By Mary Andrews

Throughout my time at COP27 in Sharm El-Sheikh, I have grown to understand why so many climate justice activists feel exasperated at, and even threatened by the goings on of the conference. I have sat in on panels, taken notes at roundtables, attended press conferences, and even listened to president Biden’s speech, but have not heard promises for real action across any of those events. Instead, I have seen discussions between important people and emotion-filled speeches about what should be done, I have seen students networking and businessmen consulting the wisdom of indigenous folks on their work. This is all well and good but why did we fly across the world to do it? Why did U.S. delegates spew more or less 4.1 metric tons of CO2 to get here, equivalent to being vegetarian for 7.6 years, to carpooling for 4 years, and with our emissions melting about 132.7 square feet of Arctic sea ice. (https://flightfree.org/flight-emissions-calculator)

How many of us calculated our carbon footprints getting to this trip? How many of us considered who we were taking the place of when agreeing to represent our countries as a delegate? How many of us considered ourselves as the problem? How many of us have considered who our damage is affecting? How many of us realized that the voices of those affected, women and non-binary voices from the global south, young people from all over the world, and indigenous communities, are speaking at side events and not in policy negotiations; that they are protesting at the entrance to the conference center while climate “commitments” are being made inside.

During my time in Sharm El-Sheikh, I have been most influenced by those voices through many forms of resistance to the greenwashing, exclusivity, and ignorance of COP27. I want to share their voices now:

Ina-Maria Shikongo, Nicki Becker, Hilda Flavia Nakabuye, Disha A. Ravi, Laura Verónica Munoz: A group of climate activists from an incredible range of backgrounds who together co-wrote a chapter in Greta Thunberg’s book: The Climate Book, titled “What Does Equity Mean To You?” Watch their interview here:
https://youtu.be/ni_J9e9QHsU. Their message was inspiring beyond words and these women’s voices are the ones I hope to carry with me throughout my own climate activism.
Jade Begay, Climate Justice Campaign Director, NDN Collective, spoke about Biden’s IRA and it’s qualities of distance, ignorance, and insufficiency in aid to indigenous peoples (more information in my notes below). Xiye Bastida, Climate Justice Activist and Co-Founder, Re-Earth Initiative, has an incredible knack for speaking as one voice from the marginalized youth perspective and I believe will be a person to follow in the coming years. Sonia Guajajara, Executive Coordinator, Articulation of Indigenous Peoples of Brazil, is a recently elected lawmaker in Brazil and is the first indigenous woman to be elected into her position. Her words in this recording:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zv3meLH7enw are inspired.
An indigenous woman from the Philippines asking people at the COP to hear and do something about the Military presence on her Island and the degradation and harm it is causing her peoples. From banning them from sacred lands to degrading their natural landscapes, the military has direct impacts on the ecological and human evolution in the Philippines. She told me something I had not known until that day: the military is the largest single entity emitter in the world. DEMILITARIZE.

A Palestinian climate activist from San Francisco and Gaza, in his own words: https://www.veed.io/view/3aa5e0d8-1fef-4690-86e4-40e91fa13634?source=compressor-sharing PLEASE WATCH!! Before his speech he offered a poem to the crowd which was even more inspiring. We feel his words beating off the air and the crowd was hushed and drawn in. We could feel how urgently he needed us to hear his words and how much pain he has suffered from being silenced. His words, along with all the other voices in this post, have influenced my own poetry as part of my final project for the class we are here with:

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