Hello! This was written at 7:09 am on November 8th, and we are on a train to the COP 26 exhibition center, where we will register and retrieve our badges for the week. Going into the COP, I feel both excited and nervous, as I look forward to many of the events and featured exhibitions, but I am fairly intimidated by the anticipated commotion surrounding the exhibition. Because my client is Gender CC and I wrote a policy memo on Queer Environmentalism in the UNFCCC, I plan to focus on the Women and Gender Constituency schedule. I also plan to attend and learn about the Indigenous People’s Platform, Pavilions for Middle Eastern and North African Countries, and the People’s Summit Events. I hope to learn about building coalition between marginalized groups in the fight for climate justice through connections between Indigenous knowledge, queer environmentalism, and the environmental injustices faced by people of color. Some events I would like to attend include: “Women for Climate Justice Leading Solutions on the Frontlines of Climate Change,” “Sustainability, Equality, and Peace: Integrating the Climate Change and Women, Peace, and Security,” and “Energy Transition: Defining Equity and Justice for Communities.”
Before the COP, I had a few meetings with representatives from Gender CC and was able to share my policy memo on queer environmentalism. Representatives from the organization asked to publish my memo on their platform! In the next week, I will be working with Gender CC to polish and add to my memo, and I hope that it will be published in the next week or two. I intend to change the format of the piece from a policy memo to an article, embedding what I learned from my COP experiences and events I attended. In regards to this, I especially look forward to attending an event highlighting Indigenous Women and a side event hosted Gender CC.
