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Years ago, when I set out to help a  These Nobel prize winners helped to release the  Greenpeace crew from Russian custody. Black United States Senator win the White House, I did not  know how difficult the task was going to be, but unfortunately I  quickly learned. My personal goal was to slow global warming and  Barack Obama was my candidate for the job. Obama was my hope along with  the hope of a few million others for some real changes,  but so far  change has not been forthcoming and next year the president of the  United Nations: Ban Ki-moon, will be inviting world leaders to a  U.N. summit conference on the topic of global warming. He will be  extending that invitation to  international business leaders and  I will be reporting  to you, along with several thousand  of my journalist compatriots on whom exactly  attends the conference and  which individuals decide they  can continue to ignore the problem. It may be our last  chance to slow and reverse global warming and at  the very least, we  can ignore and slow down the  individuals and companies who do not take  global warming  seriously. Signed: Joseph Raglione  Executive director: The World Humanitarian  Peace and Ecology Movement. ============================================================== THE FOLLOWING MESSAGE WAS FROM  PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA. Joseph -- When you and I set out on this journey three years ago,  we knew that ours would be a lengthy struggle to build  a new foundation for this country -- one that would  require squaring off against the special interests who  had spent decades stacking the deck in their favor. Today, it is clear that you have shifted the odds. This morning, I signed into law a bill that represents  the most sweeping reforms of Wall Street since the Great Depression, and the toughest consumer  financial protections this nation has ever seen.  I know that I am able to do so only because the tens  of thousands of volunteers who make up the  backbone of this movement overcame the most  potent attack ads and the most powerful lobbying  the special interests could put forward. Our special-interest opponents and their Republican  allies have now set their sights on the elections in November as their best chance to overturn the  historic progress we've made together. Organizing for America counts entirely on supporters  like you to fight back -- no special interests,  no corporate PACs. To keep making change and to  defend the change we have already won, Because of Wall Street reform, we will ensure  that Americans applying for a credit card, a  mortgage, or a student loan will never again be asked to sign their name under pages of  confusing fine print. We will crack down on  abusive lending practices and make sure that  lenders don't cheat the system -- and create a  new watchdog to enforce these consumer protections. And we will put an end to taxpayer-funded bailouts,  giving us the ability to wind down any large financial  institution if it should ever fail. The passage of Wall Street reform is at the forefront  of the change we seek, and it will provide a  foundation for a stronger and safer economy. It is a foundation built upon the progress of the  Recovery Act, which has turned 22 months of job losses into six consecutive months of private-sector  job growth. And it is a foundation reinforced by the historic health reform we passed this spring, which  is already giving new benefits to more than 100  million Americans, ushering another 1 million Americans into coverage by next year. But today's victory is not where our fight ends. Organizing for America and I will move forward in  the months ahead on the tough fights we have  yet to finish -- even if cynics say we should wait  until after the fall elections. This movement has  never catered to the conventional wisdom of  Washington. And we have fought to ensure that  our progress is never held hostage by our politics. You and I did not build this movement to win one election. We did not come together to pass one  single piece of legislation. We are fighting for  nothing less than a new foundation for our country  -- and that work is not complete. As we face the  challenges ahead, I am relying on you to stand  with me. We need you to contribute so we have the resources necessary going into the election.  Please  donate $5 or more today and help Organizing for America  lay the groundwork for the fights that lay ahead.  https://donate.barackobama.com/WallStreetReformed Thank you for helping us get here, President Barack Obama

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The Secretary-General of the united nations,

 Ban Ki-moon, with

 important off-the-cuff remarks at a Sierra Leone press conference.

Q: What is the UN’s concern on climate change and how is 
Sierra Leone expected to participate in this process? Secondly, are
 you concerned that Russian troops will go beyond the Crimean 
region of Ukraine?

SG: For your first question on climate change, I had an in-depth
 discussion with President Koroma in my bilateral meeting and with the
 cabinet members, including the Vice-President. This is one of the
 most serious, important issues which world leaders must tackle
 without wasting any further time. 

Time is of essence. You have seen so many such cases of extreme 
weather patterns which have been striking all around the world. 
It is not only in the developing world; it happened even in the 
middle of New York, Manhattan. So it is happening. 

Climate change is happening much, much faster than one would 
expect. The science has made it simply clear that climate change 
is happening because of human behaviour. And if it is happening
because of us then it is us, we, human beings, who must address
this one, who must correct [it]. We have only one earth, 

one planet earth. Some people who are wasting, who do not support
this, may think that we have “planet B”.
No, we only have one planet earth. There is no plan B. 

