“Who or what does your work serve?” is a question Donna Chavis—notable environmental justice leader and elder of the Lumbee Tribe—posed to an audience of students and faculty on her recent visit to Duke this November. Her query is one that I knew I would be reflecting on during my time at COP28.

This is the midpoint in my week in Dubai and I have heard echoes of Ms. Chavis’ question from several youth and faith leaders. One LWF youth reminded a group of us in a reflection call last night that the climate crisis is an embodied crisis. We can become wrapped up in the headiness of climate negotiations and solutions ideation forgetting to feel the breadth of emotions that climate change evokes. But, if we take a moment to reground ourselves by noting the daily impacts climate change already has on our communities, we can allow ourselves to fully feel grief, anger, and even hope. We can use those emotions to fuel our continued advocacy for people and the planet.

Taking this thread further, Maureen Goodman, the Programme Director for Brahma Kumaris UK, framed the climate crisis in a panel held at the Faith Pavilion on “Faith in Action for Climate Justice in Addressing Loss & Damage” as a spiritual crisis. Exploitation is borne out of a lack of love for the self and for the world she said. She called on us to wield love for climate justice so that all beings can live lives of abundance.

As a young adult whose early life was shaped by extreme heat and intense hundred-year floods near my family home, I have considerable fear for the future. I could let that fear overwhelm me, and sometimes it does, but I try hard to channel my climate grief and anxiety into action. I come from a faith tradition (ELCA Lutheran) that encourages people to make their life’s work a vocation—living a purposeful life that serves the church and the world.

It’s why I have felt most alive during COP28 at UNFCCC Secretariat-approved actions and stunts. These actions hosted by Fridays for Future, ACT Alliance, and Christian Aid have centered equity for youth and structurally sound climate finance mechanisms. All actions at COP must be approved by the Secretariat and even then, they feel like a risk to participate in, but it is a risk I am willing to take to amplify the needs of the most vulnerable.

Dr. Ashley Ward spoke about energy affordability in the extreme heat panel she moderated at the WHO Health Pavilion. Air conditioning doesn’t help if people can’t afford it, she told the audience to underscore comments made by panelists. Energy access and affordability are issues I worked on at Faith in Place prior to starting at the Nicholas School. I hope to continue working in that space because it requires listening to low-income communities and advocating for energy policies that reduce their energy burden.