I could go into my journey of environmental awareness, which is a winding path through veganism and vegetarianism, attempts at neutral impact living in the style of No Impact Man, and adventures in water-saving techniques (you learn to conserve water when you live in a flat with water flowing for only about 4 hours a day, and it’s senseless to waste water in a country with limited access), but there is a word limit on this blog post. Long story short, mindful living is a journey that touches on our personal ethics, habits with which we have grown up, and traditions in our own society. We all do what we can, and that with which we are comfortable. Meanwhile, each individual action amounts to a rain drop in a flood of positive change.

Here are a few steps I’ve taken that are fairly easy to replicate:

-As a renter, I cannot install low-flow toilets, so I like to fill used bottles with water, seal them, and submerge them in the toilet tank at home to save water.

-I always turn off my computer and monitor when I leave the office in the evening. It saves a miniscule amount of energy, but think of how much energy is wasted when millions of people leave their idle machines on.

-A few months ago, I won an annual membership to Capital Bikeshare during a safe cycling class they taught at the World Bank. After a cycling commute, I arrive at the office more refreshed and with a bit more money in my pocket than if I spent my morning sitting on a Metro train. (My coworkers, TMS Ruge and Simona Palummo have also blogged on manual commuting!)

-About 5 years ago I transitioned to a vegetarian, and mostly vegan, diet. You don’t have to be vegan to reduce your impact, but just replacing a few meals a week with plant-based foods can have a huge impact. Animal agriculture has been estimated to contribute anywhere from 18% (FAO’s 2006 report, “Livestock’s Long Shadow”) to 51% (The World Watch Institute’s 2009 “Livestock and Climate Change”) of total greenhouse gas emissions measured by warming ability (carbon dioxide equivalents). Animal agriculture also requires more land and water, and diverts food crops from human consumption to animal consumption, where energy is lost before reaching the table.

I hope these actions inspire you to examine where you feel comfortable making positive changes, and I invite you to share your stories in the Voices4Climate competition.

Grocery runs deep in my genetic code, but all I ever wanted to do was work for my hometown congressman. I was a two-issue girl, and I decided early to devote my life to campaign finance and energy policy – two areas I felt were poised for progress. I spent every summer of college interning and eventually landed a job as a legislative aide responsible for campaign finance and environmental issues. I spent the better part of the next decade working for Democrats, Independents and Republicans, who prioritized both (with a brief stop at the Justice Department, suing companies for violating the Clean Air Act). Most recently, I worked in the Senate on the American Power Act, the last major Congressional effort aimed at capping greenhouse gas emissions and creating a domestic clean energy economy.  

When that effort failed, I took a hard look at the prognosis for legislative progress, and my conclusions were bleak. But that didn’t weaken my resolve.  I decided to start a business that would make climate change progress incrementally or, as we say at Glen’s Garden Market, one bite at a time.

Television reporter Holly Morris, Chef and television host Carla Hall, and Glen's Garden Market founder Danielle Vogel. 

My father was a grocer. His father was a grocer, and so was my great grandfather. My mom’s dad owned supermarkets too. It wasn’t entirely counterintuitive that when it came time to start a business of my own, grocery would be my avenue of choice. But unlike my (actual) forefathers, my approach would be entirely mission driven.

Every single decision we make at Glen’s Garden Market in Dupont Circle is made with the environment in mind.

• Foremost, we source our food from the states of the Chesapeake Bay Watershed; and so we cut transportation and refrigeration emissions by bringing our food in from very close by. 
• We seek out thoughtful, meticulous producers who treat their land, their animals and their ingredients with respect.
• We built our store with old cattle fencing that had been discarded by one of our vendors in West Virginia.
• Our countertops were constructed from compressed, post-consumer recycled paper.
• We offer only reusable bags (what sense would it have made to send plastic right back into the watershed that provides our nourishment?).
• Our lights and equipment all meet the most rigorous efficiency standards.
• We retrofit our display cases to include doors to prevent the unnecessary waste of ultra carbon-intensive hydrofluorocarbons.
• We installed showers in our team’s bathrooms and bike racks in our break room to encourage our folks to bike, walk or run to work – and most of them do.
• Our kitchen operates under a no-waste mandate.
• We recycle and we compost, aggressively. 

