UN climate conference begins with global protests

As world leaders gathered in Paris for the United Nations COP21 Climate Conference set to begin on Nov. 30, tens of thousands of people around the world joined one of the biggest global days of climate change activism ever on Nov. 29, to put pressure on world leaders to unite in fighting global warming at the summit in Paris. 

More than 140 leaders including U.S. President Barack Obama, Chinese President Xi Jinping, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Russian President Vladimir Putin will attend the start of the U.N. conference, tasked with reaching the first truly universal climate pact.

The goal is to limit average global warming to two degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit), perhaps less, over pre-Industrial Revolution levels by curbing fossil fuel emissions blamed for climate change.

As part of the protests held across the globe, some 20,000 pairs of shoes were laid out in the Place de la Republique in the French capital, from high-heels to boots, to symbolize absent marchers after attacks by Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) militants killed 130 people on Nov. 13 and led France to ban a protest that was meant to be at the heart of the global action. 

Organizers said the Vatican sent a pair of shoes on behalf of Pope Francis, according to Reuters. One activist, dressed in white as an angel with large wings, held a sign saying "coal kills."

More than 2,000 events were being held in cities across the globe including Sydney, Berlin, London, Sao Paulo and New York, making it perhaps the biggest day of climate action in history on the eve of the Paris conference, which runs from Nov. 30-Dec. 11.

In another protest in Paris before the climate conference, protesters linked hands near the violent heart...