DAILY NEWS “Yes, we can!” says Al Gore
12/12/08. Poznan. Stealing the words that drove President-Elect Barack Obama to victory, former Vice-President Al Gore left us with a clear message that the climate and the survival of the planet is in all our hands and that the time to act is now for there will come a point of no return if we delay action. He believes that we can fight this and that it is up to world leaders to make a stand in delivering the measures needed.
I came to Poznan with mixed feelings, being my first COP I was excited to be around so many climate-minded people and politicians from all over the world. Everyone is here because they care about the survival of our planet and everyone came with a purpose to listen and to act.
However, after many months of hard work on the EU climate change package I have become frustrated with the contradicting messages that our world leaders are expressing and the weakening of action in relation to the message. They say they want to, and will, act but cannot do it at the substantial levels promised and expected by giving the financial crisis and incoming recession as some of the reasons. Other countries want more and more money from developed countries before even considering reducing their emissions and others just want to survive, like Tuvalu, a nation in the South pacific that is being slowly losing its battle against the rising oceans. I say that Tuvalu has the right to survive and it should not have to suffer from the mistakes and inactions of the developed countries!
The EU promised two years ago to lead where the US would not and worked on a package to deliver that message. However, money speaks louder than words and some of our leaders have put a break on climate action in order to give way to growth and jobs, but nowhere in the book does it state that the two cannot be compatible! The time is at hand to use the financial crisis as the tool to fight climate change! Instead of giving money to the pollutants and the banks that caused the problem in the first place, it is time to create green jobs and green economies; it is time for world leaders to put their money where their mouth is!
I want to be proud of what Europe is doing in the fight against climate change but Europe cannot go it alone, if there are better solutions and alternatives available it is for the EU to listen and others to show the way as well. It is time for the US to step up and join the rest of the world in this global fight. No nation is more important than another, as no human or animal is either; the climate is a global issue therefore it is global action that is needed, all countries must unite instead of sitting in the background waiting for others to act or ready to point a finger when action is not met. I want to leave Poznan with the feeling that this message has not only been heard but will be followed. As the Youth Forum clearly shouted in the halls of the COP, “survival is non-negotiable” and I do hope WE CAN fight this together!
Filipa Rodrigues
Parliamentary Assistant PES
I came to Poznan with mixed feelings, being my first COP I was excited to be around so many climate-minded people and politicians from all over the world. Everyone is here because they care about the survival of our planet and everyone came with a purpose to listen and to act.
However, after many months of hard work on the EU climate change package I have become frustrated with the contradicting messages that our world leaders are expressing and the weakening of action in relation to the message. They say they want to, and will, act but cannot do it at the substantial levels promised and expected by giving the financial crisis and incoming recession as some of the reasons. Other countries want more and more money from developed countries before even considering reducing their emissions and others just want to survive, like Tuvalu, a nation in the South pacific that is being slowly losing its battle against the rising oceans. I say that Tuvalu has the right to survive and it should not have to suffer from the mistakes and inactions of the developed countries!
The EU promised two years ago to lead where the US would not and worked on a package to deliver that message. However, money speaks louder than words and some of our leaders have put a break on climate action in order to give way to growth and jobs, but nowhere in the book does it state that the two cannot be compatible! The time is at hand to use the financial crisis as the tool to fight climate change! Instead of giving money to the pollutants and the banks that caused the problem in the first place, it is time to create green jobs and green economies; it is time for world leaders to put their money where their mouth is!
I want to be proud of what Europe is doing in the fight against climate change but Europe cannot go it alone, if there are better solutions and alternatives available it is for the EU to listen and others to show the way as well. It is time for the US to step up and join the rest of the world in this global fight. No nation is more important than another, as no human or animal is either; the climate is a global issue therefore it is global action that is needed, all countries must unite instead of sitting in the background waiting for others to act or ready to point a finger when action is not met. I want to leave Poznan with the feeling that this message has not only been heard but will be followed. As the Youth Forum clearly shouted in the halls of the COP, “survival is non-negotiable” and I do hope WE CAN fight this together!
Filipa Rodrigues
Parliamentary Assistant PES
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