thirds of the planet, produces almost half of all the oxygen we breathe and sequesters more than a quarter of the CO2 we emit into the atmosphere. It is, in essence, the kidneys of our planet, keeping systems healthy, giving life -- and there is no way to put it on dialysis.
The ability of this life system to continue to provide these essential ecosystem services is being compromised. As rising temperatures reduce the oxygen carrying capacity of the ocean and the amount of CO2 being absorbed causes acidification , marine organisms and ecosystems are suffering. Habitats are being destroyed, fish stocks are over exploited and marine predators are becoming extinct at an alarming rate.
In the Arctic, the problem is particularly clear: it's melting. Beyond the four million people living there who are affected every day by rising temperatures, we all face the consequences of the changes in the Arctic. Extreme weather, rising sea levels and food insecurity, particularly in the most impoverished parts of the world, are all growing problems. As the ice is melting, a new ocean is being born -- one that some may try to exploit through fishing and oil and gas drilling, which is fraught with uncertainty and has the potential for devastating harm.
So where do we go from here? There is an extraordinary opportunity to rescue this new ocean, 'refreeze' what we can by establishing structures to protect this beautiful place before it's even fully born and understood. Just as a healthy body is more resilient to disease, a healthy ocean is more resilient to harmful change.
The International Declaration on the Future of the Arctic is a charter for Arctic protection being spearheaded by our friends at Greenpeace. I have signed the declaration and look forward to working with the leaders of the Arctic States and representatives from the United Nations to ensure that the Arctic is fully protected before it's too late.
In this time where we feel paralyzed by messages of doom and gloom, let's remember that we can change things. We can make a difference and we have a responsibility to future generations to ensure that our actions today don't destroy their future.
Millions have already declared their support for protecting the Arctic. Join us - sign the pledge here.
Leonardo Di Caprio , UN Climate Summit Speech
Thank you, Mr. Secretary-General, your excellencies, ladies and gentleman, and distinguished guests. I’m honored to be here today, I stand before you not as an expert but as a concerned citizen, one of the 400,000 people who marched in the streets of New York on Sunday, and the billions of others around the world who want to solve our climate crisis. As an actor I pretend for a living. I play fictitious characters often solving fictitious problems. I believe humankind has looked at Climate Change in that same way: as if it were a fiction, happening to someone else’s planet, as if pretending that Climate Change wasn’t real would somehow make it go away. But I think we know better than that. Every week , we’re seeing new and undeniable Climate Events, evidence that accelerated Climate Change is here now. We know that droughts are intensifying, our oceans are warming and acidifying, with methane plumes rising up from beneath the ocean floor. We are seeing extreme weather events, increased temperatures, and the West Antarctic and Greenland ice-sheets melting at unprecedented rates, decades ahead of scientific projections. None of this is rhetoric, and none of it is hysteria. It is fact. The scientific community knows it, Industry and Governments know it, even the United States military knows it. The Chief of the U.S. Navy’s Pacific Command, Admiral Samuel Locklear, recently said that Climate Change is our single greatest security threat. My Friends, this body - perhaps more than any other gathering in human history - now faces that difficult task. You can make history...or be vilified by it. To be clear, this is not about just telling people to change their light bulbs or to buy a hybrid car. This disaster has grown BEYOND the choices that individuals make. This is now about our industries, and governments around the world taking decisive, large-scale action. I am not a scientist, but I don't need to be. Because the world’s scientific community has spoken, and they have given us our prognosis, if we do not act together, we will surely perish. Now is our moment for action We need to put a price tag on carbon emissions, and eliminate government subsidies for coal, gas, and oil companies. We need to end the free ride that industrial polluters have been given in the name of a free-market economy, they don't deserve our tax dollars, they deserve our scrutiny. For the economy itself will die if our eco-systems collapse. The good news is that renewable energy is not only achievable but good economic policy. New research shows that by 2050 clean, renewable energy could supply 100% of the world’s energy needs using EXISTING TECHNOLOGIES, and it would create millions of jobs. This is not a partisan debate; it is a human one. Clean air and water, and a livable climate are inalienable human rights. And solving this crisis is not a question of politics. It is our moral obligation - if, admittedly, a daunting one… We only get one planet. Humankind must become accountable on a massive scale for the wanton destruction of our collective home. Protecting our future on this planet depends on the conscious evolution of our species. This is the most urgent of times, and the most urgent of messages. Honored delegates, leaders of the world, I pretend for a living. But you do not. The people made their voices heard on Sunday around the world and the momentum will not stop. And now it’s YOUR turn, the time to answer the greatest challenge of our existence on this planet... is now. I beg you to face it with courage. And honesty.
Thank you.
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