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Obama encouraged everyone everywhere to act and vote toward environmental measures.

The COP26 conference is ongoing in Glasgow, where major lawmakers and environmental experts are meeting to discuss the state of the Earth’s environment and make plans toward improving it. One notable attendant is former United States President Barrack Obama, who called for greater strides toward climate safety and activism in a speech.

“We are nowhere near where we need to be yet. For starters, despite the progress that Paris represented, most countries have failed to meet the action plans they set six years ago,” Obama said. “As I’m sure is true for all of you, there are times when I feel discouraged, when the future seems bleak, and I am doubtful that humanity can get its act together before it’s too late. And images of dystopia start creeping into my dreams. And yet, whenever I feel such despondency, I remind myself that cynicism is the recourse of cowards. We can’t afford hopelessness.”

Obama directed part of his speech toward younger people, both in the conference proper and watching around the world, saying that they are “right to be frustrated.”

“For most of your lives, you’ve been bombarded with warnings about what the future will look like if we don’t address climate change,” Obama said. “And you’ve grown up watching many of the adults who are in a position to do something about it either act like the problem doesn’t exist or refuse to make the hard decisions necessary to address it.”

As for what young people can do to help the process along, Obama said the best option is to vote. “Vote like your life depends on it,” he said, since “the cold, hard fact is that we will not have more ambitious climate change plans unless governments get behind them.”