PARIS-Youth leaders inside the negotiations zone today stomped on the number “2”, the former projected acceptable temperature rise that would occur after a significant global curb of greenhouse gas emissions.  Youth encircled their right eyes with the symbol “zero” to demonstrate the zero fossil fuels by 2050 necessary to keep warming below 1.5C degrees.  Youth from the most at-risk countries such as the Marshall Islands, Nepal, and Asia spoke to the United Nations to demand negotiators strengthen the upcoming agreement to reach the more ambitious target.

Their action was in response to the Climate Vulnerable Forum (CVF) an international collective of countries most at risk to suffer the effects of a heating planet.  On the first day of the conference the CVF adopted a declaration that calls for 100% renewable energy by 2050.

Nepalese youth Sagar Aryal, Coordinator of Climate Strike and Founder of the Sano Sansar Intitiative said that he noticed glacial melt when he was ten years old, “I began to see mountains melt, glacial lakes flood, and the human impacts of the climate crisis on the 2.3 million people who depend on it for fresh water and natural resources.”

Dyanna Jaye, 23, COP21 Delegation Leader of SustainUS who organized the demonstration spoke directly to the US, “For this goal to become a reality, developed countries must act first to eliminate carbon emissions.  As American youth we call on the United States to transition to a renewable energy economy well in advance of the developing world.”

 

 

photos:  KGNU News

 

 

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Yeb Saño Completes Pilgrimage From Philippines to Climate Summit

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

“Science gathers knowledge faster than society gathers wisdom,” were the words of Yeb Saño of the Philippines who many consider a climate hero because of the impassioned involvement he has taken to address the climate crisis.  At COP18 in Doha, he stood next to youth who were staging an action, took a sign and chanted with them.  He was one of the few if not the only climate negotiator who did.

This year, he walked from the Philippines to Paris stopping along the way and educating people about the climate crisis.  He gave a presentation earlier today and then later talked to KGNU about the urgency for negotiations to reach solutions for those most affected by climate change.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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