Check out his speech here.
The media has been celebrating Obama's specch amidst more than 300,000 protesters that took to the streets of NYC recently demanding more attention and work is necessary with regards to climate change. The new executive order was announced at the United Nations meeting on climate change last Tuesday.
It asked federal agencies to consider climate change in all international development programs. As much as I do believe in incremental acts leading to cumulative change, in 2014, is that enough?
Spokespeople from White House said the order will require agencies to "factor climate resilience into the design of their international development programs and investments." Part of the order announcement was also accompanied by tools that the U.S. plans to make available to other countries to "help vulnerable populations around the world strengthen their climate resilience" as more pressure has been placed on the U.S. and other developed countries to commit more funding to climate aid for poorer nations.
Speaking of the UN meeting, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon stated that the goal of the meeting was "to mobilize political will" for a new global climate agreement and "to catalyze ambitious action on the ground" in cutting greenhouse gas emissions.
What do you think? Is this enough? More of the same media attention of big words placed next too big ideas without anything actually happening? Or is this something worthy? For a much better read try this and think about what you would do in a position or power. Or better yet, in obliterating the current power hierarchy, what do you see would be actual progressive steps forward to combatting climate change on the ground? I sure wouldn't be advocating for business as usual absolving critique of those who perpetuate the impacts across the globe to the highest degree...
