If we look at the hard facts of climate change, science is telling us we're running out of time.
That's what Achim Steiner, executive director of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), said during a panel at the 2014 Social Good Summit on Sunday. Moderated by Mashable's senior climate reporter Andrew Freedman, the panel focused on what actions we're taking to make cities more resilient in the face of climate-related extremes over the next 15 years.
Prepping society for increased climate change and extreme weather, as well as addressing mitigation challenges, is a difficult task -- but there's still hope.
"The hard numbers don't tell a great story -- but underneath that story, there are literally thousands of stories of people trying to build a different future," Steiner said.
Indeed, as Steiner spoke, more than 300,000 people gathered in New York City for the People's Climate March, calling for action against global warming. Thousands of others joined similar marches around the world.
Steiner added that we need to live in a climate-neutral world -- and with every year that passes, that becomes more difficult. But he emphasized a need to shift our focus away from exact timing.
"There is not one date ... We have the choice, we have the opportunity, and that, I think, is the moment we need to seize," he said.
Johannesburg, the largest city in South Africa, has made efforts to seize that very moment. Mayor Mpho Parks Tau, who also sat on Sunday's panel, explained how his city has conducted detailed analyses and projections in order to better secure its infrastructure during extreme weather events. But it's also about better preparing communities, he said.
Fellow panelist Seth Schultz discussed his work as director of research, measurement and planning at the C40 Cities Climate Leadership Group. C40 is a collaboration of 59 cities around world, including Johannesburg, working together on climate change.
"The amount of action cities are taking, both to mitigate and to adapt, has more than doubled in a two-year timeframe," Schultz said. "Our most recent study ... [showed] that cities have taken over 1,000 actions to address the issue [of risk].
"They're doing this out of necessity, but voluntarily helping and collaborating with each other, and the impact they're having is quite significant."
Since climate change is such a complex issue, C40 is working on an initiative called the Climate Risk Assessment Framework and Tool "to help create a taxonomy of the hazards that cities face -- and to do it in a very consistent matter, to allow for a much more intuitive connection between the cities on helping address these issues," Schultz said.
Companies like Solazyme, whose CEO and cofounder Jonathan Wolfson also spoke on Sunday, are working toward solutions, too.
"Our goal was, initially, to simply make low-carbon, renewable fuels," Wolfson said. "But as we started to work with fuels, we realized if we were making oils, we could address a much more substantial array of problems, including food security, nutrition and the pressures on fragile equatorial ecosystems."
He said real progress requires cities to take initiative, organizations like the U.N. to set an example and companies to make innovative solutions.
The last 20 years have seen major growth in how many people approach the #climatechange discussion: http://t.co/1QsnhjEPBH #2030NOW— Mashable Social Good (@socialgood) September 21, 2014
Sept. 23 will mark the U.N. Climate Summit, when more than 100 heads of state, CEOs and other leaders will begin discussing actions toward a potential climate treaty. The event is intended to build momentum toward the U.N. Climate Change Conference, which takes place in Paris in 2015.
Steiner thinks the fact that so many people are set to attend the Climate Summit on Tuesday is progress itself.
"You often have the sense that in the United Nations, we are associated with the inability to act," he said. "But what you will actually see on Tuesday is a Secretary-General stepping out in front of the world, when many others are sitting back."
But it isn't just about leadership -- it's about a grassroots approach, and having the courage to speak about the issue when it's hardest to do so.
"Let's be very clear: Tuesday is not about just having everybody step up," Steiner said. "It's about giving a spotlight [to] those who are willing to step out of their comfort zone, take responsibility and lead us into the 21st century with these answers."
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