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| Brazilian president Lula and governor Helder Barbalho of Pará at the ceremony where Belém was granted COP 30. Pic by Ricardo Stuckert |
I met the journalist on Zoom. We exchanged a few pleasantries and then it started. These journalists are always in a hurry! He asked how optimistic I was about the summit. Not very. There isn’t much to be optimistic about! The revised NDCs associated with this meeting still don't come anywhere near what is needed for the Paris Agreement. Finance for poor countries or a rainforest fund is slow to materialise.
Was it important that the US and China were barely represented? Yes of course, it is hard to sort out emissions without the biggest emitters.
Did I still have hope? Yes! There is no point in not having hope. And there still is the possibility of societal change. Think about how we viewed smoking in the 80s compared to now. Maybe unnecessary greenhouse gas emissions will be as unacceptable as indoor smoking in the future! Let’s just hope it won’t take decades.
It was soon over. I quickly asked when and where it would be broadcast. Heart and Capital at 4, 5 and 6, he said. I made sure to tell Neil. Then I went back to what I had been doing.
Neil then said there was no sign of me. He had been listening! I wondered if they had changed their minds. Or maybe there are substations and Neil had been listening to the wrong one. No idea! I think I’ll never know. I hope they didn’t think it was so rubbish they deleted the interview and put me on a blacklist. That would be embarrassing. I suppose over the years I will find out if I get called back.
In the meantime, at least I gave it a go! As the people in Belém are doing…
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