A CLIMATE CHANGE SUMMIT in Porto

2019's SUMMIT 

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​  For the second consecutive year, the Climate Change Leadership Summit's keynote speaker was an American politician and Nobel Peace prize laureate. After Barack Obama's presence in 2018, this year Porto welcomed Al Gore, the most prominent and inspirational opinion maker of this century, regarding the topic of global warming awareness  (...)

​AL GORE's SPEECH

Al Gore dove into his favorite topics, the ones that got him the Nobel: Climate change activism and pollution consequences and solutions.

He used a few recent examples of global warming consequences from around the world, including the devastating forest fires in Australia and California, the hurricane Florence in 2018 but he also addressed the issue and showed some photos of the 2018's forest fires in Portugal that killed over 60 people. 

However, as usual, Al Gore shared his optimistic views for the future, including his beliefs concerning the 'not so definitive' American withdrawal from the 2015's Paris Agreement​.

At the exact same time Al Gore was starting his intervention inside the Alfandega Conference center, we started our run! Exploring the nearby district of Miragaia with Jennifer and - shirtless in March- Ryan on our Iron Bridges running tour.

THE MAN WHO INVITED OBAMA AND AL GORE TO PORTO

Adrian Bridge is a runner himself. He usually leaves his house around 6AM for his daily run, just before he heads for the office, using this quality alone time to think about new projects for the wine industry. He is the present CEO of The Fladgate Partnership/ Taylor's, the wine company that sponsors and organizes this yearly summit in Porto to discuss the consequences of global warming on the wine production and business. Adrian Bridge as a young man was a member of the Queen's Dragoon guards, the first division of England's Queen's guards and also served under the UN flag in peace missions around the world, before he married and moved to Portugal.

Adrian Bridge, CEO of The Fladgate Partnership, organizer and main sponsor of the conference.
Photo credits: Rui Duarte Silva/ Expresso

Adrian Bridge and Al Gore enjoying a pre-conference glass of Taylor's Port. Photo Credits: Taylor's Port Wine  

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2018's SUMMIT 

(this was our previous post about the CCL Summit, published July 5th, 2018)

Porto's Coliseu hosts the Climate Change Leadership summit (link) this Friday with a luxury group of speakers, including two Nobel peace prize laureates: Barack Obama and Mohan Munasinghe!

Obama and Bo, his Portuguese water dog, running through the White house's hallways.

The weather this Spring and in these first days of Summer has been totally unpredictable here in Portugal.  Even if we experience clear skies and a beautiful sunrise over the Douro river, there's the chance we have a nasty thunderstorm by the end of the afternoon... and that is not how things were, 20, 30 years ago.

So, yes, climate change is a reality. And it will challenge every one of us, forcing us to change.

In Porto, the wine industry has gathered a few important speakers to raise awareness and inspire people to take action to mitigate some of the effects. This international conference is the first of many planned till 2021 to address this topic, and in specific, the climate change implications for the wine production. The lack of water and the shift in the harvest traditional times are obvious concerns but there are many others.

We met Dara from Atlanta this morning at the same hotel that Obama will be spending the night tomorrow. They will miss one another because she is flying back to US today...!
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 Even though I have no idea if Barack Obama truly likes jogging, he was - still is - an inspiration to me and his 'yes, we can' attitude is obviously in the mind of every entrepreneur, not only in the sustainable tourism sector.

Obama and Biden running and having their post run stretch (2014's Let's Move program)

  Really looking forward to hear what two other guest speakers have to say: Irina Bokova, former Director General of Unesco, will reveal how climate change is affecting treasured places worldwide and Juan Verde's talk will revolve around the topics "Sustainability, renewable energy, agribusiness and biomedicine as a new model of economic development" and he will also be the one to ask Obama the 25 key questions about the  "impacts and challenges of climate changes in the world" during the conversation that will close this summit.

As to me and the Porto Running Tours' team, we will keep on 'raising awareness' here in Porto, one running tour at a time ;)

Dara booked our Heart of Porto XL 15k to learn more about Porto's history the best - and sustainable - way: that's running! 

​Learn more and book > here <

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