By Shayan Shakir
As the year and decade winds down, it is safe to say that 2019 has been one of the most iconic years when it comes to the fight against climate change – although great improvements have been achieved with people’s mindsets and lifestyles, there remains a long way to go if global warming is ever going to become a problem of the past.
We looked back at three key climate change milestones that took place this year:
Protests regarding Amazon Forest wildfire
In August 2019, news of the Amazon burning due to wildfires created by farmers had swept through the internet and media. This caused several protests to take place worldwide and also caused governments of different countries to react and try find a solution to solve the problem. On the 23rd of August, protests broke in several cities including, Sao Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, London, Toronto, Brasilia, Paris and Berlin. Protestors had blocked off streets and several individuals held up placards and boards that read, “Stop killing our Amazon”. President Emmanuel Macron, had called for emergency talks at the G7 summit in Biarritz, he classed the situation as an “international crisis”.
Greta Thunberg’s journey across the Atlantic on a sailboat
In August 2019, 16 year old Greta Thunberg, travelled across across the Atlantic Ocean on a sailboat to create climate change awareness. Her trip from Europe to North America with zero carbon emission astonished people, that and also the fact that she did all this while being a teenager.
After setting off on her Voyage on the 14th of August 2019, from Plymouth, England, it took her 14 days to cross the Atlantic. On the 28th of August, Thunberg arrived at the southern tip of Manhattan, where she was greeted by several supporters. Her supporters also carried a series of protests and walkouts against the lack of action in society regarding climate change.
Cop25
Cop25 is a conference that takes place every year, where representatives from the countries in the UN discuss their next steps regarding the prevention of climate change. The conference for this year which was held in Madrid, Spain, served to build new plans and ambitions to come up with updated plans for 2020 and the new upcoming decade. Even though the event was extremely important, it has been described as a failure as negotiators failed to agree on a deal that would be limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels, which is the key aim and goal of the 2015 Paris Agreement.
What to expect in 2020?
UN’s Cop26 will be hosted in Glasgow, United Kingdom, it is expected to be the biggest and most important conference ever since the 2015 Paris Agreement. Approximately 200 government individuals and 30,000 delegates such as climate experts, citizens and leaders will gather there.
Key climate change milestones of 2019
