Former US president Bill Clinton yesterday urged leaders of the world’s cities, which produce more than two-thirds of greenhouse gas emissions, to act swiftly to save the planet for their grandchildren.
Executives from the 40 largest cities plus 17 other municipalities are attending the C40 Large Cities Climate Summit in Seoul — the third such event since 2005.
The world can fight global warming in a way that makes sense economically, and the battle can even help countries overcome the ongoing economic crisis, Clinton said.
It’s possible today for economies to grow without emitting greenhouse gases, and the world must act now to cut emissions before it is too late, he said.
“We know that if we don’t reduce greenhouse gases by somewhere in the range of 80 percent by 2050, bad things are going to happen,” Clinton said in a keynote speech.
Global warming could lead to a drop in food production and access to water, creating new dangers to public health, Clinton said.
“It is absolutely certain if we let the worst happen, then the consequences will be so severe that we won’t be able to save the planet for our grandchildren,” Clinton said.
Mayors and municipal leaders will be discussing retrofitting buildings, energy-efficient lighting, building infrastructure for green vehicles and renewable energy technology.
Environmentally friendly products, including electric cars and motorcycles, are on display at a separate expo.
Clinton acknowledged the reluctance in some cities to spend the money needed to go green at a time of economic hardship.
He said many still harbor the outdated notion that pollution is a necessary byproduct of industry, and that “a nation could not become rich, maintain a standard of living and improve it without putting more greenhouse gases into the atmosphere.”
“That is simply not true today,” he said.
Making the investment to reduce greenhouses gases may even help countries mired in the economic crisis by creating jobs, Clinton said.
He also said a variety of loan guarantee mechanisms should be developed so companies can take out bank loans for green projects and repay them using their utility savings.
Malaysia yesterday installed a motorcycle-riding billionaire sultan as its new king in lavish ceremonies for a post seen as a ballast in times of political crises. The coronation ceremony for Malaysia’s King Sultan Ibrahim, 65, at the National Palace in Kuala Lumpur followed his oath-taking in January as the country’s 17th monarch. Malaysia is a constitutional monarchy, with a unique arrangement that sees the throne change hands every five years between the rulers of nine Malaysian states headed by centuries-old Islamic royalty. While chiefly ceremonial, the position of king has in the past few years played an increasingly important role. Royal intervention was
X-37B COMPARISON: China’s spaceplane is most likely testing technology, much like US’ vehicle, said Victoria Samson, an official at the Secure World Foundation China’s shadowy, uncrewed reusable spacecraft, which launches atop a rocket booster and lands at a secretive military airfield, is most likely testing technology, but could also be used for manipulating or retrieving satellites, experts said. The spacecraft, on its third mission, was last month observed releasing an object, moving several kilometers away and then maneuvering back to within a few hundred meters of it. “It’s obvious that it has a military application, including, for example, closely inspecting objects of the enemy or disabling them, but it also has non-military applications,” said Marco Langbroek, a lecturer in optical space situational awareness at Delft
The Philippine Air Force must ramp up pilot training if it is to buy 20 or more multirole fighter jets as it modernizes and expands joint operations with its navy, a commander said yesterday. A day earlier US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said that the US “will do what is necessary” to see that the Philippines is able to resupply a ship on the Second Thomas Shoal (Renai Shoal, 仁愛暗沙) that Manila uses to reinforce its claims to the atoll. Sullivan said the US would prefer that the Philippines conducts the resupplies of the small crew on the warship Sierra Madre,
AIRLINES RECOVERING: Two-thirds of the flights canceled on Saturday due to the faulty CrowdStrike update that hit 8.5 million devices worldwide occurred in the US As the world continues to recover from massive business and travel disruptions caused by a faulty software update from cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike, malicious actors are trying to exploit the situation for their own gain. Government cybersecurity agencies across the globe and CrowdStrike CEO George Kurtz are warning businesses and individuals around the world about new phishing schemes that involve malicious actors posing as CrowdStrike employees or other tech specialists offering to assist those recovering from the outage. “We know that adversaries and bad actors will try to exploit events like this,” Kurtz said in a statement. “I encourage everyone to remain vigilant