MANILA, Nov. 14, 2012?In a 24-hour online broadcast, climate activists worldwide will expose the realities and solutions to the climate crisis threatening the world in a series of news reports, discussions and multimedia presentations.
The 24 Hours of Reality will feature the “Dirty Weather Report”, a live internet broadcast of extreme weather conditions and how climate change has been impacting lives and the environment.
“Join us on November 15 at 9 a.m. Philippine time, until the next day for 24 Hours of Reality: The Dirty Weather Report. Broadcast live on the Internet, it’s an event that anyone can attend. And it’s your chance to join millions around the world to demand real solutions,” said Rodne Galicha, Philippine district manager of The Climate Reality Project (TCRP).
TCRP, which broadcasts 24 Hours of Reality, is a global movement founded by Nobel laureate and former United States vice president Al Gore.
Launched last year, the online event exposed to millions of viewers the reality of climate change and extreme weather conditions people are experiencing in many places around the world.
Dirty energy has created a world of dirty weather, according to the global climate movement. “Today, climate disruption affects us all and it will take all of us together to solve it – join us in the Dirty Weather Report, when together we will stand up and demand real solutions to the climate crisis.”
Floro Francisco, also a TCRP climate leader and former assistant general manager of the Laguna Lake Development Authority (LLDA) pointed to people’s reckless consumption of dirty energy that produce greenhouse gases, as a factor why there are extreme weather conditions .
“We must admit that we have been experiencing unusual and extreme weather conditions due to our careless and uncontrollable utilization of dirty energy like coal, oil and gas which in effect produces a lot of greenhouse gases trapping a lot of extra heat rising up the temperature of our planet,” he said.
Franciso explained that extreme heat accelerates evaporation and warm air holds more moisture increasing more water vapor in the atmosphere resulting to an increase of rainfall.
“Extreme weather condition means longer and deeper droughts killing crops and livelihoods, even people; more intense typhoons, heavy rainfall resulting to flooding and mudslides,” said Miguel Magalang, executive director of Marinduque Council for Environmental Concerns (MACEC) with the Roman Catholic Diocese of Boac.
Magalang, a disaster risk reduction specialist and a TCRP climate leader said it is important for local governments to come out with a sustainable development framework that would mitigate disasters brought by dirty weather.
“We have to live with bad weather sometimes through adaptation but there is a need to mitigate further disasters caused by dirty weather. Human beings can leave dirty energy and switch to clean ones such as solar, wind and hydropower,” Magalang said.
Public Attorney’s Office Chief Persida Rueda-Acosta, also a TCRP leader, said first world countries that have high level carbon emissions must lead the action for a global response.
“Filipinos cannot solve the climate crisis alone – it must be a global action, together. Countries with high-level carbon emissions like the United States must lead in this global change through deeper emission cuts,” she said.
Rueda-Acosta stressed that the 24-hour online event is all about climate justice.
Despite the adaptation and mitigation being done by developing countries, she said, if the first world nations who “continue to exploit the natural resources of the powerless using more dirty energy, continuously polluting our water and air, heating up our climate – this crisis will still continue until it becomes too late to save the only planet we have.”
TCRP Chairman Al Gore will join the event’s opening on November 15 at 9 a.m. (PH time) and conclude with a presentation on November 16 at 8 a.m. (PH time) in New York, USA.
In the Philippines, live broadcast via internet are scheduled in Colegio de San Juan de Letran in Manila, University of Negros Occidental-Recoletos in Bacolod, Frendz Resort in the beach island paradise of Boracay, Aklan. Interested viewers are advised to check the details at www.facebook.com/groups/climate.ph. (CBCPNews)
