Let's save the Earth!
Hungarian President János Áder gave a talk at the Medical School of the University of Pécs on 9th of November. Working together with former US Vice President Al Gore and UN Secretary- General Ban Ki-moon, the objective of Áder's information campaign is to collect 1 billion signatures urging world leaders to reach a climate agreement at the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Paris in December.
Photo: Szabolcs Csortos, UnivPécs
The United Nations Climate Change Conferences are yearly conferences held in the framework of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). They serve as the formal meeting of the UNFCCC Parties (Conferences of the Parties) (COP) to assess progress in dealing with climate change, and beginning in the mid-1990s, to negotiate the Kyoto Protocol to establish legally binding obligations for developed countries to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions.
World population is projected to reach 9.1 billion by 2050, with most of this growth in developing countries.
During the twenty-first century, the earth's average surface temperature rises are likely to exceed the realistic target threshold of 2°C above preindustrial average temperature. Changing the average global temperature by even a degree or two can lead to serious consequences around the globe: reductions in the yields of crops as currently grown, increasing flooding risks, decreases in stream flow in river basins.
Levels of vitamin and mineral content in fruits and vegetables are lower than they were 50 years ago. A severe drought, worsened by a warming climate, drove Syrian farmers to abandon their crops and flock to cities, helping trigger a civil war that has killed hundreds of thousands of people.
As his lecture was part of the Alumni Meeting, Annual Medical Doctors' Day, the Head of the Hungarian State detailed the adverse health effects of the climate change. There were 5 heat waves in Hungary during this year and approximately 1600 deaths can be linked to these extreme periods.
Scientists are predicting that climate change will cause a mass extinction of many species of plants and animals. As ice melts in the polar regions, polar bears
are losing vital habitats, the ocean is also becoming more acidic which is killing many corals.
These are facts which had become truisms. Let's not just standing and watching it – said János Áder. But there was a word of hope, too. Recent inventions are disclosed such as window glass replaced transparent solar panels, Tesla Powerwall, which is home battery that charges using electricity generated from solar panels, new wind turbines without blades, etc. János Áder is quite right. Enjoying summer warmth of November and breathing in gasfumes of Szigeti Street anyone can feel it.
Join and tell the world leaders to take climate action at: http://liveearth.org
Source: UnivPécs