But the thing we spend the most time on is helping other small businesses grow along with our own. In the 17 months since we opened, we’ve helped launch 17 food businesses. Seventeen companies have seen their products on a grocery store shelf for the very first time here. Often, those products come in through our front door in the arms of the person who made them. And after that happens, we promote them aggressively and help grow their brand. It’s one of my greatest pleasures to eventually find them on the shelves in our competitors’ stores – not just because it means their businesses are maturing, but because I know how thoughtfully those products were made. I want to see them displace demand for industrially produced food, which is exactly what they’re doing when they bump less carefully-crafted items off the shelves in other stores.

The notion of a “green” business is so ubiquitous these days that it’s trite. We don’t make the choices we do because we need the “you’re vaguely progressive, finger snaps for you” t-shirt. We make them because this business exists, fundamentally, to make progress toward addressing climate change. We do it by growing small, local businesses that create food thoughtfully, by being conscious of the real costs of food waste and working to mitigate them, by sourcing locally – not “whenever possible” but always. Even when that means our produce department includes little more than apples, potatoes, onions and kale in the cold months. And by working to create a space where only good food choices can be made. 

Glen’s Garden Market is very much a grocery store and killer craft beer bar with $4 pints all the time, and a heck of a sandwich and pizza shop, but it’s also a small business incubator, a community participant and a mission-driven progress-mobile.

It’s not an economy-wide climate change bill, but it’s progress, one bite at a time.

Earth To Paris, a coalition of partners helping to drive awareness about the connection between people and planet as well as the need for strong climate action, announced it will host “Earth To Paris—Le Hub” a two-day, high-impact, live-streamed summit on 7 and 8 December in Paris during COP21 — the United Nations climate conference to deliver a new universal climate change agreement.

Earth To Paris—Le Hub will provide the opportunity for cross-sector, solutions-oriented engagement in climate change conversations around COP21; a platform for amplifying the conversation across social and digital media; and series of activations through inspiring calls to take bold, meaningful action to address climate change. Experts, advocates, CEOs, and other leaders in Paris will discuss creative and impactful solutions to climate change, while participants around the world take part through multi-language livestreamed video and real-time interactions across multiple social media platforms using the unifying hashtag #EarthToParis.

A unique mix of speakers will share their visions for the future. The first tranche of speakers-- with more to come--includes:

•     Anne Hidalgo, Mayor of Paris
•     Helen Clark, Administrator, United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)
•     Anthony Lake, Executive Director, UNICEF
•     Irina Bokova, Director-General, UNESCO
•     Dr. Gro Harlem Brundtland, Former Prime Minister of Norway; Special Envoy, United Nations; Deputy Chair, The Elders; Board Member, United Nations Foundation
•     Esther Agbarakwe, Digital story-teller and +SocialGood Advisor
•     Dr. Paul Bunje, ‎Senior Director of Oceans, XPRIZE Foundation
•     Kathy Calvin, President and CEO, United Nations Foundation
•     Rocky Dawuni, Singer, songwriter, Ambassador for United Nations Foundation-hosted Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves
•     Dr. Sylvia Earle, Marine biologist and National Geographic Explorer-in-Residence
•     Andrew Freedman, Science editor, Mashable
•     Livia Firth, Film producer; Executive producer, The True Cost
•     Blanca Juti, Chief Brand Officer, Rovio Entertainment Ltd.
•     Dr. Jane Goodall, Primatologist, ethologist, anthropologist; United Nations Messenger of Peace
•     Runa Khan, Executive Director, Friendship Bangladesh
•     Ismaël le Mouël, Co-founder & President at HelloAsso; Founder, Social Good Week Paris; +SocialGood Advisor
•     Anne-Sophie Novel, Economist, journalist, and organizer of Place to B COP 21
•     Dr. M. Sanjayan, Conservation scientist, writer, and Emmy-nominated television news contributor
•     Max Schorr, Co-Founder and Director, GOOD Magazine
•     Jakob Trollbäck, Founder, Trollbäck + Company
•     Ted Turner, Founder and Chairman of United Nations Foundation and Turner Enterprises, Inc.
•     Timothy E. Wirth, Former United States Senator; Vice Chair, United Nations Foundation Board of Directors

COP21 is an extraordinary opportunity for the international community to rise to meet the threat of climate change. With the world recently adopting United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, a new set of global goals to end poverty in all its forms, fight inequalities and tackle climate change by 2030, Earth to Paris—Le Hub is primed to capture and build on the desire for leaders, businesses, organizations and individuals from the world to come together and call for real change.

