So, what happened at the Climate Summit?

The U.N. Climate Summit and Global Climate Strike both took place at the end of last week, but there hasn't been much coverage on its results yet. It is difficult to get an exact number of participants in the Global Climate Strike, but estimates are suggesting there were around 4 million participants. About 1,000 of those participants were from my hometown of Pittsburgh, while in contrast Germany contributed a staggering 1.4 million protesters. Many people are shocked by the massive turn out, but personally, I'm disappointed. There are over 7.5 billion humans on Earth, yet only 4 million participated. Out of the 7.5 billion people on Earth every single one relies on it to live, yet 4 million came out to protest for its savior. We can do better. 
The idea that we can and need to do better was fiercely conveyed by Greta Thunberg's "How Dare You" speech. Thunberg placed blame on the politicians of countries who have made promises to improve their standards by 2050, but haven't. In her speech she said: "For more than 30 years, the science has been crystal clear. How dare you continue to look away and come here saying that you're doing enough, when the politics and solutions needed are still nowhere in sight." 
Thunberg is absolutely right. We should and need to be doing more to at the very least slow this crisis. Why should everyday citizens of Earth expect our world leaders to care about the climate crisis when we act like we don't? I am not suggesting that the 4 million of us who did protest, or more who would have liked to protest, have failed completely in our attempts to save ourselves. We should be proud of the fact that we came together around the world to protest. However, it is not enough. It is not enough we talk about change but don't make it. It is not enough that world leaders simply talk and take small steps toward greener production yet major changes have yet to be followed through with. 
So, if the Global Climate Strike was fairly successful in its organization, impact, and turn out, what happened at the Climate Summit? The answer: a lot of promises without a guaranteed follow through. It is well known that Guterres places much value on giving the climate crisis the attention it deserves. At the Summit, he only offered the stage to countries which are making serious efforts to decrease the amount of harm they produce. Obviously, the U.S. was denied the opportunity to speak. Many other countries gave updates on their efforts to reach their long term goals, or Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC) which were set out in the Paris Agreement. Some coountires, like India and China are doing well to reach their NDC but still struggle to end their use of coal. The common theme for all participating countries though, is that everyone is struggling to make the changes. Countless countries have asked for more financial support in order to meet higher goals as well, which is difficult to provide.
Sadly, the current attention the climate crisis is recieving will likely be lost on Tuesday, once the UN General Assembly begins. Until the COP25 occurs in December, it is likely that NDCs and focus on the climate crisis will be forgotten yet again. For this reason, we have to do better.