Despair and Hope. My reflections from COP26

I’ve held off writing my final reflections from COP26 for a number of reasons – additional traveling through the UK, getting sick- but mostly because I'm still processing everything I experienced in Glasgow. So, instead of trying to distill all that I learned or experienced at COP26, I want to tell you about a bit about the emotional journey that I experienced that first week of the conference. The first is frustration at our national leaders and the UN organizers of the COP, and despair in regard to meaningful change.

I went to COP26 as an Observer with the Christian Climate Observers Program (CCOP) and under the credentials of the World Evangelical Alliance (WEA) while also representing the Episcopal Diocese of Missouri. As you likely know, the designation of "Observer" has a long history in the UN as non-party stakeholders, meaning they don't represent a country but still have a legitimate concern for the discussions taking place and are present to "observe" the proceedings. Observers are supposed to observe. But many times, during the first week it felt more like we were given token access to the grounds and expected to be content and distracted with the fancy pavilion areas and side shows, while keeping away from the conversations and debates where decisions are being made for the rest of the world.

The first place we found this was with the scheduling. It was almost impossible to find out when and where events were taking place so I would find myself wondering aimlessly from area to area trying to stumble into something. Secondly, when we did have information as to when and where discussions were taking place like the plenary sessions, we were not allowed access to the room. Some parties (representatives from nations) were even not allowed if they didn't have some mysterious ticket they should have been previously granted. At one point I became so frustrated with again being barred from an area I challenged the security guard as to why they were blocking observers from observing (as if that was going to accomplish anything). His response was "because you observers are really just protestors."

And in truth, they were turning me into one.

Later in the first week we did have some meaningful updates and discussions with the US delegation, and it appears the week two CCOP attenders had more success getting the needed information and gaining access to many areas. While all this was taking place it quickly became clear that the organizers of this COP were already touting it as a success even as it was just getting underway. Climate scientist Dr. Peter Carter, commenting on what appeared to be a predetermined conclusion that the COP had kept the target of 1.5C alive he said, didn't sugar coat his reaction saying, “That is absolute nonsense." Climate Action Tracker’s press conference on November 9th highlighted these massive gaps saying that we are "heading to at least 2.4 ̊C of warming, if not more."

Many in our group also noticed that the overall focus of the discussions had shifted from mitigation to adaptation. In other words, instead of primarily focusing on ways to mitigate the worst aspects of a warming climate (like previous COP's had done) they were now talking more about how to adapt to what is inevitable. Even while our leaders are unwilling to make the necessary changes, they have begun to brace for what is coming.

One of the most concerning trends that this COP brought to the surface is what has been termed “Greenwashing.” This is when companies or governments engage in a marketing ploy to give the false impression that they are moving toward more sustainable or environmentally friendly practices as an organization. Often this is done by spending loads of money on advertising their slim green practices to convince the public that they are moving in a different direction while conveniently leaving out the rest of the story. I bumped into this one evening over dinner with some people I had met when, at some point, they felt comfortable enough to let me know they were executives from a South American oil and gas company. Their role was to buy up other "green" energy companies so they could say they had achieved "net zero" as a corporation while also increasing their distribution of fossil fuels. There was no intention to move away from fossil fuels. They would then sell their real product to their customers in a package that included some "green energy" so their customers too could claim they were achieving "net zero." I'll admit, this is a clever (and profitable) business practice. But it is a disingenuous one, another example of the ability of our greed to craft covers in a way that conveniently placate the conscience- both by the producer and consumer. The Washington Post even found that the largest delegation at COP26 was not from a country, but was the fossil fuel industry, "which, as a whole, sent more delegates than any single country." It appears they have taken a page from the tobacco industry playbook in actively undermining efforts to transition economies while also shifting their tactics in response to the changing cultural climate. Katherine Hayhoe outlines in her book Saving Us,

"100 companies are responsible for 70% of heat trapping emissions since 1988. And they’re fighting to continue their practices. Instead of using their profits to lead in a carbon free future they are suing them to shift blame and muddy the waters. Big fossil fuel is counting on exploiting your conscience regarding climate and to shame you for the system they are fighting to protect."