The first day of Earth To Paris—Le Hub, 7 December, will convene at the Petit Palais in partnership with the City of Paris, and the second day, 8 December, will be held at UNESCO headquarters.

More information, including background and partner information and a live-stream of Earth to Paris—Le Hub, can be found at www.EarthToParis.org. Download the overview page.

Connect4Climate launched in 2011 with a photo and video competition, inviting people from ages 13 - 35 to share personal climate change stories. We asked that the stories take place within the continent of Africa and focus: Agriculture, Energy, Forests, Gender, Health and Water. Through photos and short videos, participants shared with us how climate change affects their lives, communities, and environments. The selected winners were announced at a high-profile award ceremony at COP17 in Durban, where world leaders and prominent climate change thinkers had the chance to look, listen, and learn about these climate stories.

See the original competition information here

Receiving entries from every country in Africa, Connect4Climate team members have kept in touch with many of the contest participants and winners, including Mants’ase Children’s Home located in Mohale’s Hoek, Lesotho. Children from Mants’ase won three prizes for their photo submissions focusing on the agriculture and energy themes. 

On February 3, 2015, one Connect4Climate team member traveled to Mohale’s Hoek, Lesotho, and visited Mants’ase. The children and staff showed her the location of the winning photos and told her about the climate change projects they have implemented and how they are contributing to the global climate conversation.

One student living at Mants’ase studies by solar lamp. Photo by Leigh Vogel

According to Elaine Herbert, Mants’ase Children’s Home Secretary and liaison to the Connect4Climate team:

“In 2003, the first solar water heaters were installed (on the roof of the building) and since then we have purchased more solar water heaters, so that we now only use solar energy for heating water for baths, showers and for doing the laundry.

The pump that pumps the water from the well up to the water reservoir (situated at the highest place on the property) is powered by solar energy. There are two big solar panels (on top of tall poles) situated not far from the teenage boy’s dormitory. The water is then fed by gravity from the reservoir to the taps.

The children and staff at Mants’ase Children’s Home stand near the garden. Photo by Leigh Vogel

We have a few solar lights, including the ‘street light’ in the grounds, which has its own solar panel so that it is recharged every day. The electricity we buy (from the national grid) is a fairly clean form of energy in that most, if not all of it, is hydroelectricity.

A lot of thought and planning has gone into the positioning and orientation of the new buildings (still under construction) along with the number and size of the windows, to allow maximum natural heating of these buildings by the sun during winter. Although in mid-winter our temperatures often drop to well below freezing at night, and very cold winds blow from the mountains, winter is our dry season and most days are sunny. So by keeping the cold wind out, while allowing maximum sunshine in, we should be able to keep to a minimum the use of other forms of energy for heating these buildings during winter.

We reduce our carbon footprint in other small ways—the vegetable garden for example, drying our laundry outside in the sun, and by generating relatively little refuse.

As far as conservation is concerned, most of our efforts have been focused on preventing soil erosion on our property.”

See the prizes the Connect4Climate team is shipping to Mants’ase on the Mants’ase Facebook page here

African Bloggers on Climate Change kicked off this morning and will run through October 31st. Below is a list of all the commentary and blog posts related to AVCC. We will update this list daily with all the blog posts that have been written so far. If you are an African blogger or a climate change, environment blogger, we encourage you to join the conversation. Check out the original AVCC posts for guidance on how to engage in the global conversation.

1) Voices

by Rowan Emslie

Recently the whole climate change debate has been mostly dominated by ‘climate deniers’ and those who deny their denials. A tale as old as time, we have progressive thinkers attacking conservative thinkers and vice versa.

