Was this the moment when the tragedy of climate change finally made landfall in the corridors of climate politics ?
The BBC has reported, ‘Typhoon prompts ‘fast’ by Philippines climate delegate’: delegates stood and cried and gave a standing ovation to Yeb Sano, Head of the Philippines delegation, who promises not to eat until the climate talks make meaningful progress.
“What my country is going through as a result of this extreme climate event is madness, the climate crisis is madness. We can stop this madness right here in Warsaw” said Mr Sano.
So today, thousands are dead and dying because of a super-Typhoon in the Pacific. Meanwhile Greenpeace campaigners are imprisoned in Russia for opposing the expansion of fossil fuels that cause climate change. And in Poland, the chief representative of a country devastated by a super-heated atmosphere is going on hunger strike to try and save others from the fate that has befallen his people. Theirs are cries of sanity – is there a political leader who will join them ?
Let us hope there is because the Super Typhoon is a portent that the world cannot afford to ignore. Climate change is not a game or a political option, it is a reality as dangerous as a tide which threatens to overwhelm your family. So let’s hope the media make Mr Sano famous, and that he becomes the man whose statement marked the turning of the tide.
