My 2 weeks at COP26 What went on outside the Blue Zone? By Mary Hanover
I
am on the train back from COP26 after two weeks working in PR for a youth climate conference - The Extreme Hangout. The fringe events, many said, eclipsed the main event known as COP26, Blue Zone. Climate activists of all ages, from all over the world, congregated, discussed and networked. I met Diwigdi from remote islands off the coast of Panama, who showed me videos on his phone of extreme flooding, water gushing through homes and what living on the front line of climate change is really like. Others, some dressed in bright indigenous clothes, the proverbial “canaries in the coal mine” of climate change. I met youth Climate Ambassadors sponsored by NGO’s from Hawaii, Maldives, Seychelles, Barbados, Bahamas all sounding the alarm bell for urgent action. The message? Anything above 1.5°C spells an end to their nation. Sometimes it was hard to determine whether this was a political climate conference or a festival: topics ranged from “Words are pretty Blah Blah Blah” to “Why everyone hates 18
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vegans”. There were youth activists, eco-social media influencers, fashion models turned environmentalists, NASA astronauts, Polar explorers, Olympic athletes, football stars, musicians, artists, filmmakers, and famous faces like Bear Grylls, Idris Elba, Ellie Goulding, Leonardo Di Caprio speaking on panels. Away from our fringe venue along the River Clyde was the Blue Zone at the Armadillo building; the feeling? A dystopian film set: XR protestors in red robes, painted white faces, drums, chanting, urgent banners and signs. Sheets of fabric, painted by children, “Stop Killing Us”, indigenous activists in circular rituals, groups of XR rebels, police, metal railings, security guards, against a brittle backdrop of industrial grey-skied Glasgow. The Green Zone, a short walk across the bridge, was open to the public but barely lived up to its name. Held in an unnatural Star Trek building, the Glasgow Science Centre had futuristic displays of soil-free lettuce and artificial rainforests. I started to get eco-anxiety and left.
