People are continuously working to help sustain this planet’s life, and it is indeed great to have dialogues where concerns are shared and solutions are created and promoted.
Sadly, because some countries (especially the US) withdrew their commitments after pledging critically needed action, the climate movement – especially the Build Back Better Act – is moving slow…
We have all the evidence we need to take action. What’s stopping you from standing up and moving forward?
We can’t just wait and see what happens. We have to monitor and discuss what’s happening right now!
There is nothing we can’t do if we put our souls and minds into it.
COP26 is this year’s crucial UN Climate Change Conference, which was hosted by the UK in Glasgow, Scotland, from 31 October until 12 November. The talks were organised under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), an international treaty agreed at the Rio Earth Summit in 1992 in order to tackle global warming and deal with its effects. It came into force in 1994.
COP stands for “conference of the parties”, and is a summit where the 197 signatories to the UNFCCC – 196 countries and the EU – come together to make decisions on how to implement the treaty. This is the first COP since COP25, held in Madrid in 2019. The 26th UNFCCC conference, COP26 was originally due to take place in November 2020, but was postponed because of the coronavirus pandemic.
Featured E2 Panelist:
Chris Bentley is Clean Energy Activist, CEO of Good Energy Guild in Louisville, Colorado. Marilyn Waite is the Climate and Clean Energy Finance Program Officer of the Hewlett Foundation in France, formerly in California. Laura Berland-Shane is the Vice President of Blue Planet Systems in Santa Monica, California.
Moderator:
Ron Kamen is the CEO of EarthKind Energy Consulting in Rhinebeck, New York.
In this episode, Chris, Marilyn, and Laura engage in a discussion with regards to what has been happening in the movement towards saving the Earth. Here, they answer questions from the webinar attendees which concern what we can do next in order to save the planet and its people from complete destruction.
The most immediate climate issue that’s on the table RIGHT NOW is passing the Build Back Better Act – the largest piece of climate legislation that’s ever been proposed in the history of our country. That single bill will put us on track to meet – and even exceed – our goals, which is hugely important and necessary if we want life on this planet to continue.
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Topics Covered:
- 01:57 – Webinar speakers introduce themselves before proceeding to shortly talk about what they do in relation to clean energy
- 04:35 – E2 members’ perspectives on the current situation of the Earth in Glasgow – the good happenings, what drives those events, and also the things that hinder further progress
- 14:33 – Laura, Marilyn, and Chris share their sentiments about having people calling out the ‘elites’ in the middle of this crisis, alongside the things we need to do in order to be able to move and take a step forward
- 21:04 – Is anybody talking about annual CO2 reduction emissions that can be tracked by the country as progress goes?
- 26:10 – Can the private sector and companies like IKEA and others in combination scale their efforts to have a meaningful fraction of what the nations need to do but are failing to do?
- 32:40 – Do you think the ESG community is making a significant impact in making things change?
- 36:08 – Are the attendees connected to fossil fuel interest? Is there any transparency on that front?
- 38:46 – Are the speakers aware of other trade associations that are also setting carbon reduction targets?
- 41:47 – Is there talk about the importance of the Build Back Better Act in the congress for the US to show commitment to the climate change action? Are other countries questioning the USA’s commitment because of the congress being slow to pass this package?
- 45:11 – Is the philanthropic sector shifting away in regards to investments for the climate or are they more committed than ever?
- 48:27 – Does everyone have to buy carbon offsets to fly to the conference?
- 52:02 – A youth’s perspective on everything that’s going on in this movement.
- 54:34 – Where, when and how is environmental justice in equity integrated into the pledges with real solutions that will have equitable outcomes in climate justice for everybody?
- 56:33 – One major positive thing that can come out of this and what we should do next
Valuable SuperNovas:
“I think we need two things going forward. One is no more fossil fuel badges, and [two] we need to make sure that every delegation – especially of the rich countries – has a youth delegate.” – Marilyn Waite
“If we’re going to continue having these international dialogues – I suppose are all about action – then we do need to see some really big changes in how this is done, who’s at the table, whose voices are actually heard, because being just on the outside doesn’t work.” – Marilyn Waite
“The youth can step out further and louder.” – Chris Bentley
“Only think about the next five years. What do you want to do for the next five years? Because five years from now, it’s going to be completely different – new technologies, new opportunities. Where can you have the most impact?” – Chris Bentley
“We need everyone to be engaged and take action. There isn’t anyone that cannot do anything.” – Marilyn Waite
“We’ve got to really monitor this by the minute. We can’t just sit around and get back together in five years and see how we’ve progressed.” – Laura Berland-Shane
Connect with E2:
- Website: www.e2.org
- Facebook: www.facebook.com/e2.org
- Twitter: www.twitter.com/e2org
