Don Cheadle: Climate change is real, not a 'backdrop for a blockbuster movie'


Golden Globe-winning actor Don Cheadle wrote a passionate editorial for Time on Friday, warning that "the Paris summit cannot fail; the risk is too great." A Goodwill Ambassador for the United Nations Environment Program, Cheadle was referring to the 12-day climate conference COP21, which is set to conclude on Saturday.
"Rising seas, catastrophic droughts, severe storms. While these events sound like the backdrop for a blockbuster movie, these are real impacts we're beginning to see across the world, worsened by climate change," Cheadle wrote.
The agreement made in Paris won't solve everything. We will need to do much more to reduce emissions and prepare for the impacts at home and abroad, especially providing financing and technological assistance to developing countries. But an agreement in Paris will build the foundation for stronger action that we'll need in the years ahead.After the summit closes, we must go back to our homes and communities to do more to reduce the impacts of climate change while preparing for the changes we cannot avoid.The scale of the challenge requires a global effort, but our individual actions add up, and matter. [Time]
Cheadle has been a longtime champion of addressing the rising temperature of the planet, having starred in the climate change documentary series Years of Living Dangerously as a celebrity correspondent.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Jeva Lange was the executive editor at TheWeek.com. She formerly served as The Week's deputy editor and culture critic. She is also a contributor to Screen Slate, and her writing has appeared in The New York Daily News, The Awl, Vice, and Gothamist, among other publications. Jeva lives in New York City. Follow her on Twitter.
-
Today's political cartoons - May 8, 2025
Cartoons Thursday's cartoons - divine retribution, ChatGPT in Congress, and more
-
Titus Andronicus: a 'beautiful, blood-soaked nightmare'
The Week Recommends Max Webster's staging of Shakespeare's tragedy 'glitters with poetic richness'
-
The Alienation Effect: a 'compelling' study of the émigrés who reshaped postwar Britain
The Week Recommends Owen Hatherley's 'monumental' study is brimming with 'extraordinary revelations'
-
EPA is reportedly killing Energy Star program
speed read The program for energy-efficient home appliances has saved consumers billions in energy costs since its 1992 launch
-
US proposes eroding species protections
Speed Read The Trump administration wants to change the definition of 'harm' in the Environmental Protection Act to allow habitat damage
-
Severe storms kill dozens across central US
Speed Read At least 40 people were killed over the weekend by tornadoes, wildfires and dust storms
-
Rain helps Los Angeles wildfires, risks mudslides
Speed Read The weather provided relief for crews working to contain wildfires, though rain over a burn area ups the chances of flooding and mudslides
-
Death toll rises in LA fires as wind lull allows progress
Speed Read At least 24 people have died and 100,000 people are under mandatory evacuation orders
-
Biden cancels Italy trip as raging LA fires spread
Speed Read The majority of the fires remain 0% contained
-
Fast-spreading Los Angeles wildfires spark panic
Speed Read About 30,000 people were under an evacuation order as the inferno spread
-
Hundreds feared dead in French Mayotte cyclone
Speed Read Cyclone Chido slammed into Mayotte, a French territory in the Indian Ocean