U.N. Leader: Climate Crisis as Dangerous as War

Posted on Mar 1, 2007

news.bbc.co.uk

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon warned Thursday that the danger posed by war “is at least matched by the climate crisis,” and urged the U.S., which produces roughly 25 percent of all greenhouse emissions, to take a leading role in addressing global warming.

At least one American takes the plea seriously: Al Gore criticized the media Thursday for excessively taking an “on the other hand” approach to climate reporting at the expense of consensus and fact.

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BBC:

Speaking to schoolchildren at a UN conference in New York, Mr Ban said his generation had been “somewhat careless” with the planet but that he was hopeful that that was changing.

“The majority of the United Nations’ work still focuses on preventing and ending conflict,” he said.

“But the danger posed by war to all of humanity and to our planet is at least matched by the climate crisis and global warming.”

Last month, a panel of scientists organised by the UN published a report showing that human activity was “very likely” to be causing climate change, and predicted rises in temperatures and sea levels.

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