2) Rwanda Shines in Conservation Where Her EAC Partners Falter

by Prof. Dr. Wolfgang H. Thome

Conservation is never easy, always full of the challenge to keep growing populations reconciled with having protected areas set aside near where they live and percolate benefits to those who live nearby, derived from tourism and conservation income.

3) Blogging for Connect4Climate - WildLife

by Solomon Jagwe

With most of the wildlife in the East African Rift Valley depending on the changing of seasons to migrate to areas where their offspring can stand a chance of survival, it is of great importance to discuss how the climate change adversely affects those migration patterns.

4) Innovative Solutions in Africa

By Independent Global Citizen

Deforestation and waste management are two challenges facing the global community.  Trees are often cut down in rural parts of developing countries to be used as firewood to cook and to fire mud bricks used in the construction of buildings like houses, shops, and latrines.

5) Act now, Act together, Act differently

By Mimieux

In just 3 years, Kenya has suffered two bouts of severe drought leaving thousands of people dead. Northern Kenya, boasting extreme temperatures of up to 35 degrees falls under the 80% of Kenyan land that is arid/ semi-arid and consequently not suitable for Agriculture.

6) This is about Climate Change really, but it's about My Childhood Too

By Iwaya Mataachi

The boys would run naked into the “river” and splash water at the giggling girls huddle on the bank and I could see, even then, in the corner of my eye, the boy and the girl who had split from the group to talk in private under a tree away from us.

7) Energy poverty - Where does the answer lie?

By Evelyn Namara

In Uganda today, according to a report submitted by UNESCO "Overall, only 9 percent of Uganda’s population is supplied with grid electricity (20 percent in urban areas compared to only 3 percent in rural areas), and 70 percent of these customers reside in the three major towns of Kampala, Entebbe and Jinja."

8) Changing the World

By Ruth Aine

You and I may never make it to The UN Convention on Climate Change: We may never be able to be part of the debate on the environment in Uganda led by the Ministry of Water and Environment; We may never be able to know and understand what is meant by major greenhouse gases being necessary to identify the current trends in atmospheric concentrations and climate change: But I believe that we can effect change by being the voice in our communities where we belong.

9) Listen; the trees and water are talking

By Mark Keith Muhumuza

Little known to the active men and human nature is that their actions will be met with vast environmental misgivings. The energy demands by human nature often growing and depleting natural resources like water and forests have vast consequences mostly unknown or that they have no control over.

10) "Climate Smart" - Agriculture Initiatives Will Save Africa

By Maureen Agena

Climate change impacts are much localised and hence some areas are more vulnerable than others. Therefore African Governments need to spearhead initiatives of climate proofing Agriculture with all partners involved in climate change adaptation strategies.

11) The environment does not need saving

By John K. Abimanyi

Go build an industry in a wetland, a sugar cane farm in a forest, a shopping arcade in a wetland, a hydro power dam on the longest river, a collection of nightspots in the few green spaces in the capital, cut some trees and make some charcoal, drain all the fish from the seas, and help promote the cause of humanity. Self-destruction is, after all, what humanity is best experienced at doing.

12) An Ode To Mother Earth

By Lydia Idem Finkley

I’ve always been a tree hugger. Directly because they are Nigerian, mine have always been “waste-not-EVER” parents. So even if they never admit it, it’s in my blood. I do my best to support local farmers and green companies. When I grow up, I’ll be an investor in green and sustainable technology.

13) Connecting4Climate: Promoting an Active Recycling Culture in Nigeria

By Tukeni Obasi

The present stigma attached to waste management and recycling reveals the disconnect between the average Nigerian and their waste and yet as reality has shown, climate change continues to connect us all. In order to turn that connection into a beneficial one, we must change our cultural practices.

14) Reflections on the festival of lights

By Neha Misra

Electricity access is fundamental for achieving UN’s millennium development goals (MDG’s), the most broadly supported, comprehensive and specific development goals the world has ever agreed upon. 

