The Ironclad Case for Global Action on Climate Change

It is hard to avoid the overwhelming and irrefutable logic of acting to combat climate change. We must significantly reduce our greenhouse gas emissions or risk economic collapse and jeopardize life on earth as we know it. This point was made convincingly in a recent PricewaterhouseCoopers report.

The growing number of nations and corporations who see the need to act is growing alongside the vast numbers of people who are calling for action. For both businesses and people, the benefits of taking action to address climate change cannot be ignored.

The case for action is compelling and the number of detractors are dwindling. The wealth of climate science demands that we act in a timely fashion. Disagreement comes from the willfully ignorant or the politically motivated. The selfish short term thinking of a few powerful corporate behemoths is premised on a flimsy rationale that does not hold up to scrutiny. Short term financial gain does not outweigh the catastrophic longer term consequences.

It is within our grasp to reverse our perilous trajectory and transform our world and the global economy for our collective betterment. This is a call for a new beginning, a sustainable approach to life on this earth that will enhance our collective prosperity. The alternative to action is unthinkable.

If we seize the moment, businesses and people can reap the tremendous benefits associated with reducing greenhouse gas emissions and strengthening resilience.

Now is the time to begin working in earnest towards a new global climate agreement. If we can sign such a deal by 2015, we can avert a catastrophe, failure will guarantee that we face a nightmarish future.

We must choose between the unprecendented opportunity associated with tackling climate change or we can continue with business as usual and reap the bitter harvest of a downward spiral that will augur tremendous suffering.

It should be obvious that managing the climate crisis (ie reducing emissions to keep global temperatures below the 2 degree Celsius upper threshold limit) is a far better choice than the stark reality of a world ravaged by climate change.

To succeed we must ramp up domestic mitigation efforts and sign on to an international framework that provides incentives to make our economies more sustainable.

We must act, and we must act now.

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Melili

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