ELP Director Forman discusses his COP26 experience with Professor Wallsgrove.
On April 1, 2022, the University of Hawaiʻi Office of Sustainability hosted “Student Perspectives on The Climate Crisis,” to kick off its Earth Month 2022 series of events. The event featured Hawaiʻi’s delegates to the 26th United Nations Conference of the Parties (COP26) in Glasgow, Scotland including ELP Director David M. Forman ’93, ELP Professor Denise Antolini, students Naima Te Maile Fifita ’23 and Joe Udell ’22, ELP alumnus Colin Lee ’21, Scott Glenn (Hawaiʻi State Energy Office) and Professor Chip Fletcher (School of Ocean & Earth Science & Technology). Director of Sustainable Initiatives Matthew K. Lynch and ELP Professor Richard Wallsgrove served as moderators.
Director Lynch started the event with a land acknowledgment, honoring Kānaka Maoli and recognizing the role that settlers have in the islands. Next, Dr. Fletcher gave an update on climate policy and new research on the effects of climate destabilization. Professor Wallsgrove then gave an introduction on the COP and facilitated a discussion with the panelists. Wallsgrove asked the panelists about their COP26 experience, how the experience changed their perspectives moving forward, and any they have advice for students.
When asked why he wanted to attend COP26, Joe Udell explained, “I was just trying to figure out what I want to do with life after law school. COP26 was this very tangible, real world event that, for me, was something I worked towards through my extracurricular and academic experiences.”
Naima Te Maile Fifita recounted the words of an indigenous leader from Brazil who emphasized, “Although humanity is on this quest to find just solutions to climate change, many indigenous communities around the world already have the solutions – they live with them. Indigenous people have wisdom for navigating this crisis. The question is – are we letting them share it with the world?”
While looking ahead to COP27 in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, scheduled for this November, Professor Antolini noted that, “We need to be there to see it, experience it, influence it. But we have to do other things. Either working in the marketplace or building up from the grassroots and local governmental action. We cannot think that [COP27] will solve our problems. These little things in the agenda will keep moving forward incrementally while the Earth burns. We have to continue to engage, but we cannot rely on the COPs to save the world.”
A recording of the event is available on YouTube and on the UH Office of Sustainability website.
EM 4/11/22