15) Energy at the cost of the environment

But that said, the energy demands of our nation need to be paid attention to and planned for wisely because our current energy consumption isn’t sustainable even in the short run. Uganda as a country needs a sustainable model of handling its energy demands and still paying respect to the environment from which these demands are met.

16) The road to sustainable energy in Nigeria

By Lyinoluwa.O Aremu

This is why the introduction of the new electric prepaid meter, few years back, is a good idea for sustainable energy in Nigeria. This meter, unlike the old one, requires customers to buy electric units on the meter, which will eventually be used up, depending on how many electric appliances are used or the frequency of the usage of the electric.

17) Our Health and Climate Change

By Njeri Nancy Maina

Water is life and as long as man shall live, water remains the most essential element to life on earth. Liquid in normal room temperature and ice when frozen; water is basic to our everyday activities especially around the home. Water may appear of less importance to those who have consistent access to it but once it’s out, one then realizes the service water offers.

18) 6th African Economic Conference: Youth employment within the new African Green Economy Agenda 

By Esther Agbarakwe

So does Green Economy bring hope to African youths seeking Jobs? Speaking at the Special Session on the Role of the State in promoting Green Economy, African Youths and experts urge government to ensure that decent Jobs are indeed created for Africa’s  youths and not use the notion of technology transfers and innovation to give jobs to non-Africans employed to help Africa transits to a green economy.

19) Dear baby Seven [ Billion ]

By TMS Ruge

That intelligence and ambition drives us to invent and reinvent. We are destructively creative beings by nature; never satisfied with the status quo. “Out with the old and in with the new,” is a motto you will hear a lot in your lifetime. We create to destroy.

20) A key: the role of women in climate change

By Iyinoluwa O. Aremu

So, how do we go about this? We don’t need much of government action in raising awareness of climate change to women, we only need interested and motivated people or organisations, who are ready to go into the rural areas, meet the women and show them demonstrations of how they can save their environment.

21) Impact of Climate Change on Agriculture and Food

By Olumide Idowu

Populations in the developing world, which are already vulnerable and food insecure, are likely to be the most seriously affected. In 2005, nearly half of the economically active population in developing countries—2.5 billion people—relied on agriculture for its livelihood. Today, 75 per cent of the world’s poor live in rural areas.

22) Nigeria: Why Climate Change

By Olumide Idowu

Peer-reviewed research accepted by the Journal of Geography and Regional Planning concludes that Nigeria’s average temperature has risen by 1.7 degrees in the period 1901-2005. The increase has been higher in the semi-arid regions and lower in the coastal zone. The paper also demonstrates that the rate of change has increased since the 1970s.

23) 7 Billion People and Counting: {Connect 4 Climate - Change}

By Andy Kristian

In short, more than 45% of the people that dwell in urban areas do not have electricity. And that’s not all, in the cities, the other 45% who have electricity, they probably don’t have it all week and sporadically experience power outages during the week.

24) Of Human Waste and Water: Cleaning up Lagos City

By Olatunbosun Obayomi

In July, Lagos experienced heavy rain fall. Storm water overwhelmed the poorly designed drainage and canal systems which were already choked with refuse. Twenty-five people lost their lives and the city came to a halt. Both rich and poor were impacted. The event was blamed on climate change, specifically the rise of the Atlantic Ocean.

Climate change is one of the major problems we face today.

It may lead to the permanent flooding of low-lying regions and the disruption of potable water supply to millions around the world as the ice-packs in the mountains shrink and deplete the water reserves of major population centers. It may also lead to the decline in oil and gas supplies as hydro-carbon reserves peak and the price of energy increases exponentially. These events would have an extreme affect on our world.

But climate change may also cause, directly or indirectly, deep fractures in world trade and commerce that would likely result in political tensions and armed conflict among religious, ethnic, and cultural communities across the world. Ending extreme poverty is impossible without tackling climate change. A few months away from the defining Climate Change negotiations in Paris, now is the time to face the defining challenge of our generation.

[video:https://vimeo.com/128639704]

 

"Communication has becoming the glue, the cement of all we do in everyday life, and especially when it comes tackling major global issues, such as climate change."

