Empowering Women* COP21 Representatives 2015

[tps_header]The United Nations holds a summit on climate change, where it works to persuade countries large and small to give up fossil fuels. This annual gathering, now in its 21st year, is called the Conference of the Parties, and took place last week in Paris. Past negotiations have produced important treaties, such as the Kyoto Protocol and the Copenhagen Accord, but this year’s meeting, the COP21, is likely to yield the world’s first binding, universal agreement to cut carbon emissions and begin to address climate change.[/tps_header]

Empowering Women* COP21 Representatives 2015

“It’s hard to confront the fear that your island could be gone permanently and that your people would be wandering.”

Kathy Jetnil-Kijiner is a poet and climate activist from the Marshall Islands, 29 coral atolls in the Pacific Ocean sitting an average of two meters above sea level. The Marshalls have seen severe coastal erosion, sea-level rise, storm surges, and droughts that send emergency teams scrambling to deliver water and food. “There are people who will say, ‘It’s done. It’s a done deal. There’s no way you can turn it back. The island’s basically gone,’ ” says Jetnil-Kijiner. “And then there are those who say, ‘It’s not done. There’s still hope. You can still fight for it.’ I’m just going to go with hope. At some point you’ve got to choose which story you want to believe in.”