Member-only story
I attended the COP25 Climate Conference in Madrid last week. A group of our students were invited to speak along with Michael Wadleigh of Science For Our Future Uncompromised. For the school newsletter, I wrote of hope and pride, and they were real. Proud for the opportunity for teenagers to stand up on a world stage and give voice to truth. Proud of their determination and courage. Proud of the honesty in their reflections of what they saw and heard and learned. Hopeful too. To see thousands gathered and focused on a making the world better, this is a hopeful thing. Mr. Sustainaclaus urging a non-consumer Christmas. A law professor lecturing on the necessary legal framework for deep de-carbonization. A panel discussion on ways to engage in climate change conversation from bars and coffee shops in western Pennsylvania to small towns in rural Nigeria. This has to be good, right?
But the memory I didn’t share in the school newsletter, the memory that stands out for me was my conversation with the war correspondent in the brown bomber jacket. He stood out in that crowd of suits and dark, professional attire. Brown leather bomber jacket with a worn fleece collar. Green cargo pants. Sailor’s watchcap. A camera slung over each shoulder, criss-crossed like bandoleers in front. He was the one who asked if maybe the best way to frame the issue was as a war. Nations were all too ready to put up 50% of their GDP to go to…
