Bill McKibben: Latest IPCC Climate Report Underscores "Fossil Fuel Is at the Root of Our Problems"
A new report from the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change warns the opportunity to mitigate the worst effects of global warming by maintaining global temperatures at 1.5 degrees Celsius is quickly closing and that humanity has less than three years to slash greenhouse gas emissions. Fossil fuel is at the root of our problems. It is at the root of the despotisms we see in Russia or in Saudi Arabia or indeed the Koch brothers' efforts to deform our own democracy," says Bill McKibben, environmentalist and founder of 350.org. It is time to demand world leaders sign a fossil fuel nonproliferation treaty, says Ukrainian climate activist Svitlana Romanko. Romanko is also with the Laudato Si' Movement, which exists to implement the second encyclical of Pope Francis about care for our common home" and recognizes the war in Ukraine has been funded by fossil fuels. Pope Francis says he plans to visit Ukraine, and Romanko says his leadership may create a difference in this war."