Attempting to begin the United Nations climate change conference with a stirring call to action, one UN official blasted economic markets principles for asphyxiating “time-honored values of humanity” and suggested that failure to act on global warming fears could damage international human rights and destabilize “peace and security.”

Describing the climate change conference as a “make or break moment for humanity,” UN Independent Expert on Human Rights and International Solidarity Virginia Dandan said in a statement that failure to produce anti-greenhouse gas emissions policies “would impact on the three pillars of the UN – namely, peace and security, development and human rights, and pin the world down to ground zero.”