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

(Image credit: Kevin Winter/Getty Images for NAACP Image Awards)

published 11 December 2015

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]

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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.

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