the (future) king's speech

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A third anniversary of note.

"For the grim reality is that our planet has reached a point of crisis and we have only seven years before we lose the levers of control.

As the President of Gabon said at a meeting I hosted last month: 'The door to our future is closing...'

This, I fear, is not an overstatement. For climate change is a risk-multiplier. It has the potential to take all the other critical issues we face as a global community and transform their severity into a cataclysm.

Reducing poverty, increasing food production, combating terrorism and sustaining economic development are all vital priorities, but it is increasingly clear how rapid climate change will make them even more difficult to address...

One final thought ... As our planet's life-support system begins to fail and our very survival as a species is brought into question, remember that our children and grandchildren will ask not what our generation said, but what it did. Let us give an answer, then, of which we can be proud."

Excerpt from a speech delivered by the English king in waiting, Charles, Prince of Wales, the heir apparent of Queen Elizabeth II, at the 2009 United Nations Climate Change Conference at Copenhagen three years ago this week.

Considering the fascination (and loyalty) we Americans still have for the English monarchy, isn't Charles still our king in awaiting? 

Long live the king!

- For the entire speech go to: Prince Charles. 

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