While I arrived yesterday, today felt like my first real look into COP26.
I got to go inside the Scottish Convention Center beyond badge collection. After a morning coffee with the wonderful people of the ACE Coalition, it was time to try out our transit passes and take the train to COP. My first thought when I walked into this huge space was that I didn’t really know what I was doing. I’m so young and inexperienced, and I haven’t had scheduled events to go to yet.
Most of the activity was around the World Leader’s Summit, which was sectioned off from almost everyone. Seats are limited and it’s unlikely that I’ll get to sit in on these high-profile meetings. I was expecting my trip to COP would be full of long sessions where I could sit and listen to high-powered people speak about their country’s plan for the future. But that’s not where I’m finding the most valuable takeaways from my trip to Glasgow so far.
The pavilion center was my main area of interest today. This is where I talked to some very engaging people about their initiatives and projects themed around the environment. There were pavilions for different countries, but also nonprofit organizations and initiatives. The first place I stopped was the Cryosphere pavilion. I think it caught my attention because I will be studying abroad in Iceland in the spring, studying climate change impacts to the Arctic. I was passed a pair of headphones to listen to the speaker and sat down. I learned about Arctic ecology and the value of sea ice. The scientific aspects of COP are some of the things that define this conference.
It truly is a combination of science and policy. It’s not just a bunch of powerful people sitting in one room, talking about legislation. There are voices from all over the world presenting their work that will be influencing the negotiations.
I met an artist today, too, named Gennadiy Ivanov, who combines science with visual art. His exhibition attracted me, again because of what I’m studying back home, at Macalester College. I’m in an art history class called Globalization and Contemporary Art. What could be more contemporary and global than a climate-themed art exhibit associated with the United Nations? Ivanov talked with me about his partnership with scientists, who take him to parts of the world that are the most devastated by climate change and he captures their powerful and disastrous messages.
I may not be able to have one-on-one conversations with presidents or ambassadors (yet…) but I treasure these conversations with experts in different environmental fields. They are what the real COP26 look and sound like.
Bella Garrioch is an undergraduate at Macalester College and a member of Climate Generation’s Window into COP26 Delegation. Within her major she emphasizes climate science and policy and is interested in the crossover between climate change research and political solutions to the climate crisis. Learn more about Bella.