Actor Harrison Ford has a few words for legislators and leaders who claim that climate change is a hoax. And he used some of them during a speech in Culver City, California, Thursday night in front of the environmental group Conservation International, where he accepted an award, The Hill reports.
Ford: If We Don’t Stop The Destruction Of Nature, Nothing Will Matter
Leaders who don’t understand or accept that human activity is the driving force behind rapid climate change are the biggest threats to the U.S., he said.
“We face an unprecedented moment in this country,” Ford said, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Today’s greatest threat is not climate change, not pollution, not flood or fire. It’s that we’ve got people in charge of important shit who don’t believe in science.”
Ford has long been an outspoken advocate for environmental causes, said the threat posed by climate change is dire, saying in his speech that unless the issue is dealt with soon, it will be too late.
“I’m here tonight for one reason: I care deeply for the natural world. It’s not about me, it’s not about me at all, it’s about this other world that we’re going to leave behind,” he said. “If we don’t stop the destruction of nature, nothing else will matter. Jobs won’t matter, our economies won’t matter, our freedoms and ethics won’t matter, our children’s education and potential won’t matter, peace, prosperity. If we end the ability of a natural world to sustain humanity nothing else will matter, simply said.”
President Donald Trump is a well-known climate change denier, having once said that it was a “hoax” created by the Chinese to undermine U.S. manufacturers. In June, he announced the U.S. would withdraw from the Paris Climate Accord, which seeks to drastically cut carbon emissions and is supported by 195 nations.
Ford is the executive vice chair of Conservation International, which also celebrated its 30-year anniversary at the event. “No Forests, No Future” was the theme of the event, which focused on the Amazon rainforest and its’ importance in the fight to address climate change.
The actor has long been in environmental causes over the decades and meets with lawmakers, businesses, and communities to discuss ways to improve conservation policy and practices, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
“Other than my family, doing this work has been the most important thing of my life,” he said. “Nature doesn’t need people, people need nature.”
The gala also honored the Rock in Rio music festival and drew such luminaries as Calista Flockhart, Sophia Bush and Arielle Kebbel.
Ford’s message is direct and to the heart. The anti-science crowd and their views are causing great harm by not believing that the current climate change disaster is anthropogenic (caused by humans). We still have time to reverse this, but if these people don’t get out of the way, this disaster may be irreversible.
Featured image courtesy of americanhindi via YouTube video.
