It's time for the world to face the realities of climate change.
That is the message expressed by Al Gore's Climate Reality Project, which launched "24 Hours of Reality," an event which began at 7pm CT on September 14, and is running for 24 hours straight. It is a global event featuring 24 presenters in 24 time zones, who "will connect the dots between recent extreme weather events — including floods, droughts and storms — and the manmade pollution that is changing our climate."
The event comes on the heels of hurricanes, droughts, and other extreme weather events slamming the United States, and as the country ended its second-hottest summer ever recorded.
HuffPost blogger Rocky Kistner recently reported on the connection between extreme weather and climate change. According to his post, Kevin Trenberth, a senior scientist with the National Center for Atmospheric Research, said "There is now a pervasive human influence in all climate events."
In a recent Mediaite interview with Climate Reality Project’s Alex Bogusky, Gore said, "Powerful polluters ... see it as a useful strategy to try to convince the public that the scientists are liars and that they're greedy and they're making stuff up. All in the service of their overarching strategy of creating enough doubt to persuade people that there shouldn't be any sense of urgency about addressing this crisis."
In anticipation of the event, the Climate Reality Project released video ads suggesting that when it comes to the climate crisis, "the fat lady has sung and the *#!? is hitting the fan."
Scroll down to watch the "24 Hours of Reality" event livestream in English, or click here to find the location where you would like to watch a presentation.
UPDATE 9/15 9:30am -- The Climate Reality Project writes:
Last night, Mark Ruffalo sat with Al Gore and climate scientists Robert Correll, Heidi Cullen and Stuart Griffin to help debrief the Boulder, CO presentation. Later, actress Amber Valletta stopped by to chat with a panel following a presentation on French Polynesia. More video recaps are available here.
Today, we’ll have more star power stopping by the New York HQ for 24 Hours of Reality:
· Renee Zellweger will host two segments from noon-1pm and 2-3pm ET
· Fran Drescher will appear on a panel from 1-2pm ET
· Gloria Reuben returns after an early morning shift to host once more from 11am – noon ET
· Climate scientists Bill Easterling, Michael Oppenheimer, and Jim McCarthy will appear throughout the day
· Al Gore will deliver the final presentation at 7pm Eastern time, culminating 24 Hours of Reality and capping off 24 presentations delivered in 13 languages representing all 24 time zones.
LOCATIONS:
Mexico City
Boulder
Victoria
Kotzebue
French Polynesia
Hawaii
Tonga
Auckland
Solomon Islands
Canberra
Seoul
Beijing
Jakarta
New Delhi
Islamabad
Dubai
Istanbul
Durban
London
Husavik
Cape Verde
Ilulissat
Rio de Janeiro
New York