Used with permission of Extinction Rebellion.
Michelle Nichols at reuters.com reported "Attenborough, 94, the world’s most influential wildlife broadcaster, addressed a virtual meeting of the 15-member council on climate-related risks to international peace and security, chaired by British Prime Minister Boris Johnson.'If we continue on our current path, we will face the collapse of everything that gives us our security: food production, access to fresh water, habitable ambient temperature and ocean food chains,' Attenborough said. 'And if the natural world can no longer support the most basic of our needs, then much of the rest of civilization will quickly break down,' he added."
Nichols gave delegates' responses. "Russia and China question whether the Security Council is the right forum to be discussing climate change. 'We agree that climate change and environmental issues can exacerbate conflict. But are they really the root cause of these conflicts? There are serious doubts about this,' Russia’s U.N. Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia said. China’s climate envoy Xie Zhenhua described climate change as a [sustainable] development issue. [ . . . .] Kerry said: 'We bury our heads in the sand at our own peril. It is time to start treating the climate crisis like the urgent security threat that it is. This is literally the challenge of all of our generations.'"
The article noted the need to halt global temperature rise "as close as possible to 1.5C," but, as I wrote below, and Dave Borlace clearly explained, that may not be possible.
Nichols added, "U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres pushed countries, companies, cities and financial institutions to make ambitious commitments to cut global emissions. China and the United States are the world’s biggest emitters of greenhouse gases. [ . . . . ]" She wrote "the United Nations will stage a climate summit in November in Glasgow, Scotland."
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