The leader of the United Nations did not pull any punches. "If we take action now, it may not be too late," United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon said in an interview today in the garden of U.N. headquarters in New York.
His "may" gave this correspondent pause. His words were clearly carefully considered.
The subject was global warming. How serious does he think it is?
"The science has made it quite clear. The impact has been felt seriously around the world. Now only lacking largely is a political will," said Ban. "As a human being, a whole international community is standing at the very critically important juncture. Whether or not we address this issue properly and collectively, the whole future of our generation and planet Earth will depend."
Ban has declared that global warming will be a priority of his tenure at the United Nations.
He also clearly considers it a matter of the greatest gravity.
When this reporter pointed out that some scientists are writing books and saying in public that they believe this crisis is so serious that if humanity goes on with business as usual -- not significantly cutting overall greenhouse gas emissions -- it could seriously lead to the collapse of civilization, even in the lifetime of today's children, he replied:
"I think that is a correct assessment. People say that action should have been taken yesterday. If we take action today, it may not be too late."
Ban had worked hard to convene Monday's special high-level meeting at U.N. headquarters. The meeting was the largest meeting of heads of state and government ever held to debate the problem of global warming -- a gathering that set the tone for the annual opening of the United Nations General Assembly Tuesday.
Notably absent at the all-day high level meeting was President Bush, who has in the past cast doubt on the vitrtually unanimous scientific consensus that dangerous global warming is now under way and is attributable in large part to human activities.
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