September 25, 2014
Last weekend, several Goldman Prize winners, including Father Edwin Gariguez, Desmond D’Sa and Oscar Olivera joined over 300,000 demonstrators in New York City for the People’s Climate March to demand swift action on climate change. Nearly 125 world leaders gathered in New York this week for the UN Climate Summit, the largest-ever climate meeting.
Alongside the official UN summit, hundreds of smaller conferences hosted by government bodies, citizen groups and nonprofit organizations took place. Goldman Prize winners were in attendance at many of these meetings. Father Edu participated in the Religions for the Earth conference – a gathering of over 200 diverse religious and spiritual leaders; while Desmond D’Sa and Oscar Olivera attended the NYC Climate Convergence meeting, a three day event filled with “skill-shares, teach-ins, speak-outs and protests.”
One day after the People’s Climate March, more than 50 foundations, including the Goldman Environmental Foundation, announced that they would be divesting their assets from fossil fuel companies. “We are really interested in not just divesting from coal and oil, but investing in clean energy and climate solutions moving forward,” said David Gordon, executive director of the Goldman Environmental Foundation. “Foundations are starting to walk the walk. We need to back up what we believe in with our financial assets.”
While the outcomes from the summit are still developing, the call for climate action has picked up significant momentum this week, providing a clear message to leaders for the necessity of securing a global climate commitment by December 2015 at the Paris Summit.