Whereas in the past, we were able to increase food production over a few cropping cycles, or establish income generating ventures in a couple of years, the “new” problems we face may take years, and in the case of climate change, several generations for the world community to resolve.

How do we build consensus and muster the altruistic intent of the present generation to consume less, de-escalate conflict, and subject ourselves to research so that future generations who will exist long after we are gone may inherit a habitable planet?

The tried and tested methods of agriculture extension, social mobilization, community participation, and multi-lateral negotiation are unlikely to succeed on their own as these systemic problems grow in their severity and people submit to innate human instincts for self-preservation and compete even more keenly for rapidly dwindling natural resources, ratchet-up violence, hoard energy and water, and close markets to international commerce.

We do not have appropriate strategies to begin addressing these “new” and highly complex challenges. 

At the 2012 edition of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, the background report on the global risks our world faces clearly stated that three common, crosscutting observations from the varied groups of experts consulted:

* Decision-makers need to improve understanding of incentives that will improve collaboration in response to global risks;

* Trust, or lack of trust, is perceived to be a crucial factor in how risks may manifest themselves. In particular, this refers to confidence, or lack thereof, in leaders, in the systems which ensure public safety and in the tools of communication that are revolutionizing how we share and digest information;

* Communication and information sharing on risks must be improved by introducing greater transparency about uncertainty and conveying it to the public in a meaningful way.

Jan Servaes (PhD, 1987, Catholic University of Louvain, Belgium) is Chair Professor in the Department of Media and Communication at the City University of Hong Kong and UNESCO Chair in Communication for Sustainable Social Change. Servaes has undertaken research, development, and advisory work around the world and is known as the author of journal articles and books on such topics as international and development communication; ICT and media policies; intercultural communication and language; and participation and social change.

[video:https://vimeo.com/142404010]

 

An intimate dialogue promoted by Connect4Climate, a global climate change communication program founded by the World Bank and the Italian Ministry of Environment, took place on the Chile Pavilion at EXPO Milan. The Chile Pavilion, hosts of the discussion on sustainability in universal exhibitions, achieved 3 out of 4 categories of the "Towards a Sustainable EXPO" award, on October the 13th.

The event was an opportunity to share experiences and know-how among stakeholders from different industries and sectors on their roles in advancing sustainability. The discussion highlighted the importance of events like this in the fight against climate change - see participants here.

“There is not just an agreement, people are starting to connect together, together with this EXPO to move towards the next EXPOs in order to have a different approach to sustainability and really engage in making people aware of this huge problem, climate change,” said Massimiliano Falcone, Connect4Climate’s team member, summarizing the event.

After a brief introduction of Augusto Aninat, Director ProChile Italy, and Connect4Climate’s Massimiliano Falcone, the high-level panel discussion was facilitated by John Wyse, a BBC World News Speaker. He lead the dialogue along two main topics: technological innovation to tackle climate change and the role of traditional values to transition to a clean resilient future.

Technological innovation, at both a production and outcome (product) levels, were highlighted as climate solutions, to reduce CO2, mitigate fine dust, and other environmental impacts. The role of sustainability in business was mentioned as a paramount concept to measure up to.  Andrea Boragno, CEO of Connect4Climate’s partner Alcantara emphasized: “There is a strong idea and conviction that sustainability is not in conflict with the long term goal of increasing the economic and financial value of the company.” He went on the highlight that the final consumer has a huge say in advancing sustainability in business through their purchasing power, for sustainable products.

Presentation during the CLIMATEXPO discussion highlighting role fo solar. Credit: Roberto Razeto

The dialogue took a turn to introduce and discuss the concept of “Smart Cities,” and the role of traditional values in a global urbanized society. Farming and agriculture in a primarily Urbanized Global society can provide opportunities for societies to create new business and organizations, and explore new methods and improvements in technology, on the basis of traditional values that emphasize Social Capital and Human Cohesion.

