Earth Summit 2008

Earth Summit 2008

I have just returned home after attending The Earth Summit 2008 at the O2 stadium organised by Study Experiences. It was a 2 day event with some thought provoking and inspirational presentations. I have come away feeling even more determined to ensure young people understand the consequences of inaction and the opportunity they have now to be part of and instrumental to the decision making process for a sustainable future.

The key focus of the summit was:

“Climate Change and sustainable development: Adaptation and Mitigation.”

Day 1 was all about the science of Climate Change and the presenters did not hold their punches on the situation we are in and the challenges we all face. The clear message is that we have already caused the planet to warm and that even if we took immediate action to reduce the CO2 in the atmosphere right now, today - we cannot avoid the damage we have caused so far and we will have to learn to adapt to it. Underlying that stark reality however is that if we carry on avoiding the problem and continue to pollute our atmosphere with excessive green house gas, the consequences will likely be beyond what we can adapt to and will more likely be catastrophic for life on earth.  We have just a few years to influence our future – and our voice has never been so important in giving a living things a chance for survival.

Guest Speakers included:

Dr Mark McCarthy
Donnachadh McCarthy
Professor Bill McGuire – Author of SEVEN YEARS TO SAVE THE PLANET

Day 2 was in the main about the voice of the audience. It began with a talk by Steve Fuller of EDF energy about innovations and the development of renewable energies.

Then there were some great presentations from students including our own Climate Change Champions Adam and Patrick.

An amazing 2 days in the broadest sense of the word.

I’ll post a movie soon to give you a better idea.