(MENAFN- Khaleej Times) Humans are treating Earth's atmosphere "like it is an open sewer" and lack of action against climate change could create more than one billion climate refugees globally, the Global Education and Skills Forum (GESF), heard on Sunday.
Former US Vice President and activist, Al Gore, raised an alarm call while addressing the crowd on the concluding day of the GESF at Dubai's Atlantis, The Palm, on Sunday.
Al Gore, who has received a Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts on raising awareness on climate change, said that humans are treating Earth's atmosphere "like it is an open sewer".
Showing the audience a photo of Earth from space, Al Gore said: "The disk of the earth is fully illuminated and this is the most commonly used photograph which has had an impact on our thinking. It shows the contrasts of when we think about the sky. It seems like a vast and limitless stance.
"Actually, it's a very thin atmosphere surrounding our planet. And the atmosphere is critical to understanding why our climate is so dire.
"Our thinking is sometimes all too often focused on the short term and we don't give sufficient thought to the longer-term consequences of our present-day actions. Because we rely on fossil fuels for 80 per cent of all the energy in this powerful global economy, we are now putting 110 million tonnes of heat-trapping man-made pollution into that thin shell of atmosphere every 24 hours. We are using it as if it were an open sewer.
Though, Al Gore, chooses to remain optimistic after seeing that major countries worldwide are turning to renewable energy to reduce global pollution.
He believes that US President Donald Trump's decision to pull out from the Paris Agreement will "not make much of a difference" because countries that have previously had the highest pollution levels, such as India and China, have taken immense action against reducing carbon footprint.
More than 2,000 delegates from 156 countries, comprising heads of states, ministers, achievers, thought leaders and educationists, attended the event.
Temperature rising across the globe Al Gore, former US Vice President and activist, touched on the rising temperatures across the globe, especially the all-time high heat and humidity in the Middle East.
He said: "We are seeing the emission of methane. After World War II, the emissions of CO2 began to climb quite dramatically. For three years, we've had no increase in the emissions, which is a good sign. Most people think it's not going to increase any further and our challenge is to bring it down further,"
He added that the hottest temperatures ever have been recorded in the past four years alone.
"The most obvious consequence of climate change is that air temperature has been going up every year," he said.
"Temperatures in Sydney reached 43.3 degrees Celsius. In the UAE, the all-time high temperate was set last summer, at 55.5 degrees Celsius. Kuwait temperate was 51 degrees Celsius last July. It was so hot that birds died and fell from the sky.
"In Baghdad, 51 degrees Celsius was recorded last July. Last summer, in Pakistan temperatures reached all-time high. In Europe, they had red alerts."
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