The links between the role of the EXPO in address climate change and promoting sustainability were explored in the context of the recently announced Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) at the UN in September. “2015 is the year in which all the countries in the world have assumed their commitments and so EXPO could become and appointment, every 5 years, of disclosure, sharing all he progress made towards the achieving the SDGs,” said Maurizio Zollo, Dean’s Chaired Professor in Strategy and Sustainability at the Bocconi University. He emphasized that universal exhibitions could be the sites for governments to come together and showcase the progress they are making towards achieving the SDGs.

The role of business in advancing the sustainability is thought to be crucial. Maurizio Zollo underlined during the discussion that all the SDG goals “require companies fundamentally change the way that they behave the way they manage their businesses. Managers have to rethink what they are doing and how their companies are run, the role of the company within their social and environmental context, which requires a lot of willingness to innovate and to experiment.”

This Monday, the Empire State Building lit up in green as Climate Week (http://www.climateweeknyc.org/) kicked off in New York City. All across Manhattan, a number of climate-related events are taking place to direct the discussion towards an ambitious and binding agreement at the UNFCCC COP21 meeting in December in Paris. At the same time, the Sustainable Development Goals are a key topic of discussion in New York. On September 26, the United Nations will adopt the ‘2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development’.

Connect4Climate recognizes the inevitable link between these goals and the need to act on climate change and we are supporting action on both fronts in several ways. In June, Connect4Climate teamed up with the UN Foundation to organize the New Voices, New Vision +SocialGood event in Cape Town, where it became very clear that the SDGs could not be discussed without making reference to the need for climate action. I moderated the panel on climate change and was encouraged by the clear new vision presented by young South Africans for the need to deploy renewable energy and embrace all climate actions in their daily lives to help the global transition to a cleaner, greener economy.

The connect4climate team is #AngryAboutClimateChange to support the launch of Champion for Earth. Credit: Max Thabiso Edkins

Connect4Climate also formed partnerships that helped emphasize the link between the SDGs and climate change during Climate Week. We’re supporting the Angry Bird Tournament Champion for Earth organized by Rovio and Earth Day Network. The Angry Birds, currently the most downloaded game in the world, will be sure to make an impact on millions worldwide as it incorporates climate change messages into its seven-day tournament.

We will also continue with support messages for Pope Francis’ encyclical “Laudato Si” as the world’s eyes will be on him as he visits Washington DC, New York City, and Philadelphia, and brings his message to act on climate change to American leaders.

We’ll also be supporting the exciting activities around the launch of the SDGs, including Project Everyone, the Global Citizen Festival, the Social Good Summit, the Solutions Summit, and particularly the Climate Week NYC Signature event, where President of the World Bank Group, Jim Yong Kim, will add his support for climate action. 

The 17 Sustainable Development Goals. Credit: UN/Project Everyone

The year 2015 is an important one for development. Across the world, individuals and organizations are supporting the #Action2015 call to action. The need for ambitious climate action is closely linked to the 2030 sustainable development agenda. Climate change impacts all, the poor the most, and has a direct link to all topics of sustainable development – health, water, education and policy, and finance. The people directly affected in each of these areas often have no voice, and that is why Connect4Climate exists – to form a global partnership platform that communicates climate impacts and solutions.

Connect4Climate is encouraging the enthusiasm shown by country leaders, business leaders, regional and city leaders and individuals for a more sustainable future and we look forward to carrying this momentum forward to COP21 and beyond. The impetus for ambitious climate action is certainly there, renewables have taken off around the world, legal systems are increasingly in place to support climate action – and world leaders, from different faiths, countries, cities and businesses have all shown their support for an ambitious outcome in Paris. Join us along the way.

Climate change is a global problem, but some nations are more susceptible to its negative impacts than others. According to research, the nations most vulnerable to climate change are not the ones that produce the highest levels of carbon dioxide emissions.

MHA@GW, the online master of health administration from the Milken Institute School of Public Health at the George Washington University, created this data visualization to illuminate the dichotomy between the countries most susceptible to climate change and the countries that emit the most CO2.

They compared data from the Notre Dame Global Adaptation Index (ND-GAIN) to data from the Carbon Dioxide Information Analysis Center (CDIAC) to develop the map. The ND-GAIN evaluates a nation’s vulnerability and readiness to adapt to climate change, and the CDIAC does a yearly measurement of each nation’s CO2 emissions.

