WATCH: Poet gets standing ovation at UN Climate Summit

[Oscar]

“We deserve to do more than just survive”: Watch this Marshall Islands poet deliver a powerful statement to world leaders

[ http://www.salon.com/2014/09/23/we_dese ... d_leaders/ ]

Tuesday, Sep 23, 2014 09:47 AM CAST

26-year-old poet Kathy Jetnil-Kijiner received a standing ovation at the U.N. Climate Summit VIDEO

Speaking Tuesday morning at the opening of the U.N. Climate Talks, Marshall Islands poet Kathy Jetnil-Kijiner addressed a poem not to the 126 leaders assembled in New York, but to her 7-month-old daughter.

The powerful poem made reference to climate change refugees, people forced to abandon their homes by rising sea levels, in Fiji and Papua New Guinea, as well as to the impact of extreme weather events like Typhoon Haiyan. It castigated those who ignore the people whose lives and livelihoods are threatened by climate change, while celebrating those fighting for change through grass-roots action and civil disobedience.

“We deserve to do more than just survive,” Jetnil-Kijiner said. “We deserve to thrive.” The poem ended with a promise to her child: “We won’t let you drown.”

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[ http://www.salon.com/2014/09/23/we_dese ... d_leaders/ ]