134. Christiana Figueres and Tom Rivett-Carnac with Brady Walkinshaw: The Stubborn Optimist’s Guide to the Climate Crisis

<p><strong>In 2015, the United Nations gathered for the annual United Nations Climate Change Conference. What resulted is arguably the most significant global agreement on the reduction of climate change: The Paris Agreement.</strong> On Earth Day 2016, 174 countries signed the agreement, including the United States (which withdrew in 2020 but officially rejoined in February). But what exactly does the Paris Agreement do? And what are the consequences if those ambitious goals are not attained?</p> <p data-aura-rendered-by="131703:0">Two leaders on climate change who led the negotiations, <a href= "https://townhallseattle.org/event/christiana-figueres-and-tom-rivett-carnac-livestream/"> Christiana Figueres and Tom Rivett-Carnac joined us in conversation with Grist’s Brady Walkinshaw</a> to answer those questions, and more. Asserting that climate change is the most urgent and consequential issue humankind has ever faced, they shared from their book <em>The Future We Choose: The Stubborn Optimist’s Guide to the Climate Crisis</em> about how the choices we make in the next 30 years will determine the kind of word we will live in for generations to come. With cautious optimism, they outlined two possible scenarios for our planet: one that describes Earth in 2050 if we fail to meet the Paris climate targets, and the other where we live in a carbon neutral, regenerative world. They advocated for confronting the climate crisis head-on, with determination and optimism. Beyond imagining three decades into the future, they presented actionable calls for what governments, corporations, and each of us can and must do to fend off disaster.</p> <p data-aura-rendered-by="131703:0"><strong>Christina Figueres</strong> is an internationally recognized leader on climate change. She was Executive Secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) 2010-2016.She successfully directed the international negotiations from 2010, culminating in the historic Paris Agreement of 2015, signed unanimously by 195 coun