— With a call to save the planet, Prince William and Pope Francis on Saturday joined activists, artists, celebrities, and politicians in a free streamed TED event aimed at mobilizing and unifying people to confront the climate crisis.
“Together we must protect and restore nature, clean our air, revive our oceans, build a waste-free world and fix our climate.” “We are living during a historic moment marked by difficult challenges, as we all know,” Pope Francis said while urging people of all faiths to unite to protect Mother Earth. “The world is shaken by the crisis caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, which highlights yet an even bigger challenge – the socio-environmental crisis.”
“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. “We let capitalism turn into something monstrous,” she said, adding: “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.” 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. Countdown came as some world leaders have seized on the issue of climate change for political gain.