Politicians worldwide felt the heat on climate policy this week after a reported four million protesters took to the streets. The leader of the Global Climate Strike, Greta Thunberg, told world leaders that they had “stolen her dreams.”
The call to arms was substantiated Wednesday by the release of a United Nations’ report on the Earth’s changing oceans. Scientists and other representatives from all 195 member states jointly audited recent marine research to provide definitive trends for policy decisions. This year’s report confirmed that sea level rise, acidifying waters and more extreme weather are all in the forecast. Meanwhile in North Carolina, Gov. Roy Cooper officially declared this week Clean Energy Week. It concludes today with the presentation of the NC Clean Energy Plan. Host Frank Stasio is joined by state climatologist Kathie Dello and Lisa Sorg, an environmental reporter at NC Policy Watch, a project from the left-leaning North Carolina Justice Center to discuss whether protests and a comprehensive report will be enough to sway North Carolina’s leaders.