Saying we are at “an inflection point in world history,” President Biden promised the United States was again engaged on climate change. Biden, along with leaders of more than 120 other nations are meeting in Glasgow, Scotland to discuss the need of urgent action on saving the planet. The New York Times reports:
“Climate change is already ravaging the world,” President Biden said in a speech at the summit, known as COP26, on Monday afternoon. But even while global warming is causing widespread economic damage and upending lives, he said, this was also a moment of opportunity to reshape the way humans live in better harmony with nature.
“We are standing at an inflection point in world history,” he said, calling climate change an “existential threat to human existence as we know it.”
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson was even more blunt:
It’s one minute to midnight on the doomsday clock and we need to act now. If we don’t get serious about climate change today, it will be too late for our children to get serious about it tomorrow. We can get real on coal, cars, cash and trees. We have the technology to deactivate that doomsday ticking device. We all talk about what we’re going to do in 2050, or 2060…. the average age of this conclave of leaders is over 60. The children that will judge us are children not yet born, and their children… if we fail they will not forgive us. They will know that Glasgowwas that historic turning point when history failed to turn. They will judge us with bitterness and resentment.
The theme of the summit, according to the Washington Post, is to put the world on a path to eliminating greenhouse gas emissions and slow the earth’s warming. The two-day leaders summit will be followed by a two week working session with government and environmental leaders from around the world.
In his address, President Biden also apologized for the actions of Donald Trump. “I guess I shouldn’t apologize, but I do apologize for the fact that the United States under the last administration pulled out of the Paris accord. That kind of put us behind the eight ball a bit,” Biden said.
“The United States is not only back at the table, but hopefully leading by the power of our example,” Biden said. “I know it hasn’t been the case and that’s why my administration is working overtime to show that our climate commitment is action, not words.”
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