Earth is not \u201csome indestructible toy\u201d Prime Minister Boris Johnson told world leaders, as he spoke of the upcoming Glasgow COP26 summit as \u201cthe turning point for humanity\u201d.<\/p>\n
Mr Johnson addressed the United Nations General Assembly in the early hours of Thursday in a speech in which he conceded a rise in temperatures was inevitable but said we can hope to \u201crestrain that growth\u201d.<\/p>\n
The address was the last stop on Mr Johnson\u2019s visit to the United States which has seen discussions held on trade, the Covid-19 pandemic and climate change.<\/p>\n
Mr Johnson told the Assembly it was time for \u201chumanity to grow up\u201d and look to the coronavirus pandemic as an example of \u201cgloomy scientists being proved right\u201d.<\/p>\n
We are approaching that critical turning point, in less than two months, when we must show that we are capable of learning, and maturing, and finally taking responsibility for the destruction we are inflicting, not just upon our planet but ourselves<\/p>\n
Boris Johnson
\nHe added: \u201cThe world \u2013 this precious blue sphere with its eggshell crust and wisp of an atmosphere \u2013 is not some indestructible toy, some bouncy plastic romper room against which we can hurl ourselves to our heart\u2019s content.<\/p>\n
\u201cDaily, weekly, we are doing such irreversible damage that long before a million years are up, we will have made this beautiful planet effectively uninhabitable \u2013 not just for us but for many other species.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd that is why the Glasgow COP26 summit is the turning point for humanity.\u201d<\/p>\n
The UN summit is being held in Glasgow from late October to early November to \u201caccelerate action towards the goals of the Paris Agreement\u201d, a treaty aimed at keeping the rise in global temperatures to below 2C adopted in 2015.<\/p>\n
The address was the last stop on Mr Johnson\u2019s visit to the United States which has seen discussions held on trade, the Covid-19 pandemic and climate change.<\/p>\n
Mr Johnson told the Assembly it was time for \u201chumanity to grow up\u201d and look to the coronavirus pandemic as an example of \u201cgloomy scientists being proved right\u201d.<\/p>\n
We are approaching that critical turning point, in less than two months, when we must show that we are capable of learning, and maturing, and finally taking responsibility for the destruction we are inflicting, not just upon our planet but ourselves<\/p>\n
Boris Johnson
\nHe added: \u201cThe world \u2013 this precious blue sphere with its eggshell crust and wisp of an atmosphere \u2013 is not some indestructible toy, some bouncy plastic romper room against which we can hurl ourselves to our heart\u2019s content.<\/p>\n
\u201cDaily, weekly, we are doing such irreversible damage that long before a million years are up, we will have made this beautiful planet effectively uninhabitable \u2013 not just for us but for many other species.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd that is why the Glasgow COP26 summit is the turning point for humanity.\u201d<\/p>\n
The UN summit is being held in Glasgow from late October to early November to \u201caccelerate action towards the goals of the Paris Agreement\u201d, a treaty aimed at keeping the rise in global temperatures to below 2C adopted in 2015.<\/p>\n
The speech started with a look at how humanity has been around for around 200,000 years and that the average mammalian species exists for about a million years before it evolves or dies out \u2013 suggesting we were, in relative terms, \u201cnow sweet 16\u201d.<\/p>\n
He said: \u201cWe have come to that fateful age when we know roughly how to drive and we know how to unlock the drinks cabinet and to engage in all sorts of activity that is not only potentially embarrassing but also terminal.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn the words of the Oxford philosopher Toby Ord, \u2018we are just old enough to get ourselves into serious trouble\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mr Johnson\u2019s eco focus is a far cry from his past climate-sceptic views.<\/p>\n
He admitted on Monday that \u201cif you were to excavate some of my articles from 20 years ago you might find comments I made, obiter dicta, about climate change that weren\u2019t entirely supportive of the current struggle, but the facts change and people change their minds and change their views and that\u2019s very important too\u201d.<\/p>\n
Addressing the assembly, he said he was not \u201cone of those environmentalists who takes a moral pleasure in excoriating humanity for its excess\u201d or viewing the green movement as \u201ca pretext for a wholesale assault on capitalism\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy friends, the adolescence of humanity is coming to an end,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are approaching that critical turning point, in less than two months, when we must show that we are capable of learning, and maturing, and finally taking responsibility for the destruction we are inflicting, not just upon our planet but ourselves.\u201d<\/p>\n
He called on countries to cut their carbon emissions by 68% by 2030 compared with 1990 levels, praised the end of China\u2019s international financing of coal, and congratulated Pakistan\u2019s pledge to plant 10 billion trees.<\/p>\n
The 20-minute speech ended with references to renowned Greek writer Sophocles and a Muppet.<\/p>\n
On Jim Henson\u2019s creation, he said Kermit was wrong when he sang It\u2019s Not Easy Bein\u2019 Green, adding it was \u201ceasy, lucrative and right\u201d to be green.<\/p>\n
He added: \u201cSophocles is often quoted as saying that there are many terrifying things in the world, but none is more terrifying than mankind, and it is certainly true that \u2026 we are uniquely capable of our own destruction, and the destruction of everything around us.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut if you look at the Greek, Sophocles actually said \u2026 was that man is deinos and terrifying isn\u2019t quite right as far as a translation for deinos. What Sophocles really means is humanity is awesome \u2013 both terrifying but also awesome.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have an awesome power to change things and to change things for the better, and an awesome power to save ourselves.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn the next 40 days, we have to choose, the world has to choose what kind of awesome we\u2019re going to be.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Earth is not \u201csome indestructible toy\u201d Prime Minister Boris Johnson told world leaders, as he spoke of the upcoming Glasgow COP26 summit as \u201cthe turning point for humanity\u201d. Mr Johnson addressed the United Nations General Assembly in the early hours of Thursday in a speech in which he conceded a rise in temperatures was inevitable […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":217190,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-217187","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-world"],"yoast_head":"\n