Headline from Day One
Kali Anderson, Alejandra Guajardo, Michael Matchell
From Kali: This morning in devotions we focused on our thankfulness to fossil fuels and what they have done for us, before being asked to make a pivot to WISDOM, which for the world definitely means a transition to renewable energies. After what I witnessed today I would like to take that thankfulness a step further. Fossil fuels have done a lot of harm to our world, as this conference has shown me through stories and statistics, but it has also banded us as people all over the globe like no other thing could have. Today at COP28, there was a very emotionally charged march for climate justice, where multiple different people from different people groups banded together to express their thoughts on the multiple different injustices that have been occurring. All of these different people groups are experiencing different problems under the umbrella of climate change, but they came together to fight for one thing. This allowed us to fight for each other side by side and show our support/love no matter the differences between us. This is the only good thing fossil fuels have given us in this modern moment, and as a global community I am glad it has brought us together to finally phase out fossil fuels.
From Alejandra: Today I had the opportunity to attend one of the high-level negotiation sessions ("2023 Annual High Level Ministerial Roundtable on pre-2030 Ambition"). These meetings are not always open to observers, but today they let us enter. I was interested in knowing what a high-level negotiation meeting is like: who participates, what the dynamics are like. As in all the sessions I have attended, I continue hearing the word “urgent” repeatedly. The president of COP28, Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber, was very emphatic in pointing out that “the conversations should change and adapt to the urgency of the situation. We must find the solutions, we don't have time." We must remember that this is the second week of COP28 and the issues on the table are clear: urgency in the implementation of effective measures to stop climate change and not cross the 1.5 degrees of temperature, urgency in the implementation of an adequate mechanism for the distribution of the Loss and Damage fund among the countries most affected by climate change, and the acceptance of phasing out fossil fuels by all countries.
From Michael: As I write this, students from our CCOP program are participating in a march for climate justice, organized by youth from all around the world. Their message is simple: the signatories to the Paris Agreement need to agree to phase out fossil fuels (coal, oil, natural gas) or many of their nations will become uninhabitable and millions of lives will be put at risk. Jeannette Gitobu, a Kenyan delegate, made that appeal on behalf of 34 million Africans suffering under climate change impacts this year alone. That number stands to grow exponentially, in Africa and around the world, if this COP28 Presidency cannot successfully move the party nations to agree to a fossil fuel phase out. This morning, the UNFCCC Secretary Simon Stiell put it simply: this COP will either be historic…or it won’t. There is no middle ground this year - we either meet the crisis before us, or we fall flat. That’s why your prayers are so important. Please pray with us (see below).
