Winding Down

COP28 Travelogue

The official end to COP28 was supposed to be at 11am today. That's when the parties were due to have a text that everyone agreed to. But the draft of the text that came out last night made about everyone upset. The big question all week was whether it would say ”phase out” or “phase down” fossil fuel production. It turned out to say neither —only that countries should aim to reduce production and consumption of fossil fuels before, by, or around 2050. Talk about weasel words.

But overnight, a bunch of countries said they wouldn’t sign it, and Dubai really doesn’t want to be the COP where negotiations failed. So they came back to work today. The latest update from a spokesman for the president of the COP says,

“Overnight and throughout today, the COP28 President and his team have been engaging in extensive consultations with a wide representation of negotiating groups and Parties. This is to ensure everyone is heard, and all views are considered. He is determined to deliver a version of the text that has the support of all Parties. Consultations will continue until 3:00am

I guess I’ll be writing about that tomorrow.

Speaking of late night sessions of working on a text, the Christianity Today editor said she would get me my manuscript back with some light edits by 11:30pm my time last night, because I said I could stay up until midnight (which is 2pm Chicago time where CT is located). I got it back and a couple of my favorite lines were taken out or softened, I suppose for ideological reasons. But she did a nice job smoothing out my penchant for obfuscation. They were going to get it all laid out today during working hours in Chicago. She said it would go live on their site at the latest by tomorrow morning. Perhaps I’ll include a link in tomorrow’s newsletter, which should be coming to you from Paris.

One of the most enjoyable parts of being here for me has been seeing all the people from other countries. Inside the Blue Zone has definitely been the most internationally populated small space (well, if 90k people counts as small) I’ve ever been. There is such a beauty to the diversity of skin tones and accents and clothing styles. I’m going to miss that.

First thing this morning, several of us went to the African Union pavilion, because one of our own members was speaking on a panel. Dorcas Wakio is a young woman from Kenya who has been making waves with her climate activism. Here’s the panel:

Dorcas is the one in the middle

It is such a different vibe when you hear a panel like this, from a countries that don’t have much power on the world stage, and are in need of assistance for climate change that was primarily caused by wealthy nations. The man to Dorcas’s right was from somewhere in West Africa and said the women who farm rice fields used to get 15-20 bags of rice per year from their plots; now they get 1 or 2 bags at most because of the constant flooding during rainy season. The panelists weren’t displaying anger at us, but would constantly use phrases like, “we must keep the leadership of this conference accountable for monetary assistance to countries like ours.” And everyone would nod in agreement. But I don’t what they can really do about that. It’s sad.

Dorcas is such a lovely, joyful person. And she is pouring her energy into conservation work in Kenya. (You can read a little about it and even contribute to her cause at her GoFundMe page.) After her panel she wanted photos:

By the time that panel was done, we had hit the 11am mark, and most of the other pavilions were closing up shop for good. I went up to the formal meeting space, but none of those negotiations were open to observers. So I wandered around a little in the media center:

This is just the desk space in the media center. Those pods back behind are for quiet broadcasting space. And there is another room this size for the TV people. I put on my podcasting hat with a microphone on it so I’d look like I belong there.

Then I decided to go out to the Green Zone. The Blue Zone is the interior space where only people with official badges can go. The Green Zone is the wider, more commercial space. There are lots of pavilions there for electric cars and solar powered toasters, innovation tents, youth tents, and lots of food. There were also lots of school groups going through. I asked one group of junior high-looking girls if they spoke English. Yes! Their eyes brightened up and they looked intently at me. “Could I take your photo?” I asked. “Oh no… sorry” they said and immediately looked down and subdued. I had taken some other photos walking around that did include some women and girls in the traditional hijab from a little ways away, and I when I went to look at those photos on my Amazon photo account, they were all blank. Somehow UAE has a filter that doesn’t let you see pictures you’ve taken of traditional women?

For example, you could see this photo in thumbnail on Amazon photos, but when I clicked on it, the screen turned black. Same thing happened to several others. But I could hit download, and let me take it. I hope it isn’t morally wrong of me to show this photo?

In the middle of the Green Zone is this giant open-air dome with chill ambient music playing.

Morality is an interesting topic in Dubai. In some ways, it seems like a very moral culture. There is no alcohol sold anywhere except in hotels, there is very little crime, the women dress very modestly (very very in the case of hijabs). But then, I’m not so sure abstinence from alcohol is the definition of morality, and modesty of women might more properly be called the subjugation of women. And it is a consumer culture on steroids. And the whole “earn your wealth through fossil fuels even though they’re ruining the world” might rightly be said to be morally questionable. And how about voting rights? Nope. It’s an absolute monarchy. So I guess appearances can be deceiving.

I bid adieu to the Green Zone, and went back to the Blue Zone to meet my roommate Mark. And the two of us bid adieu to the Blue Zone and took the metro to a beach area so we could say we had dipped our toes in the Persian Gulf.

Then we went to the Burj Khalifa, which is currently the tallest building in the world (and the one Tom Cruise climbed up the outside in one of the Mission Impossible movies). It is very tall.

Then I came back to the hotel. Got some dinner. Said goodbye to most of the team because they leave tonight on 1am flights. And that brings you up to the present in my adventure. I fly to Paris tomorrow and have a layover there, and hope to write to you again then.

Say a prayer for the COP28 parties. The future livability of the planet for billions of people depends on decisions being made.