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Voices & Visions of Our Future

The Atlas of Climate Change should inspire all of us to action. The authors call upon their experience to present the facts on climate change. In a clear format, from the early warning signs to drivers of change, from impacts to policy, they present the weight of evidence. We have come a long way on climate change, from ignorance and denial to policy recommendations and global negotiations. Over the course of time climate scientists have drawn a line in the sand: the climate is warming and it is projected that unless we change our track we will see a temperature rise of more than 2°C which could have catastrophic effects for the biosphere and all who live in it. Scientists recommend that we should aim at reducing emissions significantly and urgently aspire to become carbon neutral. The scientific evidence so far presented is overwhelming and can be explored in this third edition of the Atlas. The carbon cycle is a key component of ecological systems. And ecological systems are key components of climate action. Deforestation accounts for nearly 20 percent of global carbon emissions, and is reportedly greater than all of the transport systems globally combined. As we all know, the Amazon, Congo Basin, and South-East Asia rainforest ecosystems are the “green lungs” of the planet and are essential for global climate regulation. My work with the women of the Green Belt Movement in Kenya over the past 30 years has shown that grassroots communities will act on the root causes of environmental degradation once they appreciate the linkage between the environment and their livelihoods. It is they who will apply the skills and initiatives that will help them mitigate and adapt against the negative impacts of climate change. It is vital that climate policies work to promote equity, biodiversity, and the rights of vulnerable communities. Solutions to climate change must firmly put people and nature at their core. We have a moral responsibility to protect the rights of future generations, and of all species that cannot speak for themselves but are nevertheless members of the community of life. The challenge of climate change demands that there be a global political will to address this issue. Without political will, especially of the politically and economically powerful nations, the results will be catastrophic, even as the world continues with diplomatic rhetoric and no action. We are the generation that has the opportunity to effectively respond to this challenge. We are already late. Take action now! Professor Wangari Maathai Nobel Peace Prize Laureate, 2004 Founder of the Greenbelt Movement in Kenya, 1977 Goodwill Ambassador to the Congo Basin Forest UN Messenger for Peace and the Environment See www.Greenbeltmovement.org for more information on Professor Maathai’s work.

It is not every day that you get a chance to walk on top of an ocean. But that was where I found myself, with five feet of ice the only thing separating me from the 1,000 feet of freezing Arctic Ocean. I was in the Arctic as a correspondent for CNN International, living with scientists working in some of the most extreme conditions on Earth in order to shed more light on the complex systems that drive our climate. At these temperatures, a human being would survive about five minutes in the water, so it seemed rather counterintuitive to drill and chip through the ice to reach the frigid water below. The US Arctic Research Commission wrote that: “We know more about the topography of the planets Venus and Mars than we do about the bathymetry of the Arctic Ocean.” As I stared down at the outlines of the ice hole we had created, it struck me as truly remarkable that such a small window could provide so much new knowledge. The US federal budget for space exploration is just over 1,000 times larger than that for ocean exploration. While there is no question that exploring the Universe helps us to understand many things about this world, knowing if there is life on Mars is not critical to life on this planet; healthy oceans are. As Arthur C. Clark once wrote, “How inappropriate to call this planet Earth when it is quite clearly Ocean.” As we argue about the status of the environment and what should be done about it, we fail to take action that should be universally embraced: to allow our decisions to be guided by science, and to act in the best interests of future generations. What understanding we do have has led us to a chilling conclusion: that humans are drastically altering the climate, both by emitting huge amounts of CO2 and by altering the land through agriculture and urbanization in such a way that the stable climate that saw humans thrive for the first millennia of our history is being unbalanced. According to a report by the World Wildlife Fund we use 1.5 times the amount of resources that Earth can replenish each year. We are like farmers eating our seeds. There is urgency in understanding the world around us, if not for us, than for our children. My grandfather, Jacques Cousteau, often shared with me a simple dream: that every child born has the right to walk on clean grass under a blue sky, breath fresh air and drink pure water. I believe that his is a dream we all share, and that in order to realize it, we must base our decisions on science, not on wishful thinking. Philippe Cousteau Explorer, Social Entrepreneur, Environmentalist and CEO of EarthEcho International www.earthecho.org