Wow. A Middlebury junior calls out Todd Stern -- in the assembly!
Mr. Stern’s statement to delegates from more than 190 nations at the annual climate conference was disrupted by a 21-year-old Middlebury College junior, Abigail Borah, who told the assembly that she would speak for the United States because Mr. Stern had forfeited the right to do so.
“I am speaking on behalf of the United States of America because my negotiators cannot,” said Ms. Borah, who is attending the conference as a representative of the International Youth Climate Movement. “The obstructionist Congress has shackled justice and delayed ambition for far too long. I am scared for my future. 2020 is too late to wait. We need an urgent path to a fair, ambitious and legally binding treaty.”
Scores of delegates and observers gave her a sustained ovation. Then the South African authorities threw her out of the conference. “That’s O.K.,” Ms. Borak, who is from Princeton, N.J., said later by telephone. “I think I got my point across.”
Mr. Stern smiled as if the applause were for him and continued with his prepared remarks. Afterward, at a briefing for reporters, he dismissed charges that the United States was blocking any action on climate change until after 2020.
U.S. Climate Envoy Seems to Shift Stance on Timetable for New Talks
Amazing. Perhaps there is hope yet.