We came so close. Hear their voices now!
by Jonathan Freedman
We came so close. A 71 year old granny who pedalled a pink bike for six weeks from Sweden to Glasgow to deliver a message on a cardboard sign in the rain.
A single protestor in a red parka climbed over the razor-wire security fence. He was swarmed by yellow jacketed police and unceremoniously marched out through the crowd chanting, “We are with you.”
The Glasgow police were only doing their job, and one muttered, “Some of us are with you too.”
Over four days, solito2solidarity met and listened to climate-caring people from around the who’d come to COP26 to raise their voices, soft, urgent, pleading, shouting, screaming for ‘ACTION!”
We reached a wee footbridge separating all of us from the decision-makers negotiating the final UN agreement on climate change. They held the fate of our planet, our families, our children, our land, air, seas, water, our lungs, our fears, our dreams in their hands!”
Yet we could not reach them. A powerless, stomach-sinking sadness, a keening grief for all the human beings, animals, insects, flora, fauna who are mortally endangered by the high mukamucks brazen inaction at this crucial moment when action is still possible.
We walked way on the littered street, feeling unheard, disaffected, isolated, alone. Solito, Solita! Yet we had come to join in solidarity with environmentally displaced people, climate refugees; with defenders of the earth, waters, seas; and with climate heroes doing extraordinary work in remote places. Our mission, from Solito to Solidarity is to listen to their voices, here and now! This is your opportunity to join The People’s COP26 hosted live from Glasgow at your time zone. Hear the voices of people who are Doing Things! With lovingkindness and hope!
Solito2Solidarity 