Today I attended a side event called Building a Spirt of Solidarity to Overcome the Climate Crisis where voices from various different sects shared ideas on how to build solidarity, overcome fears, and take responsible decisions to protect humans form climate change. Overall, it was excellent. The panel included someone from the IPCC, a previous negotiator, a UNFCCC official, an archbishop, a nun, and my favorite Hindou Oumarou Ibrahim, and Indigenous leader.
Overall, it was an excellent event! There was good spirt in the room and some interesting points were made. Many of the panel members talked about reconnecting with your fellow humans and discovering a sense of service. There was also a lot of discussion about trying to find common ground and in listening to people who don’t have the same view point as you. This resonated with me a lot, especially when the negotiator was talking about approaching the negotiations with countries with very different priorities. She stressed that negotiator that you disagree with the most is the one you need to connect with the most and try to understand the most so you can think about the issues from their point of view, and that only then is real progress made. Hindou also discussed bringing a human element to the negotiations, and how she views it as her responsibility to talk about the struggles of her people.
There were a lot of powerful messages throughout the 1.5 h and I left feeling positive. I also introduced myself to Hindou after the panel and shock her hand, which was a highlight of the day for me!
Thanks for reporting on this – it sounds inspiring. Several of these points resonate with me, including finding common ground with people. That doesn’t have to mean agreeing about policy positions, but can be trying to understand that you care about many of the same things and then trying to agree on the best actions to reach those shared goals. And feeling a sense of service to some larger ideal is helpful to keep in mind, to get through the harder times.
Do you remember anything the IPCC member said? I wonder if sometimes they feel overlooked/ignored, in their role of summarizing the published literature but not being able to recommend actions.
Eric, I took extensive notes on what was said. She actually said we should be looking at the IPCC report as an inspirational road map, and why policy recommendations aren’t explicitly spelled out, she did say the IPCC report should and can be viewed as a pathway to better humanistic viewpoints and pathways. We should talk more when I get home!