The Global Climate Action Summit starts on September 12th and runs through the 14th in San Francisco, California. It is a “is a gathering of mayors & local governments, business and civil society … ” “… to showcase climate action taking place around the world, and inspire deeper commitments from each other and from national governments.”(Global Climate Action Summit)

To raise awareness and enthusiasm for this summit, communities around the country and the world participated in many #RiseForClimate events. In Rochester, we just completed an amazing event, Rise For a Resilient Rochester, where ten area residents explained to an audience of over 100 how Climate Change was affecting their lives—now. Area leaders, including business, faith, and political leaders, also listened as the speakers told amazing personal stories. Evidence of living in a quickly warming world.  

At Saturday's session, held at Asbury First United Methodist Church, the true target audience sat right in front: Roughly 25 elected officials and candidates for office, and representatives of government agencies, colleges and business groups. The purpose of the meeting, and several thousand others like it that were held Saturday on every continent but Antarctica, was to urge the decision-makers at large institutions to act on climate change. (Local people talk about how climate change touched their lives, September 8, 2018 Democrat and Chronicle)

A high school student explained how his generation doesn’t have the luxury of avoiding the Climate Change crisis because it’s their future. A Rochester resident talked about how grateful she was to be able to access grants to improve the energy efficiency of her home. An advocate for disability rights described how extreme weather, including heatwaves, storms, and emergencies (which will come more often during Climate Change) were already making the lives of the disabled more difficult. A victim of Lyme disease related her struggle to deal with a debilitating disease that comes with tick bites that are becoming more frequent because our warmer winters make it possible for disease-carrying insects to survive longer. A community leader told the audience about his neighborhood’s struggle to get a major Brownfield cleaned up so the increased flooding that comes with Climate Change won’t further endanger his residents with toxic chemicals. A Rochester resident with relatives in Puerto Rico told of the harrowing scenes helping relatives in the aftermath of Hurricane Maria. And more …

This all matters because Climate Change is already affecting our Rochester, New York region with annual temperatures increasing, an Increase in extreme precipitation events, reduced snowpack, earlier ice breakup, Spring beginning a week earlier than it did a few decades ago, bird population shifts, other wildlife affected by Climate Change, declining lake-ice cover, an increase in lake effect snowfall, invasive species thriving, increasing at-risk species in New York due to Climate Change, and impacts on Northeast agriculture.

The Global Climate Action Summit, which so many communities rose up yesterday for, needs and is getting our attention:

·         Rise for Climate: thousands march across US to protest environment crisis Tens of thousands of people took part in marches and other events across the US on Saturday, calling for a swift transition to renewable energy in order to stave off the various perils of climate change. (September 8, 2018) The Guardian [more on Climate Change in our area]
·         Thousands march in Rise for Climate demonstration in San Francisco Thousands of climate justice advocates, community organizers and Bay Area residents took to the streets Saturday in a 2-mile march from Embarcadero Plaza to the Civic Center as part of a worldwide demonstration known as the Rise for Climate, Jobs and Justice. The march mirrored more than 800 demonstrations in roughly 90 countries around the world, with protesters demanding that political leaders shift away from using fossil fuels and make the transition to renewable energy. (September 8, 2018 SFGate.com) [more on Climate Change in our area]
·         Around the World, a Rise for Climate The march was international, but the message was the same The Rise for Climate, Jobs, and Justice march was a reminder that, despite all our differences, people around the world want clean air, clean water, and a non-apocalyptic future for ourselves and our children. Here are just a few of the protests, gatherings, and art events that occurred at #RiseforClimate around the world. We'll keep adding more as they come in. (September 8, 2018) Sierra The national magazine of the Sierra Club [more on Climate Change in our area]

Business as usual—burning fossil fuels for energy, downplaying the climate crisis, and ignoring the plights of our first and hardest hit victims—must change. Otherwise, even Rochester won’t be able to contain all the climate refugees fleeing from the worst and most immediate consequences of Climate Change around the world.


Time passes.