It is reasons like this that the consumer model is not going to get us out of this mess, because the consumer is left with no real choice but to support the Fossil Fuel industry; the whole system is designed to prop them up! This is yet another reason your community garden isn’t going to solve the problem. One of the only actions left to individuals is to ensure our investments and banks have divested from Fossil Fuels. As Bill McKibben said,

"That money is the oxygen from which the fires of the world burn.”

I began to understand the growing anger and cynicism from activists like Greta Thunberg as she declared COP26 a failure stating additionally, “It should be obvious that we cannot solve a crisis with the same methods that got us into it in the first place.” It is frustrations like what I have seen at COP that remind me the "struggle is not against enemies of blood and flesh, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers of this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places." (Ephesians 6:12)

Even while Greta's cynicism is an understandable response to troubled negotiations like this one, there have been several bright spots including the tone Secretary John Kerry took in his remarks during an update on the first five days of the conference saying, “after having been to many COPs, I will tell you, there is a greater sense of urgency and focus. I have never in the first few days of any of the COP’s I have been to count as many initiatives and as much real money being put on the table even as there are question marks legitimately about some of the money." He would go on to reference the historic agreements around methane and deforestation that were the first marks of progress to come out of Glasgow with 70% of the world's countries agreeing to the methane pledge and over 80% agreeing to halt deforestation. These agreements are part of what led Kerry to say this conference “is far from business as usual.” There was also the unexpected U.S. - China Joint Glasgow Declaration on Enhancing Climate Action in the 2020s, with China committing for the first time to reduce methane emissions, phase down coal consumption, and work with the US to end illegal deforestation.

While these bright spots are great they are not the primary area that my frustration moved in to hope, and it could have easily moved into cynicism (which is my tendency). I will freely admit that I was surprised, though I shouldn't have been, as to where I found it. I had (unknowingly) been expecting it to come from ambitious actions our national leaders put forward or collective international cooperation.

Do not put your trust in princes,

in mortals, in whom there is no help.

When their breath departs, they return to the earth;

on that very day their plans perish.

-Psalm 146:3-4

For me, hope was found in the lives and the unity of the faithful around me and the promise that Jesus would really do what he said he would do – redeem all of creation through the community he is redeeming and gathering around himself. As I said earlier, I was attending COP through the CCOP. We all stayed at “Base Camp”, a Christian conference center on the outskirts of Glasgow. All together there were around 40 people aged between 19 and 79 (median age around 25) from USA, Canada, UK, France, India, Macedonia, New Zealand, Australia, Philippines, Zimbabwe, Burundi, and Hong Kong. Each morning we would gather over breakfast as we took our daily COVID tests and listened to practical instructions and possible opportunities to meet key people and delegations. Lowell Bliss would then help us debrief and process what we were experiencing. He would then lead a morning devotion, often with a newspaper in one hand and the Bible in another, preparing us for what we were about to experience in the COP.

I didn't realize I had begun to grow cynical in my frustration over the way things were going in the Blue Zone until later. What began to transform this frustration into hope came one evening at a Climate Vigil held at St. George's Tron Church. First, this place is beautiful, and

its location speaks to the hope I discovered. The church is very small; however, it is located squarely in the middle of the busiest shopping street in all of Scotland. The street literally splits and goes around the church. This, I have come to discover, is a physical image of

the hope I have found where the church and the promises of Jesus stand in the middle of the rushing greed of a world spiraling toward destruction and despair. This church, much like St. George's Tron, may be a small remnant of the global church that is often marked by apathy, but nevertheless, there she stands. The church, a beacon of hope, calling to the world to repent even while they continue their path around us.

What began to break through this growing cynicism was a song that opened for me the language of lament that I needed. Many of you are familiar with the very popular hymn All Creatures of our God and King (one of my favorites) based on a poem initially written by St. Francis of Assisi that praises our creator through recognizing the creation that is singing to him along with us. It is a wonderfully joyous song. The group Porters Gate adapted the song into a lament that was included in the vigil:

Linked below is the entirety of the Vigil, but the song starts at 14.

