Many climate advocates (including me) tuned in this morning to listen to some of the world’s most influential political leaders chip in their two cents about the need for a strong, science-based international climate treaty coming out of the Copenhagen negotiations this December. President Obama, President Hu Jintao of China, and more spoke at the UN General Assembly in New York City this morning and, for the most part, stuck to the talking points they’ve been stressing for the last few months. “We need to act,” they seemed to say, “just don’t make me say how, when, or where.”
President Obama went first and, while his presence at the meeting is certainly historic and influential, his speech was actually a bit dull. As Emily Gertz over at Change.org says, “The president’s remarks were, perhaps predictably, long on generalities and short on substance.” Many climate advocates and international diplomats were hoping Obama might lay out a his strategy for pushing clean energy legislation through the Senate (after all, it was just over a week ago that he went to Wall Street to call on Congress to enact financial reform at some point in the future), but instead he opted to continue his standard refrain, “I look forward to engaging with others as we move forward.” The full text of Obama’s speech can be read here. I don’t mean to sound distraught or upset at Obama’s remarks — after all, we’re leaps and bounds ahead of where we were eight months ago and his speech was a sort of global coming-out party for him in the international climate arena — but I am nervous that without Obama’s trademark spunk and enthusiasm, the global climate talks could sputter a bit. This morning, Obama needed to sound like the “Be the Change, Get up and Go, Yes We Can” man that inspired me and so many people of my generation. I’m sorry to say that he fell a little bit short.
A few minutes later, the audience at the UN were treated to another textbook speech, this time from Chinese President Hu Jintao. Again, speculation abounded before the talks that President Hu might announce a new voluntary carbon market in China during his UN speech, but instead he opted to tout steps that China has already taken to combat climate change, including efforts to reduce energy intensity and produce 15% of energy from non-fossil sources by 2020. Of course, President Hu may unleash the carbon market announcement soon, even later today, but I was eager to see the reactions of Senators who claim America should not commit to climate action until China does. Oh well, we’ll have to wait another day.
Enthusiasm, details, and a sense of urgency were still communicated this morning, however. President Nasheed of the Maldives, a small island nation in the Indian Ocean that has pledged to cut 100% of its carbon emissions in the next ten years, refocused the debate in black-and-white. Among his many dire warnings, he pleaded, “If things go business as usual, we will not live. We will die. Our country will not exist. We cannot make Copenhagen a pact of suicide. We have to succeed.” UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon noted, “The climate negotiations are proceeding too slow. Glaciers melting faster than our efforts to protect them.” Djimon Hounsou, the actor of “Amistad” and “Blood Diamond” fame, gave an impassioned speech lamenting our inability to conceive of the scale of the challenge facing “our pale blue dot.” And representatives of the world’s youth — the three billion young people whose future are at stake — noted that “We are ready to come together to make a difference. Are you?”
Many young people from around the world are working together to ensure that the world’s leaders come together to safeguard the survival of all countries and peoples by agreeing to a strong climate agreement. The road that we have traveled (or better yet, make it a bike path) began in Rio in 1992, where the UN set up the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, and must go through Washington and Copenhagen before it ends. It is up to the young people of the world to help make sure the destination is prosperous and sustainable.
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