英ウィリアム王子とローマ教皇、ＴＥＤ出演　環境保護で団結訴え

【サンフランシスコＡＦＰ＝時事】気候変動の危機に立ち向かうために結集と団結を呼び掛けることを目的としたTEDトークのイベント「カウントダウン」が10日、無料ストリーミング配信の形式で行われ、英国のウィリアム王子やローマ・カトリック教会のフランシスコ教皇のほか、各国の環境活動家、アーティスト、セレブリティー、政治家らが参加した。（写真は英国のウィリアム王子）
　冒頭、ウィリアム王子はビデオメッセージで「私たちの世代が共有する目標は明白だ」「みんなが一緒になって自然の保護と回復、空気の浄化、海洋の蘇生に取り組み、廃棄物のない世界を構築して環境を修復しなければならない」と述べた。
　参加者らは環境危機の実態や行動の必要性、そして問題に対して何ができるのかを５時間以上にわたって掘り下げた。
　フランシスコ教皇は人々に団結と地球保護を訴えるとともに、「ご存じの通り、私たちは困難な課題を伴う歴史的瞬間を生きている」「世界は新型コロナウイルスの感染拡大により動揺しており、このことは社会環境的危機という、より大きな課題を浮き彫りにしている」と指摘。
　そして「地球を生かし、育み、養い、保護しなければならない」「オレンジのように絞り続けることはできない」と訴えた。
　また、イベントでは環境破壊が社会や人種の不平等を悪化させている問題も取り上げられた。
　英国のデービッド・ラミー議員は、「黒人は他の人種よりも有害な空気を吸っている。気候変動による最大の被害者は有色人種だ」と指摘し、「このことは『Ｂｌａｃｋ　Ｌｉｖｅｓ　Ｍａｔｔｅｒ（黒人の命は大切）』のスローガン、『息ができない』にまったく違う意味を与えている」と述べた。
　ラミー氏は、気候・社会問題の解決に力を入れている指導者らに協力を呼び掛けるとともに、「自然への残酷な行為」を取り締まる新たな国際法「エコサイド（環境破壊）」法の制定を求めた。【翻訳編集ＡＦＰＢＢＮｅｗｓ】
〔ＡＦＰ＝時事〕（2020/10/12-12:46）

With a call to fix our climate by 2030, Prince William on Saturday joined a global array of activists, artists, celebrities and politicians taking part in a free streamed TED event aimed at mobilizing and unifying people to confront the climate crisis.
The shared goals of our generation are clear, Prince William said in a video message kicking off the event, dubbed Countdown.
Together we must protect and restore nature, clean our air, revive our oceans, build a waste-free world and fix our climate.
Countdown opened with a focus on ways in which damage to the environment also fuels social and racial injustice.
Black people breathe the most toxic air relative to the general population, and it is people of color who are most likely to suffer in the climate crisis, said British Parliament member David Lammy.
It gives all new meaning to the Black Lives Matter slogan 'I can't breathe.'
Lammy called for climate and social justice leaders to join force, and for a new international ecocide law to criminalize the most severe actions against nature itself.
More than 65,000 people were watching the livestream when former US vice president Al Gore and 22-year-old actor Jaden Smith opened a session devoted to youthful voices and the need for businesses to embrace climate solutions.
Firms that make fortunes from fossil fuels or other greenhouse gas-emitting operations cause damage they don't pay for, while funneling money to politicians who help preserve the status quo, said US economist Rebecca Henderson.
We let capitalism turn into something monstrous, Henderson said in a talk. It's going to be tough to keep free enterprise alive if most people believe the rich and the white are trashing the planet for their own benefit.
She called on businesses to step up their climate efforts.
The five-hour Countdown event highlighted the blend of arts, ideas and innovation that have become trademarks of TED conferences.
Climate can't wait, said TED head Chris Anderson.
If there's one thing that we surely must learn from this year, it's that when scientists warn you that there is something terrible coming, you have to pay attention.
Countdown spotlighted science-based evidence of the harm inflicted by climate change on the health of the planet, but its prime focus was on ways people can help stop it, organizers said.
The mayor of Freetown, Sierra Leone, for example, explained a project there to plant a million trees to protect against flooding and to absorb carbon dioxide.
Speakers also included European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen, young Mexican activist Xiye Bastida, and actor Chris Hemsworth.
Hundreds of smaller TEDx events simultaneously took place around the world to encourage local action.
- Climate knows no politics -
Countdown came as some world leaders have seized on the issue of climate change for political gain.
US President Donald Trump triggered outrage recently by suggesting global warming will reverse itself and dismissing climate change as a cause of the ferocious fires engulfing vast swaths of the US West.
Christiana Figueres, former executive secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, warned the topic has been politicized.
But, she added, democracies have a way of changing the leaderships in those countries.
Droughts, floods, wildfires and other climate-linked disasters don't check people's politics before ruining their lives, she noted.
This is about responsibility to the human race -- what unites us, not what divides us, she said.
Actor Mark Ruffalo, who helped host the event, said the people refusing to find climate solutions will be the ones we see refusing to respond to the reality of the pandemic in a scientific and reality-based way.
- 'Clarion call' -
Countdown organizers set a goal of mobilizing governments and citizens to cut greenhouse gas emissions in half over the next decade and get to net-zero carbon pollution by the year 2050.
Anderson called Countdown a clarion call to tackle the daunting challenges of climate change.
But it's also a day of hope that there is a pathway to do this and we must walk down it together.
The TED talks, which began as intimate gatherings in California 36 years ago, have grown into a global media platform devoted to ideas worth spreading.
The trademark TED presentations, in which speakers strive to give the talk of their lives in 18 minutes, have drawn a huge following.