We have only plan, one plan A. That is why I really am emphasizing 
the importance of this issue, particularly we need a political
 leadership role. That is why I am convening on 23 September 
this year at the United Nations a world leaders climate change

summit meeting. This time I am inviting not only political leaders but
business leaders and civil society leaders because this is one that 
everyone must be doing.There [are] no national, geographic
 boundaries. Climate change might have happened 

because of some part of industrialized countries but the impact does
not respect any natural borders. It impacts the whole world, 
all of us. We must have a universal, global, legal climate agreement
 by 2015, next year. That is a must. 

That is why the United Nations has taken three priorities now:
one priority, the Millennium Development Goals. 
The second priority: define post-2015 […] 

that is sustainable development goals. Then climate change. 

So I have invited President Koroma and he gladly accepted that 
he would come,and I asked President Koroma, African leaders, 
that they raise their voices. If not African leaders who have 
to raise voices, who will do it? We need to do it.

On your second question, in fact I am not here to address all these
 questions but while I stay here, I am also addressing this issue. 
This is very, very serious issue. Even this morning in Freetown,
I had a long talk with Secretary of United States John Kerry on how
 to address this issue. During the last few days, 

I have been engaging with many world leaders, starting from 
President Putin of the Russian Federation and I met the 
Foreign Minister of Russia two days ago in Geneva. 
I have been engaging with the leaders of France, Great Britain,
Germany, the European Union, the OSCE and many world leaders 
with whom I have discussed this matter very seriously. 

As Secretary-General of the United Nations, what is most important
 and urgent is that the principle of unity, sovereignty and territorial 
integrity of Ukraine must be protected. Preservation, protection of
 this is very important. This is a fundamental principle of the
United Nations Charter.
It is clear. At the same time, I have been urging both parties and
 other concerned parties to lower down their temperature, 

lower their unnecessarily provocative rhetoric. I have been urging 
Russian and Ukrainian authorities to sit down together and engage
 in constructive and direct dialogue to resolve this issue.
 I have dispatched my Deputy Secretary-General, Jan Eliasson,
 to Kiev. He is now in Kiev.
I also dispatched my Special Envoy Robert Serry

to Kiev. He visited Crimea yesterday and he is still in Crimea to 
apprise the situation there and how the United Nations can help 
this one. Most importantly, this should be resolved between the
parties concerned. But because peace and security in Ukraine has
very serious regional and in a sense global implications, we must
address this issue on an urgent basis. And I am urging from 
Freetown again those leaders of Russia and the Ukrainian 
authorities to sit down together and directly resolve this issue. 

And the UN is ready to provide whatever assistance and role to play 
in first of all defusing these tensions and also help maintain all 
United Nations Charter principles of unity, sovereignty and territorial
integrity.
Thank you.

Q: What message of hope do you have for the people of Sierra Leone 
that as we journey into the Agenda for Prosperity the UN will continue
to stand by us until we attain sustainable national development?

SG: Thank you. Before I answer your question, let me add one [thing]
which I had forgotten to mention about the situation in Ukraine. 
I have decided to dispatch the Assistant Secretary-General 
for Human Rights, Mr. Ivan Simonovic, to Ukraine to visit

Kiev and the eastern part of Ukraine, including Crimea, to see and
monitor the human rights situation there. 
his is what I wanted to add to the AP correspondent.

On the question raised by you - what kind of message we can 
learn from the people of Sierra Leone-, my first answer would 
be that the people of Sierra Leone should be very proud of 
what they have achieved. Out of this civil war, out of war, 
you have successfully established peace and stability not only
for your own country but also for the region. From a recipient 
country of United Nations peacekeeping operations,

you have transformed yourself as a donor country in peacekeeping 
operations. 

As I just mentioned, you are at least participating in six or seven 
peacekeeping operations.

It is not only on the African continent, […] in Lebanon, UNIFIL. 
That means you are contributing to global peace and security. 
You should be proud of that. Now you are making remarkable 
economic progress -- 13 to 14 per cent annual economic growth.
That is remarkable. It is very difficult to see that kind of economic

growth at this time particularly. I know that many African countries
are making good economic progress, around 6 to 8 or 9, 
even 10 per cent. This 13-14 percent is remarkable. 
I hope this will continue under the leadership of President
Koroma. 
The United Nations will spare no effort in working together with
 concerned, related ministries and ministers and business 
communities to work for that progress so that President Koroma 
and his successors will be able to meet this vision of 
President Koroma, Agenda for Prosperity, even five years before,
 as he mentioned -- by 2030, in line with the United Nations
 sustainable development blueprint. Now, that I said should 
not be a source of complacency. There are many areas 
[in which] you have to grow. I have emphasized the importance
 of a firm foundation of rule of law, good governance, quality 
education. Those are two pillars on which you can build further. 

