Story highlights Robert Redford will be speaking at U.N. General Assembly on Monday

Climate change is defining environmental issue of our time, Redford says

Robert Redford is an actor, director and environmental advocate. The views expressed are his own.

(CNN) On Monday, I'll have the honor of addressing U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and representatives from 193 countries gathered at U.N. headquarters in New York to call for immediate action on global climate change.

This meeting is part of a growing groundswell being felt throughout the world with citizens, cities, religious leaders, corporations and nations demanding real action. And when world leaders meet in Paris this December, the world will be watching.

I believe climate change is the defining environmental issue of our time. It's hurting our people -- around the world -- and it's time to stand up and say we've had enough. Enough of rising seas and widening deserts that threaten our homes and our crops. Enough of withering drought and blistering heat that mean more malnutrition and disease. Enough of raging floods, wildfires and storms that threaten people everywhere with one disaster after another.

We've got a real chance in Paris to come together and do something about it. But getting it done, and doing it right, will require a powerful public outcry. It's happening. It's building.

We know what's driving the problem, and we know what to do about it. When we burn coal, oil and natural gas, we choke our atmosphere with the dangerous carbon pollution that's driven global temperatures up about 1.5 degrees Fahrenheit in a little more than a century

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