Action on climate change needs people. The People’s Climate March that took place in New York and other major cities around the world at the weekend is the best possible example of this. At a time when the clicking of a like-button can give the tempting illusion of having done something, we need to remind ourselves that nothing replaces the physical presence of people, together in the same space, demanding the same thing. However, the key ingredient for creating action is communication. I have recently become involved with the Adopt a Negotiator project and I am one of about 300 people who are engaged in the #Call4Climate writing challenge in preparation for this year’s climate change negotiations in Lima and the crucial negotiations in Paris at the end of 2015. For the most part, it is a virtual activity as we all set out to blog, write for online news papers, and cook up some viral posts on twitter and social media. As part of the #Call4Climate, we are climate communicators. This is a hard task and here I set out to reflect on it. I argue that it is about people, people, and people.

Effective climate communication, by that I mean communication that leads to action, is hard. The recently published Don’t even think about it: why our brains are wired to ignore climate change makes this point eloquently and is depressingly convincing. Generally, research from the social sciences and psychology suggests that moving people to act on climate change is difficult. Most importantly, we learn that knowing does not equal acting. The focus should not be on how to present more facts in the hope that people will finally change. The science is clear and this is important. But science does not translate straight into action. This is where we need to think and think harder to find approaches that work.

People I Though, as part of Adopt A Negotiator, we are not marching together in the streets, we are working on the same issues and offer virtual support. We share each other stories with our own networks, we share on twitter and meet online for skill-ups where we talk through various options of how to create effective messages. Being part of a community, even as it is virtual, is tremendously important. A group, people next to you doing the same thing, is irreplaceable in keeping momentum and keeping motivation throughout challenging times. This is the first sense in which climate communication is about people.

People II Climate change is incredibly abstract and feels incredibly far away from most of us, most of the time. We need to remember that we create messages for people, about people. Looking at what my fellow Adopt a Negotiator trackers have published so far, many stories are about the plights people face as a result of climate change. This is the second sense in which climate communication needs to be about people.

People III I think that there is a third aspect that we haven’t fully tapped into yet. We all have heard and seen the stories of people affected by climate change. We have heard stories of catastrophes and remarkable human resilience and ingenuity in the face of it. But what about those people who work on climate change? Let me be clear, I am not suggesting that activists, scientists, and diplomats are as important as the people most affected by climate change. However, what I am suggesting is that by looking at the people who spent their lives mobilizing for climate change, researching climate change, and negotiating climate change, we can learn a lot and we can be inspired. They might not be as sexy as a celebrity delivering a one-liner on why we need to address climate change but they are the ones actually doing something.

We live as people in a world of people; we are social beings all the way down. How our fellow women, men, and children are doing matters. It affects us; we feel compassion and are, hopefully, moved to act. What they are doing matters just as much. I am suggesting that seeing and understanding the people who already work on finding solutions to climate change can move others to become involved as well. We are moved by what moves other people.

Why have the various organisers and supporters of the climate march spent night after night preparing for this event? Why are some protesters willing to face arrest to support their cause, as it happened at the Copenhagen summit in 2009? Why does the scientist continue to research and publish despite receiving hate mail and even death threats? And why does the diplomat return to the negotiation table despite knowing that her room for manoeuvre is small because she has nothing to offer but a moral appeal and that coming from a small island state she is vastly outnumbered in the negotiations unable to face "negotiation by exhaustion" effectively? I think that these are the questions we should be asking.

One recent project that follows this direction is "Scared Scientists" by Nick Bowers whose portraits of climate scientists combined with their statements on what they fear the most about climate change are beautiful and haunting at the same time. The logic is this: if these people are so deeply moved to do something, why shouldn’t I be? If it matters for them, shouldn’t it also matter for me? Let’s bring on these kinds of stories and make climate communication ultimately about people, people, and people.

Katharina Hone is part of the #call4climate writing challenge at Adopt a Negotiator. With DiploFoundation she has been teaching online courses on climate change diplomacy since 2008 and was recently involved in running a capacity development program for participants from Pacific Island States. On twitter: @kathone