A Conference of Sparrrows

The Conference of Parties 2023 (COP28), full of promising opening statements has built its customary, dare I say, stage managed momentum towards another inevitable conclusion. This was 14 long media eventful days, bookended by an even longer closing 24 hours of negotiating the final agreement, laced with yet more promising closing statements. This was followed by a standing ovation and what felt like the kind of stage managed euphoria that would not be out of place at the Oscars. Moreover, it wouldn’t happen without caffeine (and who knows what substances and other encouraging mob-like influences), to lift by then flagging spirits. 

Picture credit: Max Mitrofanov (via tr1umph.deviantart.com) 

Representation by all the nations of the World along with all interested parties, there is no doubt that the huge presence of fossil fuel companies and lobbyists, far too many of which in the employ of or with a direct interest in oil, gas and petrochemical industries, as well as those who use vast amounts of their byproducts, far outweigh those nation states, whose more immediate futures are far less bright as a consequence of climate change. Shadowy figures walk the corridors of power with their barely concealed agenda, act as a powerful lobby along with those whose interests lie in retaining their grip on political control. Our future is unfolding before our very eyes; all the multifarious outcomes resulting from a confluence of the consequences of all the bad decisions that we ever made in our lives, seem like they are coming back to haunt us.

Now mightn’t that be a good place to start; in the future. The future of our children, their children and … so on ad infinitum (or not). That might well be a story with a happy ending or one that is severely truncated! But that all depends on what we do now; what we honestly, in reality, actually do; what we commit to doing in order to persuade those in control, like our elected governments, our local representatives who have a say on our behalf, making decisions that will truly change things for the better; making scientifically informed decisions, whose benefits will only be felt beyond the next few political elections and make a difference for all our future lives. 

So. The future. Our legacy for future generations. Whilst we still have some democratic influence on the aforementioned administrators of our government(s). As we write our last letters home to our descendants. What substance will our manifesto contain? Where can we start? Perhaps with a heartfelt apology for being a part of that generation of people, who have benefitted from post war prosperity, but nonetheless overseen the rise of the super powerful multinational corporations, the super rich, whose goals are to chase increasingly vast profits and shareholder values, is accompanied by geopolitical goals that give them the wealth and power that bring significant influence on government policy. 

“ You don’t get rich by spending your own money. “

All of this has accompanied a concurrent deterioration in all facets of our environment, for which all of us must bear some responsibility. Post war (that is WW2) generations have overseen and contributed, even if only in very small part, individually, but nevertheless unwittingly to the mess the world now faces, for which it is those seekers of the greatest wealth and power who must carry the lion’s share of responsibility.

This morning I stepped out into our back garden, partly in need of some fresh air and partly because I could hear through a double glazed back door, with a light rain drumming on the roof, the muffled sound of a choir of voices.  In another hundred years or so, will human ears still be able to hear this one of many of nature’s gifts? Will they have been silenced by extinction, or will it be like the tree that fell in the forest … that no one could hear, because there was no one there to hear it?