CLIMATE change is no longer a priority but an emergency. Therefore climate activists are standing united to live with less and live more. This is what was discussed at the Climate Reality Breakfast hosted by Miss Earth South Africa.
Miss Earth 2003 and now a Miss Earth ambassador, Catherine Constantinides, and founder of Generations Earth, Ella Bella, have just returned from Manila, Philippines, where they spent three days of training with Al Gore, chairman of Climate Reality and the former vice president of the USA.
They spent the three days learning about climate change, the cost of carbon and the way forward. At the Climate Reality Breakfast hosted at the Palazzo Hotel at Montecasino on Thursday, March 31, the Miss Earth South Africa ambassadors shared what they had learnt during their trip, in the hope of educating the public on the state of emergency that our earth is in.
Educating the guests at the breakfast, both Constantinides and Bella gave a slide show presentation on the state of our earth. “This past January was the hottest January ever recorded, with 93 per cent of the earth’s heat going into our oceans and ocean life. We only have one earth and it is the little things that we all can do that make a difference to nature. It’s no longer just about recycling but about waste management,” said Bella.
Constantinides emphasised that it is the poor and vulnerable population who are most affected by climate change, with 54 per cent of the world’s wildfires happening in Africa due to climate change. “At the rate we are going, droughts are going to become longer and more intensified, and this is one reason why we need to become agents of change,” she said.
According to NASA, the energy trapped by man-made global warming pollution is now equivalent to exploding 400 000 Hiroshima-type atomic bombs per day, 365 days a year.
The slide show presentation gave the audience an in-depth look at the natural disasters that the earth has faced and the number of lives, homes and wildlife lost due to the drastic climate changes. “Everyone should be concerned about climate change and about leaving a lasting and healthy world for our future generations. Sources at National Geographic say that by the year 2100, the surface waters of the ocean could be nearly 150 per cent more acidic, reaching levels not seen in 20 million years,” said Bella.
