The Mist Faded to Frustration

Back in Flagstaff:

Abstract

COP27 had fed fuel to my firey passion on climate change. During the COP, I felt like I was unstoppable and unquenchable. I was meeting so many different people - from Nigeria, South Africa, Rwanda, Easter Island, Canada, Australia - all these people committed to climate action with me!

As I saw nighttime glow of LA sprawled beneath the the airplane window, as the shuttle chugged up the Arizona highway, as I popped my food in the microwave, the clouds and mist around my fire faded. 

Nothing had changed - including the politicians. All talk and no action.

This is my silent scream to our world leaders to do something, before restoration is out of reach.

Challenge

How can you call out your representatives to take action on climate? Can you call them or write a letter? Here's a link you can use to call your representative: https://citizensclimatelobby.org/call-your-representative/#/54/

Full story

When I first stepped foot back in the biology building at NAU after COP27, I felt like I was in a fog. The air was nippy and snow dusted the mountain tops, which sent shivers down my desert baked skin. I no longer had people I could turn to for directions, all the signs were in English, everyone spoke English. People didn't have the words "climate change" rolling off their tongues every other word. 

Most of all, I braced myself for the barrage of questions I would get about, how was your trip?

How could I even begin to explain?

I'd had almost an out of world experience, where I was with the most thoughtful, encouraging, and passionate group of people who cared about climate change, about our future, about our faith. So much fuel had been thrown on my small bonfire of climate passion, so now I was a towering pillar of energy for this topic that had always simmered in the debris of my mind. 

I sat down at my desk in my windowless office that had no heat, and stared at the cinderblock walls and the blank computer monitor. With a sigh, I threw my canned lentil soup in the microwave and thought about the resources needed to generate the energy needed to heat up my food. 

How could I go back to normal life?

My worst fear was that this fire that I'd built up inside of me would be suffocated by my normal day to day activities. I now would have student notebooks to grade, homework to catch up on, an apartment to clean, scientific papers to read. 

As I swallowed my soup, my mind shifted to the thought of how I'd felt like I'd had a clear driving purpose when I was at COP27.

I trudged to class dragging my feet as the cars zoomed past me. My shoulders hunched over in an effort to keep warm in my thin raincoat I'd brought to Egypt. They relaxed when I stepped into the building with heat. 

My fire was still burning bright, but the mist and the clouds suddenly cleared. 

I'd had a small bubble experience of hope and inspiration at COP27 (although definitely some frustration and anger mixed in), but now that I'd returned home...

Everything was the same.

The fossil fuels were still burning. The permafrost was still in danger of melting. Wildfires, floods were still raging. The politicians had done nothing.

Anger bubbled up in my stomach, and a sudden urge to get back on that 14 hour flight just to shout at the world leaders almost made me get up and leave class.

I suddenly understood why Greta Thunberg said the COPs aren't working. 

So this is my silent scream asking the world leaders to do something. 

I don't know if there's anything left to say.