The opening plenary of COP 24 saw many important figures speak, from the President of the United Nations’ General Assembly to the President of Poland. A variety of messages in English, Polish, and Spanish were spoken to the delegates from the 193 countries who are a part of the United Nations, participants and observers from Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs), as well as media representatives from all over the world. But COP 24 added a new voice to the plenary floor; the Voice of the People.
In November, the United Nations launched the People’s Seat Initiative, which sought to bring the voices and opinions of people from around the globe to the negotiations surrounding climate change that will be going on over the next two weeks. And the response was overwhelming. 207 Million people provided their opinion through videos and tweets using the hashtag #TakeYourSeat. This project culminated in an address to the plenary floor given by Sir David Attenborough.
Sir Attenborough gave an impassioned speech, bolstered by a video summarizing the thoughts of people around the globe: that climate change is a major problem and we need to start addressing it now. Sir Attenborough summed “The world’s people have spoken, their message is clear. Time is running out. They want you, the decision makers, to act now. They’re behind you, along with civil society represented here today, supporting them in making tough decisions, but also willing to make sacrifices in their daily lives….Leaders of the world, you must lead. The continuation of civilizations and the natural world upon which we depend is in your hands.”
Alongside the speech and video, the UN launched the ActNow Bot, which will recommend every day actions that people can take to reduce their carbon footprint and work towards stopping the current rise in temperature. This can be accessed at actnow.bot.
Sir Attenborough’s speech and the People’s Seat Initiative shows us that our voices can and must be heard. We must not only alter our own actions to diminish the harm we do to the environment, we must reach out to our representatives and lawmakers and use our voices to advocate for change. Time is of the essence and our world and our lives depend on it.