Hundreds of Austinites gathered on Sunday, November 29th for a climate march, calling on the world’s leaders to agree to strong commitments in fighting climate change at the UN Climate Conference in Paris (which began on Nov. 30th). Several local community leaders spoke out at this event, encouraging Austinites to demand immediate action on climate change. One of the march’s guest speakers was Brandi Clark Burton, founder of the Austin EcoNetwork and currently the senior policy advisor to Austin Mayor Steve Adler. What follows is a copy of her speech:

Through December 11th, delegates from around the world will gather in and around Paris, France for the 21st session of the UN Conference of Parties and the 11th session of the Conference of the Parties meeting on the Kyoto Protocol. The shorthand name for all of this is COP21.

In addition to the UN negotiations that will take place between nations, there is a vitally important role for cities to play.  As Special Envoy of the UN Secretary-General on Cities and Climate Change, Michael Bloomberg, points out, “Since cities and urban areas hold most of the world’s population and contribute to 70 percent of the world’s carbon dioxide emissions , they are key contributors to any global success at COP21.”

Back in August, President Obama called on cities to step up their game before COP21. He called for a 100 U.S. Cities to join the Compact of Mayors, the world’s largest coalition of city leaders addressing climate change, by pledging to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions, tracking their progress transparently, and preparing for the impacts of climate change. Austin’s Mayor Adler was among the first to sign on, and as of yesterday, I counted 111 U.S. Cities on the compact’s website! And there are many more than that around the world.

Domestically, Mayor Adler has also signed onto the Mayor’s National Climate Action Agenda. Austin also participates in ICLEI, C40, the U.S. Conference of Mayors’ Climate Protection Agreement, EcoDistricts and more.

Today we show the power of a community to come together for a common cause.

All over the world, communities are demonstrating to nations that cities and local governments are crucial partners in a global climate solution, now and in the future. To that end we are proud to have one of the largest U.S. delegations going to Paris for COP 21.

This includes:

• Austin’s Mayor Steve Adler and his wife Diane Land
• City Council Member Leslie Pool
• Travis County Commissioner Brigid Shea
• And teams of people from the Electric Utility Commission, interfaith community leaders from Texas Impact, EcoRise, SXSWEco, Rainforest Partnership and professors and students from Huston-Tillotson University

I don’t know of any other city that is sending three elected officials. All three of them plus our EUC appointees will be participating in the Climate Summit for Local Leaders. This gathering of cities and local governments in Paris City Hall will be an opportunity for local leaders to strengthen their commitments, share experiences, and learn from each other how to reduce the carbon footprint from urban areas.

This summer, our new 10-1 Austin City Council adopted the  Community Climate Plan to help us reach a target of net zero community-wide greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. Our next step is implementation.

The great challenge of our time, and our greatest opportunity, is climate change. And the time to act is now. UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has said that, “Paris must mark a decisive and irreversible turning point in the world’s collective response to the climate challenge.”

At no time in history has there been more momentum on this issue. In the background, however, there remains a mostly-unspoken concern among stakeholders: “Will it be enough?”

The truth is that 100 percent compliance with the stated COP21 pledges that countries are indicating they will commit to…. won’t be enough. In fact, will get us about half way to keeping average global temperature from going beyond 2 degrees.

The truth is that the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, Union of Concerned Scientists, and other new studies are all indicating that Negative Emissions (taking CO2 equivalents out of the air) will be necessary to meet the 2 degree goal. It won’t be enough to slow down or stop our emissions, we must actively be cleaning up what we have already put into our atmosphere.

Our society must embrace technological solutions that include, but go beyond renewable energy and energy efficiency measures; social solutions that require behavior change like lowering consumption of material goods and addressing population growth; and ecological solutions that restore carbon in soils and plants by bio-sequestering CO2. Project Drawdown is one of many projects I am excited about, and our office is actively engaging in exploring new solutions.

I personally believe a key strategy that hasn’t gained traction, yet, is greenhouse gas reduction legislation. We need to establish a national or global emissions trading system to put a price on carbon and signal to the markets that reducing emissions is good for business.

In closing, I want to share a thought that has been eating at me. Given that atmospheric research shows that we are rapidly approaching an abrupt change scenario (a rapid disruption in oceanic and atmospheric circulation, leading to impacts beyond all current scenarios) one could argue that we should be treating this with MUCH more urgency. So, what actions would we take if we considered addressing climate change to be a real emergency? What would you do? What WILL you do?

To quote the UN Secretary General again, “Everyone has a role to play. We can make a difference. We need action from everyone, everywhere.”

Whether you are participating today as a business owner, a community leader, or a resident, you can find meaningful actions to take on the city’s office of sustainability webpage. This march is not about making ourselves feel better that we have done something. It’s about expressing our ongoing commitment to making real changes and recognizing that each person has a voice and responsibility. Please promise now to leave this march committed to expanding your personal involvement. If you are making that promise, please say now, I promise!

On behalf of the City of Austin, Thank you for your partnership.