“All Creatures of our God and King”

by Porters Gate

All Creatures of our God and king

Lift up your voices let them ring

Fill the earth with lamentation

Cry out abuses of our pow’r

Tell what we lose with every hour

To our greed and depredation

Lord, have mercy; Christ, have mercy;

Lord, Have mercy.

All Creatures winging in the air

Cry out the failures of our care

Fill the sky with lamentation

Shout through the clouds of smoke and ash

Choked with the fumes of poison gas

Tell us of our degradation

Lord, have mercy; Christ, have mercy;

Lord, Have mercy.

All creatures hidden in the seas

Lift up your anguished prayers and pleas

Fill the sea with lamentation

Teach us to see your wonders now

Help us to make a holy vow

Here to halt your devastation

Lord, have mercy; Christ, have mercy;

Lord, Have mercy.

All creatures dwelling on the land

Join as we lift each heart and hand

Fill the world with lamentation

Mourn the destruction of our home

Weep with the fear of worse to come

Hear the groans of all creation

Lord, have mercy; Christ, have mercy;

Lord, Have mercy.

Lament began to do what it is intended to do. It gave me language and an outlet for the loss we are experiencing while beginning to open space for an imagination capable of hope.

In the Episcopal Church we have just begun the season of Advent which is a wonderful picture for what we are beginning to come to terms with in the climate crisis. Advent is a season when texts like Revelation remind us to look into the darkness of our world and hope for the redemption of all things while the rest of the world is distracted with a shiny and cheery rendition of Christmas. The hope I’m talking about, the kind Advent teaches us, is not that kind of shallow optimism. The message of Revelation is primarily one of hope in the face of the greed, idolatry, oppression, and injustices of empire, while at the same time a warning to the apathy and complacency we see in much of our church and nation. Revelation is a charge against Babylon the Great, the archetypal rendition of all empires, as guilty of sins against God, people, and the earth. It does not give us an escapist eschatology that looks to be sucked away from the suffering we are responsible for in the world leaving it to burn, nor is it one that we can make present through our activism and recycling. Friends, Advent is preparing us for the crisis that is climate change.

What is the call to obedience in response to climate change for the follower of Jesus? Yes, it is to vote. Yes, plant your gardens, get solar, protest. But that is not the unique call, hope, shield, or weapon of the Christian.

It is prayer.

Prophetic proclamation.

And perseverance.

Your battle will be one against despair. Things will get worse before they get better.

As faith leaders we have a unique calling and responsibility to prophetically speak to power. This is not just a climate issue, it is also a justice issue. We now know that the countries that have contributed the least to the climate crisis are now reaping the most damaging effects, whereas the rich nations are relatively insulated. In the words of Michael Gorman in Reading Revelation Responsibly "prophecy is speaking words of comfort and/or challenge, on behalf of God, to the people of God in their concrete historical situation." This is the call of the Christian. On the first day of COP many of our group were able to meet with Al Gore who framed our charge in much the same way, saying,

“All of the great moral movements of the past . . .what they all had in common were elements of despair, but when the arguments were cleared away, the central issue was moral and spiritual. I had a Christian teacher when I was young who said many times, ‘We all repeatedly face the choice between the hard right and easy wrong.’ I think that’s really what this is. You as a Christian climate activist have the authority and the opportunity to define the issue in those terms.”

It is the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ that calls all the powers of this world to repentance for the sake of the redemption of the entirety of creation. In this sense you too are called to be an observer. An observer after all is nothing more than a "witness." A witness to Christ's present reign and reality, as well as the coming judgement and redemption of the entirety of creation. So whether you are in a community that is dismissive in regard to climate change or a community that is ready to do something - the call is similar. The most important thing every single one of us can do is talk about it and become less of an individual, joining our lives and voices with others.

I'll close with a quote from Saving Us that has been often (mistakenly) attributed to St. Augustine -

“Hope has two beautiful daughters; their names are Anger and Courage. Anger are the way things are, and Courage to see that they do not remain as they are.”