UN Briefing Superstorm Haiyan: ‘A climate nightmare’ in the Philippines

“I am deeply concerned that the scale of our actions is still insufficient to limit global temperature rise to 2 degrees Celsius from pre-industrial levels. People now face and fear the wrath of a warming planet.” There was reason for alarm in Secretary General Ban Ki-moon’s words to the UN Climate Conference in Warsaw, Poland. The conference began just two days after the strongest typhoon ever to make landfall hit the Philippines, leaving a trail of devastation. Rather than presume to tell you about Typhoon Haiyan and its terrible toll, I would like to excerpt from the address made by the Philippines lead negotiator at the Warsaw Conference, Yeb Sano. His words are an eloquent testimony to the resiliency of the human spirit, and a clear challenge to each and every one of us to rouse ourselves from any complacency we may have regarding this profound crisis of our moment in history.