When you have good governance on the basis of a good
 rule of law system, you can build further your economic 
and social and political stability. When you have educated,
trained human resources through quality education that is 
promising a future much, much better and brighter future
of your country. 

This is what I can tell you based on the experience of my own
country, Korea: good education, good governance and 

foundation of the rule of law. I hope this will give some further
motivation to Sierra Leoneans to move ahead for a brighter, 
better future for all.
Thank you very much.

---

Off-the-Cuff on 5 March 2014

• Freetown, Sierra Leone - Transcript of the Secretary-General's remarks at a 
• Joint Press Conference with President of Sierra Leone

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  Attention world leaders! You do not have to spend Millions of Dollars creating armies and war machines.        Your Industrial polluters are the most dangerous people on Earth and global warming has arrived sooner than you thought,  assuming of course most of you can think.                                                                                -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Scientists at NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS) ( http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/IOTD/view.php?id=80167&eocn=te&eoci=index) say 2012 was the ninth warmest year since 1880, continuing a long-term trend of rising global temperatures. The ten warmest years in the 132-year record have all occurred since 1998. The last year that was cooler than average was 1976.

The map (on their web site and) at the top depicts temperature anomalies, or changes, by region in 2012; it does not show absolute temperature. Reds and blues show how much warmer or cooler each area was in 2012 compared to an averaged base period from 1951–1980. For more explanation of how the analysis works, read World of Change: Global Temperatures.

The average temperature in 2012 was about 14.6 degrees Celsius (58.3 degrees Fahrenheit), which is 0.55°C (1.0°F) warmer than the mid-20th century base period. The average global temperature has increased 0.8°C (1.4°F) since 1880, and most of that change has occurred in the past four decades.

The line plot above shows yearly temperature anomalies from 1880 to 2011 as recorded by NASA GISS, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) National Climatic Data Center, the Japanese Meteorological Agency, and the Met Office Hadley Centre in the United Kingdom. All four institutions tally temperature data from stations around the world and make independent judgments about whether the year was warm or cool compared to other years. Though there are minor variations from year to year, all four records show peaks and valleys in sync with each other. All show rapid warming in the past few decades, and all show the last decade as the warmest.

Scientists emphasize that weather patterns cause fluctuations in average temperatures from year to year, but the continued increase in greenhouse gas levels in the atmosphere assures that there will be a long-term rise in global temperatures. Each individual year will not necessarily be warmer than the previous year, but scientists expect each decade to be warmer than the previous decade.

“One more year of numbers isn’t in itself significant,” GISS climatologist Gavin Schmidt said. “What matters is this decade is warmer than the last decade, and that decade was warmer than the decade before. The planet is warming. The reason it’s warming is because we are pumping increasing amounts of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere.”

Carbon dioxide traps heat and largely controls Earth’s climate. It occurs naturally but is also released by the burning of fossil fuels for energy. The level of carbon dioxide in Earth’s atmosphere has been rising consistently for decades, largely driven by increasing man-made emissions. The carbon dioxide level in the atmosphere was about 285 parts per million in 1880, the first year of the GISS temperature record. By 1960, the atmospheric carbon dioxide concentration, measured at NOAA’s Mauna Loa Observatory, was about 315 parts per million. Today, that measurement exceeds 390 parts per million.

The continental U.S. endured its warmest year on record by far, according to NOAA, the official keeper of U.S. weather records. NOAA also announced that global temperatures were 10th warmeston record by their analysis methods.

“The U.S. temperatures in the summer of 2012 are an example of a new trend of outlying seasonal extremes that are warmer than the hottest seasonal temperatures of the mid-20th century,” NASA GISS director James E. Hansen said. “The climate dice are now loaded. Some seasons still will be cooler than the long-term average, but the perceptive person should notice that the frequency of unusually warm extremes is increasing. It is the extremes that have the most impact on people and other life on the planet.”

1. References

2. NASA (2013, January 15) NASA Finds 2012 Sustained Long-Term Climate Warming Trend. Accessed January 15, 2013.
3. NASA Earth Observatory (n.d.) World of Change: Global Temperatures. Accessed January 15, 2013.
4. NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies (n.d.) GISS Surface Temperature Analysis. Accessed January 15, 2013.
5. NOAA National Climatic Data Center (2013, January 15) State of the Climate: 2012. Accessed January 15, 2013.

NASA images by Robert Simmon, based on data from the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies, NOAANational Climatic Data Center, Met Office Hadley Centre/Climatic Research Unit, and the Japanese Meteorological Agency. Caption by Patrick Lynch and Mike Carlowicz.

Instrument: 

In situ Measurement