It's not too late to stop climate disaster

Humanity still has time to halt disastrous climate change on Earth, American rocker and poet Patti Smith said Thursday as the world gathered in Paris to forge a climate-saving pact.

Smith will take the stage Friday and Saturday at the Pathway to Paris concert advocating for urgent climate action as negotiators slog over every detail of a complex pact to curb global warming.

"We wake up everyday alive with new breath -- we can never think it's too late," the godmother of punk told AFP in Paris.

"We have to think of what we can do. We live in the present. And so what can we do now?"

"It's never too late to have positive change," she said. "We don't have to just look at what has been destroyed, but what can be preserved. And what can be rebuilt."

Smith is known for her 1975 debut album "Horses", which is credited with being an influential force on punk music. She also penned award-winning memoir "Just Kids", which details her relationship with artist Robert Mapplethorpe.  

Smith said her awareness about climate change has been raised by other artists' work, like the images of Greenland's melting icebergs from photographer Lynn Davis.

"They look like bent torsos or something. It's really the skeleton of these very proud icebergs," said Smith. "She has these beautiful photographs of things that just aren't there."

But the impact of man-made pollution is closer to home as well for the singer. Beaches closed due to high bacteria levels and signs warning fisherman not to eat their catch has stuck in her mind.

- 'Have to engage' -
"Any innocence left in our world is being drained by own indulgences," said Smith.

Awareness about the issue has also come through Smith's 28-year-old daughter, Jesse Paris Smith.

"It started with recycling when I wasn't completely recycling savvy," Patti Smith said.

"She would tell me 'Don't throw that piece of paper away, that should be recycled.' She gave me recycling 101."

Smith's daughter is a co-organiser of the Pathway to Paris event, which will also include Radiohead frontman Thom Yorke as well as talks from activists like 350.org-founder Bill McKibben and Indian ecologist Vandana Shiva.

The event is "to honour the champions of the climate justice movement and to bring as much attention as possible to the talks themselves," said Jesse Smith.

In the wake of the Paris terror attacks -- which killed 130 people on November 13 -- the Smiths felt like the event was more important than ever.

"It's so wonderful to be in Paris now," said Patti Smith. "Culturally and humanistically we have to be stronger than ever. We have to engage.

"We have friends that are like family here and there was the desire to do this work which is of such a global concern, but also to be close to our friends and a city that has meant so much to us."

Despite Smith's concerns about humanity's impact on the planet she also expressed hope about the ability to effect change.

"Basically we're a good people and this is what we must do as a good people. We have to get on board globally."
Source: AFP