On Nov. 30, the 28th Conference of the Parties (COP 28) of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change began and will run until Dec. 12.
I chose not to go to COP 28 because I am in Grade 11 and I must balance my life, grades and all my activism, including the lawsuit I am in which will be appealed on Jan. 15.
My voice will still be heard at COP 28 as I was selected by Sweden's "We Don't Have Time" to send a #FutureVoices warning at to the World Leaders.
My first direct experience with a "COP" was in 2018 during COP 23 on Dec. 8, 2018. With the help of many friends, we organized Canada's first Fridays For Future National strike and at age 11 found myself on the national news. Greta Thunberg even Tweeted her appreciation to us.
My key message then and now has been: listen to the experts and cooperate.
We should all be worried. The Earth passed an ominous milestone in November — a global temperature above 2C for the first time was recorded.
Here is what António Guterres, Secretary-General of the United Nations, said recently.
"We know it is still possible to make the 1.5-degree limit a reality. It requires tearing out the poisoned root of the climate crisis: fossil fuels. And it demands a just, equitable renewables transition."
Thus, COP 28 must signal a terminal decline in fossil fuels and the transition must be embedded in all human rights.
But how? We need to unite, listen to the experts and stand up to the bullies who are not cooperating and are standing in the way.
Here is the awesome news: climate action will make our lives more affordable. The climate crisis has already inflicted a staggering cost of $16 million per hour in extreme weather damages over the past two decades and without decisive action now, it will get much worse if we keep stalling. As well, carbon pricing coupled with rebates, as we have in Canada, further improves the affordability of climate action.
There is a path forward. Five-year-olds know how to stand up to a bully. Like in the story "Matilda" by Roald Dahl when our hero confronts the bully and school principal, Miss Trunchbull, we need to unite against the bullies and do two things:
- Make polluters pay.
- Join the European Union, the State of California, Montreal, Vancouver, Toronto, the WHO, and many more and endorse the Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty.
We all can be like Matilda and her friends and support climate champions at COP 28. Fridays For Future Greater Sudbury, with the assistance of Citizens' Climate Lobby Canada, is running a digital campaign until Dec. 15.
You can send digital letters to all your local politicians (municipal, MPPs, MPs, and senators) and tell them you will stand behind them if they support making polluters pay and a global treaty to unwind our economies off of fossil fuels - fair, fast and forever. Find and send your digital letter here.
Lastly, to get a live update from COP28, join me and my friends from Citizens' Climate International on Friday, Dec. 8 at 10:15 a.m. (EST) when they broadcast live from Dubai, UAE. You can sign up on Zoom here.
PS: Go see “Matilda” at the Sudbury Theatre Centre. It is a fantastical story about how to stand up to a bully. You will feel the possibilities!
Sophia Mathur is a young climate activist who lives in Sudbury.
