Today we are in Venice with the Rainbow Warrior. Venice – which is already fighting sea level rise – is a city which is extremely threatened by climate change. For the people who live there and the millions who visit every year, we have this message: Save the Climate, There is no Planet B.
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has stated that we may be saying goodbye to Venice in a few decades due to the burning of fossil fuels which in turn is having an impact on sea-level.
Venice is an iconic place for the Italian people but also for global tourism. It is one of the most beautiful cities in the world and one of the most visited cities in Italy. As it stands, it's not just the city which will be submerged, but its crucial tourism industry will drag the entire country's economy beneath the tides of the rising Adriatic sea.
Many other cities in the Americas, Asia and Europe, along with low-lying countries in the Pacific and Indian oceans face the same threat.
To avoid the worst impacts of climate change, it is time to quit the fossil fuel age, starting with coal, and shift our model of energy towards renewable energy and energy efficiency.
CO2 is the main greenhouse gas that causes climate change. Renewable energy and energy efficiency are the best way to cut these emissions.
As we look out of the portholes of the Rainbow Warrior at an historic and gorgeous city which is disappearing from our planet, I ask you to look out of your own windows and see the devastation which fossil fuels, like coal, is inflicting on the places we live and care about.
After you take look, how could you not act and join us in creating a renewable energy future?
Luca Iacoboni is a Climate Campaigner at Greenpeace Italy (currently onboard the Rainbow Warrior).