A Rough Idea: How to keep going when politicians continue to fail us

COP30 is over. Now what?

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I’m in the laundromat when the draft COP30 text lands. I’m following it on my Whatsapp while hauling wet sheets into a bag too small for purpose. Fossil fuels not even mentioned in the draft.

I’m not even disappointed. I’m too busy trying to balance the bag on one knee while I open the front door. Someone sends me a Signal copy-paste message about a petition to save the oceans. I forget to reply.

I had writers’ block for this edition and made an Instagram poll. People voted to write on ‘post-COP30 despair.’ What would I expect? No matter what we tell ourselves about our disdain for international policy-making, it’s still jarring to see global leaders, the people allegedly elected to represent us, consistently choose to kill us instead.