Originally published on the CGS blog on February 5, 2016.
“Later that night, I held an atlas in my lap,
Ran my fingers across the whole world,
And whispered… where does it hurt?
It answered
Everywhere
Everywhere
Everywhere.”
–Warsan Shire
Last week I attended a United Nations Environment Programme event held in collaboration with George Washington University that invited speakers and organizations to discuss their plans to incorporate the goals set by the Paris Climate Agreement. There were two keynote speakers from the White House and three panels consisting of 10 high-ranking members of various organizations known for their efforts to curb climate change.
Christy Goldfuss of the White House Council on Environmental Equality began the event by speaking on the policies of the Obama Administration. She explained the White House plan to transition to a clean energy economy, a big step being President Obama’s recent ban on coal leasing on public lands. Most interestingly to me, Goldfuss heavily stressed the importance not only of stopping deterioration, but also of restoring already damaged areas and preventing further damage by strengthening existing ecosystems. This plan led me to realize that the world is already too deep in the effects of climate change to prevent it altogether. We are now at the stage where we simply have to adapt rather than fight.
The first panel spoke on the United States’ implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) laid out in the Paris Agreement in both the public and private sectors. A large topic of discussion stemmed from the idea that while the SDGs are global, they must be implemented in the context of each specific country. A third-world country cannot stop development completely, and the United States cannot turn off all of the electricity. Each country has different cultural, historical, and financial challenges to overcome. Each panelist also agreed that our free market economy will help to stimulate the participation of the private sector and allow the private sector to contribute crucial political support by translating its work into the public sector.
This topic was reiterated during the third panel more directly relating to the agricultural sector. The argument here was if the agricultural sector could be changed in order to benefit the farmers who use sustainable agricultural techniques, the politics of climate change could be altered. The same argument applied to the technology sector: if companies benefit from using sustainable techniques, they will put more pressure on politicians to enact change.
Each panel emphasized the importance of grassroots efforts to prevent the effects of climate change. Manish Bapna (Executive Vice President and Managing Director, World Resources Institute) stated that the largest positive change he has noticed over the years is the “shift from a top-down approach to a voluntary bottom-up.” He went on to say that this change is crucial in the effort to prevent climate change; if the people make it clear that they want to effect change, the politicians will be forced to follow suit. Goldfuss simply stated, “We all must work together.”
But perhaps the most impactful quote of the day came from the mouth of Norine Kennedy (VP, Strategic International Engagement, Energy and Environment, United States Council for International Business):
“We’ve been talking a lot about leadership but we must also talk about followership.”
After all, what is a leader without anyone to follow them?
