Queen Elizabeth urges world leaders to think of future generations when negotiating a deal to limit global warming. Speaking to the United Nations climate change summit on Monday, Queen Elizabeth says “it is the time for words has now moved to the time for action.”
In a video message on the first day of the conference in Scotland, the queen urged leaders to rise above “the politics of the moment”. She says the legacy of a successful summit will help “our children’s children”. The Queen 95, was scheduled to attend the ceremony in person in Glasgow. Later she canceled after physicians recommended her to rest.
If the world pollution situation is not critical at the moment. It is as certain as anything can be. The situation will become increasingly intolerable within a very short time
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“It is the hope of many, the legacy of this summit will print in history books. This will describe you as the leader who did not pass up the opportunity. That you answered the call of those future generations,” the queen says. “The benefits of such actions will not be there to enjoy for all of us here today. We, none of us will live forever. But we are certainly doing this not for ourselves but for our children and our children’s children.”
Paying tribute to the late Prince Philip, the queen remembers about how he had warned an academic gathering in 1969. It was about the need to tackle the threats from pollution. “If the world pollution situation is not critical at the moment. It is as certain as anything can be. The situation will become increasingly intolerable within a very short time,” she quoted him as saying.
The queen said she “could not be happier.” Prince Philip’s work has been carried on by her two closest heirs, her son Prince Charles and grandson Prince William, both of whom are attending the summit. On Monday, the queen was seen driving around her Windsor Castle estate alone after cancelling some events and spending a night in hospital for an undisclosed ailment last month, her first such overnight stay in years.