Rev Tutu urges more climate commitments from rich nations

BEIJING, Dec. 14 -- "If Archbishop Desmond Tutu is trapped in an elevator with U.S. President Barack Obama for 30 seconds, what would Rev Tutu say to Obama? " The question was raised during a press conference on Dec. 13 in Copenhagen, which were presided by Rev. Tutu, Bishop Sofie Petersen, of Denmark and Rev. Tofiga Falani, from Tuvalu.

Rev. Tutu answered, "Please give the world the deal that it is expecting. Please let us have a legally-possible deal, not political statement. While developed countries said that they agree to reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 40 percent, someone said to me that it was too modest."

"It should be 80 percent by the year 2050. Please do not hesitate to contribute 10 billion U.S. dollars for assisting developing countries buy clean energy to replace the fossil fuel." During the press conference, Tutu and the two other religious leaders highlighted the fact that developing countries bear the brunt of the climate change.

"We have only one world, this world, if we destroy it, this world disappears," Tutu said.

Rev. Tutu said that people are interconnected in this world when speaking to the Americans in relations to climate change, "We are so connected, if we go down, and I will pull you down."

"The rich countries, especially the United States, are not able to quarantine themselves. There is no place which is going to be safe. If we go down, we all go down..."