"The Island President" - Mohamed Nasheed - on the Daily Show talks global warming

(Former) President of the Maldives Mohamed Nasheed was on the Daily Show with Jon Stewart last night talking about global warming, his efforts to get world leaders to rally around finding a solution at the Copenhagen Climate Summit, and the next steps.  As I discussed there are implications for all of us implied by his story.  [Part 1 discussed more about the current political situation in the Maldives and Part 2 focused on global warming.]

The Daily Show with Jon Stewart

He talked about the challenges faced at the Copenhagen Climate Summit in 2009 and what was accomplished:

“In 2009 the idea was that countries can come together and have an understanding that they would not poison the environment and the atmosphere to an extent that we would not be able to live…I would argue that Copenhagen was a victory.  For the first time the United States, China, India, Brazil, big emitting countries agreed to limit their carbon emissions. They were not able to agree on the amounts of it, but they were able to agree on the principle of limiting it.”

And he talked about the backdrop to global warming negotiations with the new catch phrase for efforts – “don’t be so silly” – and provided a call for citizens to demand action of their leaders:

“I’m afraid politicians only do the things that their people tell them to do.”

I hope you watch the movie – The Island President – feel inspired to demand that politicians act and take action to let them know that you want them to reduce the carbon pollution that is causing global warming.