Changes in Attitude: Awesome Events which mark Environmental Progress in 2014!
Global warming is serious stuff. And it’s got the world’s attention. Most of us have heard the bad news that goes along with climate change: rising sea levels, extreme weather, greater flood risks, and changes to crop yields. In fact, it’s hard to not get caught up in the bad news.
But here’s some good news about prevention:
In September, the UN Climate Summit was a call for awareness and action on global warming. The goal of the summit was to encourage more than 120 member states to sign-up to a new global climate agreement in 2015. It was the largest number of government heads to ever attend a climate conference. Leaders promised greater use of clean energy, pledged billions for a global climate fund to help developing nations, and set specific targets to curb greenhouse gas pollution. A few days prior to the summit, the World Bank announced that more than 1,000 businesses, 73 countries, and 22 states, provinces and cities have expressed their support for carbon pricing (in other words, putting a tax on carbon emissions).
Last month, The United States reached a new agreement with China, which vowed to cut down their carbon emissions by 26-28%, a goal aimed to be met by 2025 by the US, and 2030 by China. President Obama and President Xi JiPing met on November 12th to finalise the agreement that marks the first time the world’s two largest economies have taken true responsibility for their emissions. This is awesome news, particularly because it may mean that climate change will become a higher priority on the next G20 agenda, and Obama hopes that this deal will encourage other countries to address climate change as well.
To end the year the UN Annual Climate Change Conference at Lima, Peru saw more new ground for Climate Change discussion. All 196 countries agreed to an outline text for a new global climate agreement to be reached in Paris in 2015. It’s not decisive action, but it keeps that action on track. And it did eliminate a fundamental distinction between developed and developing nations – putting all nations on the same footing. It reiterated language from the US/China agreement. See more in The Guardian.
Here at FROGBOX, we’re happy to see climate change get more time on centre stage. We’re eager to see North American and international leaders commit to action and develop practical plans for reducing greenhouse gases. And we’re optimistic that these are some real steps toward big, positive changes. The earth is a big, marvellous, and precious place, and now’s the time to do big things (and small) to take care of it.