The French arm of non-governmental environmental organization, Greenpeace, stormed to the Arc de Triomphe early on Friday and poured yellow paint on the roundabout in an attempt to call out the French government's insufficient efforts to promote renewable energy.
The protesters connected to the organization used bikes to pour the washable dye on the roundabout and watched as the passing vehicles spread the paint to the other streets to create the rays of the sun.
"France presents itself as a model during this climate conference but in fact today France develops three times less renewable energy than its European neighbours," said Greenpeace France coordinator Frederic Amiel. He further explained that the organization's goal was to call out to President Francois Hollande so he would act to speed up and increase the development of renewable energies.
ACTION Renewable energy will save the climate. Here comes the sun ! #100RE4all #COP21 pic.twitter.com/dUX3Xo9vGM
— Greenpeace France (@greenpeacefr) December 11, 2015
Environmental organizations are mobilizing now because of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, also known as COP21, hosted by France from Nov. 30 to Dec. 11. The conference aims to form and sign a new international agreement that would require all involved nations to take the approved actions to combat the effects of climate change in order to keep global warming from reaching or exceeding the predicted 2 degrees Celsius rise in temperature.
Activists from other organizations have also mobilized to tackle what they believe the root of the climate change problem to be. The Green Warriors of Norway claim that overpopulation is the real threat and that it leads to global warming, while an online activist group called Avaaz believe that the fossil fuel industry has to be stopped in order to effect change. However, they also believe that in order to do that, United States, China, Brazil, Germany and India must also take a stand against the use of fossil fuels to bring an end to the industry.
