The “Glasgow climate pact” was adopted last Saturday night by nearly 200 countries. Some are calling it a success, others a failure. John Kerry, America's climate envoy, referred to the summit as “the world’s last best chance” to keep 1.5 alive. Meanwhile, outside the conference, many campaigners refused to settle for the non-binding pledges world leaders are failing to honour.
Whether you spent COP26 in the blue zone, in the streets of Glasgow, or following from home, it’s been an exhausting few weeks in climate action. So, a week from COP26, how are you feeling and how are you combatting post-COP26 exhaustion?
Personally I'm tired - I talked about my experience of COP in last week's edition of The Green Fix so I'll just rehash what I said there.
Tired of travel, tired of the ‘hot takes’ on Twitter and tired of moderating my expectations for a liveable future. Tired of desperately hoping that political action will tip the balance in favour of a future we can bear to imagine.
As well as tired, I also feel a renewed certainty. That change came from the Salvation Army volunteers handing out free lunches, from the UK Youth Climate Coalition and Green New Deal Rising sleeping on the floor of a church to attend protests.
Where global pledges are lacking and frustrating, local opportunities to do good are abundant.
I didn't attend COP26 so I don't have that experiential burnout that so many who were there, do.
After an initial feeling of defeat and depression, I was reminded of a time I felt similarly, and that was when Trump was elected in 2016. That feeling of shock, disbelief, and fear for the future came rushing back!
But, then I remembered how people came together to fight even harder for so many social issues Trump tried to destroy with Executive orders. He took us out of the Paris Climate Accord, but then many cities and towns across the US took their own initiative to follow it. More people joined the climate movement and we got stronger, worked harder, and accomplished much!
I have a feeling we will see something similar happen now. COP26, or any other COP, cannot solve the climate crisis alone. I think after a little rest after the recent conference, we will come back harder, stronger, bigger and with more creativity as to how we can keep 1.5 truly alive! I truly believe this 💪
Personally I'm tired - I talked about my experience of COP in last week's edition of The Green Fix so I'll just rehash what I said there.
Tired of travel, tired of the ‘hot takes’ on Twitter and tired of moderating my expectations for a liveable future. Tired of desperately hoping that political action will tip the balance in favour of a future we can bear to imagine.
As well as tired, I also feel a renewed certainty. That change came from the Salvation Army volunteers handing out free lunches, from the UK Youth Climate Coalition and Green New Deal Rising sleeping on the floor of a church to attend protests.
Where global pledges are lacking and frustrating, local opportunities to do good are abundant.
I didn't attend COP26 so I don't have that experiential burnout that so many who were there, do.
After an initial feeling of defeat and depression, I was reminded of a time I felt similarly, and that was when Trump was elected in 2016. That feeling of shock, disbelief, and fear for the future came rushing back!
But, then I remembered how people came together to fight even harder for so many social issues Trump tried to destroy with Executive orders. He took us out of the Paris Climate Accord, but then many cities and towns across the US took their own initiative to follow it. More people joined the climate movement and we got stronger, worked harder, and accomplished much!
I have a feeling we will see something similar happen now. COP26, or any other COP, cannot solve the climate crisis alone. I think after a little rest after the recent conference, we will come back harder, stronger, bigger and with more creativity as to how we can keep 1.5 truly alive! I truly believe this 💪