Earlier this month I was lucky enough to attend the Earth Talk 2024 event, hosted by the ex-president of Austria, in Vienna. The event brought together a sell-out audience of movers and shakers within the European environmental movement, and a star-studded line up of guest speakers that are all at the forefront of action on Climate Crisis mitigation.
The guest speakers (all experts in their fields) gave impassioned speeches about the work they are doing to raise awareness about current economic, industrial and ecological practices that are contributing to environmental degradation, while also highlighting the high levels of corruption and green washing that continues to take place. In just the same way as the tobacco industry hid the facts years ago, massaged the scientific data, and delayed the publication of the truth for decades.
This year’s talks were centred around the topic of deforestation, the rate at which it is taking place, the sensitive ecosystems at most risk, the dangers and consequences of its continuation, and the corruption that surrounds the industry. From the murdering of indigenous peoples trying to protect their forested lands, to the false information being fed back to governments and the disregard of directives and guidelines put in place by treaties such as the Paris Climate Agreement, 2016.
There were also some optimistic cases presented, such as the agreement of an Austrian logging company to reduce its “forest harvesting” activities and move towards a company de-growth strategy. Like the fact that although we have reached global temperature “tipping point”, we can still mitigate the worst of what Climate Crisis could mean for the world’s population. That we may still be able to avert the mass migration models that are currently being forecast, if the current trend continues.
The seriousness of the situation cannot be overstated. The guest speakers all spoke on the subject of deforestation with their expert knowledge focussed on different regions across the globe, but they also all had one other common thread between them; it is up to us to all take action. We cannot afford to stand back and hope that someone else will save the world for us. To quote the slogan on the event organisers T-Shirts, “We are the ones we’ve been waiting for”.
To register your interest in taking action against deforestation, you can write to us at info@tentsile.com and we will help direct you to an organisation in your region where you can be of most help. You can also join the mailing list, or make a direct donation to some of the fantastic not-for-profit organisations that are already making a difference from the list below.
https://skyddaskogen.se/?lang=en
https://www.greenpeace.org/global/
https://www.wwf.org.uk/what-we-do/projects/trillion-trees-venture-saving-our-trees
https://www.savetheredwoods.org/redwoods/why-redwoods/
https://www.wildlifetrusts.org/get-involved/campaign-us
