I’m part of the week 2 group of the Christian Climate Observers Program in Baku. Most of us arrived yesterday, while the week 1 group is still here. That’s why we had to find alternative accommodations at the hotel in yesterday’s post (which, I’m glad to say, has ironed out the wrinkles we experienced upon arrival) until their beds at base camp have been cleared. But it also affords the opportunity for an overlap meal together. That occurred last night at Baku Gardens Restaurant with a feast and inspiring speeches from participants about their experiences.
My favorite part of coming to events like this is the opportunity to meet and talk with people from all over the world. Between last night and today, Colin and I have recorded interviews with four of the participants who were here for week 1 — from Panama, Scotland, Zambia, and Kenya. It is sad to hear the stories of people from developing countries who are already bearing the brunt of climate change, but inspiring to hear of their courage and faith in spite of this. We hope to put out a quick and lightly edited podcast with some of their stories on Thursday (and a longer more polished episode once we get back).
We got back to our hotel after dinner about 11:30pm and I slept very well last night. Today is the official day of rest for the COP, so there are no meetings and none of the busses are running. So we had to take a Bolt (their rideshare service) to the base camp this morning, where we met several others to go on another adventure. I’m happy to report that this one went much more smoothly than our attempt in Germany (which means it probably won’t be as funny to read about!).
About an hour away from Baku there is an important archeological site called Gobustan that has lots of petroglyphs (carvings made in rocks) dating from five thousand years ago to more than forty thousand years ago. We had arranged for a minibus to take nine of us out to the museum and then to the site itself. It turned out that on the COP rest day, quite a few other people had the same idea, so we wandered around these rocks with several hundred other people.
I’ve always enjoyed being at such sites. There’s something very moving to me about standing in the exact place our very ancient ancestors did as they expressed their artistic or religious impulses (or maybe were just doodling).
After this, we took a quick trip to see the mud volcanoes, for which Azerbaijan is famous (in a geological sense). Then dinner in the Old City and back to the hotel. Not much more to report. Tomorrow starts early as we’re moving to base camp by breakfast, and then into the Blue Zone for our first official day at COP29. I hope to report tomorrow that the world has figured out what to do about climate change!
i'm glad you are able to do this trip and I hope it bears good fruit. I always enjoy reading your intelligent writing style and witty humor. One question I would have for you or I guess it's a challenge is to talk to any of the middle or lower class people you might see on the street. I realize that might need to be with a translator. A Bloomberg article that I read recently said that the government of the country Cleaned up the city and the poor people right before this event in anticipation of it. They said that just before the BMWs of the big wigs rolling in they demolished and shut down many of the lower class markets and made a lot of the citizens work from home or go to school remotely to keep the 50,000 people come in safe and give them a different idea the country actually exist most of the time. This is a benefit for certain service industries but the average people are unlikely to see it and even be harmed. How self-aware are the people meeting at this conference of this sort of thing? I know for the Olympics that countries are willing to make just about any compromise with the hosting count and I'm wondering if it's the same thing with these environmental conferences and that's why theocracy will never let it truly get off the ground with the general public. Just some thoughts I'm not saying I have an answer.