Anote Tong Former President, Kiribati Key-Notes CEO Summit Atop Salesforce Tower: Urges Climate Action

SAN FRANCISCO, July 18, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- 230 corporate executives from the San Francisco Bay Area gathered atop Salesforce Tower to hear former President of Kiribati Climate Warrior, His Excellency Anote Tong whose tiny atoll nation in the Pacific faces the danger of drowning with Sea Level Rise due to Climate Change. Speaking at an event organized by the Aquarium of the Bay, Anote Tong expressed concerns while pointing to the dangers of inaction and regulatory capture of policy makers. Faced with the notion of 'climate refugees', he stated the need for awareness and action. "We must educate ourselves, others and work towards collective solutions rising above our political and personal differences," said Tong to a packed audience.

Echoing Anote Tong's call to action, President and CEO of BayEcotarium George Jacob added, "following Gov. Jerry Brown's Global Climate ACTION Summit last September, we stepped up and acted by unveiling the vision for the first of its kind Climate and Ocean Conservation Living BayEcotarium with Dr. Jill Biden." An international team of experts is involved in conceiving a living museum to address the challenges of climate change, ocean acidification, clean energy, carbon-sequestration, sea level rise, plastic and micro-plastic pollution and solutions- at public policy, programs, prototypes and paradigm-shift levels. Mayor London Breed of San Francisco declared Climate Emergency in April this year calling for bold action. "It is a step in the right direction at the right time for the right reasons," said Jacob.

Suzanne DiBianca, Executive Vice President, Corporate Relations and Chief Impact Officer of Salesforce welcomed the executives from the Bay Area. Suzanne leads Salesforce's stakeholder strategy, driving positive social and environmental impact across our company, customers, partners and community. She spearheads Salesforce's sustainability efforts to address the urgency of climate change with bold leadership; and closely collaborates with Salesforce Ventures to invest in diverse, world-class entrepreneurs.

State Sen. J. Kalani English, one of the bill's co-authors to adopt Paris Accord, who flew in from Berlin en route Hawaii, said adopting the international pact's goals is necessary because Hawaii is extremely susceptible to climate change. "We're feeling the effects of it more so than most other states in the union because we're completely surrounded by water. We are seeing sea level rise," English said. "In the last few years, we've had lightning storms, thunderstorms, out of season storms, more intense storms. These are all part of climate change." Hawaii already has a greenhouse gas reduction law. The legislation, approved in 2007, seeks a 16 percent reduction in carbon emission by the year 2020 from large facilities like power plants and refineries. "It is timely that San Francisco has taken the lead in conceiving an international climate resilience and ocean conservation BayEcotarium. The designs are iconic and its impact would be generational given its location and the urgency of the cause," said Senator English.

Bay.Org/ BayEcotarium
Our mission is enabling conversations on climate resilience and ocean conservation globally, while inspiring actionable change locally by protection and preservation of the San Francisco Bay and its ecosystems, from Sierra to the Sea™.

SOURCE BayEcotarium