Former UK prime minister Theresa May delivered the keynote speech at The Independent's Climate 100 event in New York City, calling out environmental minsinformation and setting out a vision for the future.The politician was joined by environmentalist John Vaillant and activist Wawa Gatheru, as well as The Independent's editor-in-chief Geordie Greig and chief international correspondent Bel Trew.The Climate 100 event was watched live by hundreds of virtual attendees, with more enjoying the expert talks and interviews in-person in Manhattan, New York City.
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00:00Can I start by congratulating the Independent on the launch of the inaugural Climate 100?
00:12It is a global moment as we launch our Climate 100 list.
00:18Historically, it's been humans who've outpaced the natural world.
00:23From arrowheads to AI, our species has progressed steadily faster than geologic time, but now
00:30geologic time is moving as fast, in some cases faster, than we are.
00:35We're all experiencing the same storm, that is the climate crisis, but we aren't all in
00:40the same boat.
00:44I should have worn my green suit today, shouldn't I?
00:46That's the first step into solving a problem, is to identify it.
00:50And newsrooms and journalists are the spearhead.
00:53It almost feels as though people want to borrow our hope, as though they're taking some of
00:57our inspiration, taking our energy in that moment, and feeling empowered in that moment.
01:03We have to keep being those irritating people that are needling the governments and keep
01:08bringing up these uncomfortable, inconvenient truths so that they do get changed.
01:12The transition away from fossil fuels towards sustainability represents the growth opportunity
01:19of the 21st century.
01:21I call on all of us here to have greater vigilance, greater scrutiny, more reporting.
01:28We need to have a paradigm shift in attitudes.
01:29We cannot be putting Band-Aids on a catastrophic bleed.
01:32Let's sustain our momentum and seize the opportunities ahead of us.
01:38Let us save our planet and save our humanity.