The Climate Change Crisis

When we got back from the Canary Islands, Glasgow was in the middle of setting up for Cop26, the global climate change conference. There would be leaders from around the world coming to try to address climate change, leaders such as US President Joe Biden, UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson, climate change activist Greta Thunberg, actress Emma Watson, and France President Emmanuel Macron. We actually think that we had one of these leaders fly in right after we landed back in Glasgow due to the high amount of security.

On Monday, November first, the political leaders were scheduled for a dinner hosted by Boris Johnson at the Kelvingrove Art Museum and Gallery, which happened to be right down the street from my flat. Because these leaders would be traveling through my part of the city, through Finnieston, the street was blocked off for the entire day. I had to get to Kelvingrove Park, which is across the street and usually about three minutes away, and back, and I ended up walking over 10,000 steps to get there (Flatmate Katie was with me, and our feet were killing us afterwards). My flatmates and I watched the procession of cars and buses come down our street through the window, but unfortunately, we weren’t able to see any of the leaders — we still had two weeks ahead of us though!

Thursday, though nothing big happened, the doors to my in-person discussion were locked and the security had to let me in after asking me where I was going. According to my TA, there was a chance that Greta Thunberg was going to stop by so there was extra security going around.

On Friday, Greta led a climate change strike down my street and I watched it from the window. How cool that I was in such a busy part of the city!

The next day, on Saturday, there was another climate change protest, and Flatmate Katie and I decided to attend! It was being held in Kelvingrove Park (the one across the street from our flat), and so we headed on over in the morning. The park was filled with different climate change activists and groups, from ones specifically focused on ocean animals and others pushing their own political thoughts (i.e. on socialism). People had designed kites and costumes and so many other creative signs. I was impressed by all of the art work. It was a rainy and windy day (my umbrella even blew inside out), but the street was filled with people. Eventually, we started marching, and once we got to our flat, Katie and I peeled off from the group and continued watching from our window.

I had one last big Cop26 experience, and that was on Thursday the 11th. I woke up during my nap to some kind of chanting and banging outside my window, and when I looked, there was a large group of people and some kind of giant person-thing. It was also dark at this point (the sun is now setting at probably around 4:15pm), so I was spooked, but what better way to find out what was going on than following them? I threw on some shoes, grabbed a coat and my phone, and headed out to figure it out.

I had to ask a police officer what was going on, and she said it was something to do with the Syrian Refugees. I decided to keep following and just watch. There was a group of instrumentalists following and playing a kind of somber tone, and what I thought was a giant person turned out to be a giant puppet. She had to be controlled by multiple people (one was even inside of her), and she appeared to be looking for something or someone. I followed her to the end of her path, where gates blocked the crowd from traveling any further, and then I went home and researched.

Here is what I proceeded to post on my “ella in europe” Instagram account after I found out more information:

“This is Amal. She represents a nine-year-old Syrian refugee girl looking for her mother. You can watch in some of these videos as she frantically looks around & as she leans against a pole when she’s exhausted. She’s a 12-foot-tall puppet (controlled by four different people, including one inside her) that traveled 5,000 miles from Turkey to the UK, making 140 stops along the way. She was surrounded by a live orchestra, police officers, & a crowd of people who like me, saw her from their flats & wanted to go figure out what was going on.

“This is an art project that took four months & $3.8 million. She stopped in refugee camps, on beaches, & in performance venues, with some planned and some unplanned stops.

“The message was supposed to be ‘don’t forget about us,’ but David Lan (one of the project producers) also told the New York Times, ‘She is a child, so she will have terrifying times and be lonely and frightened, but our focus is on the potential, the joyfulness, that she can bring.’

“She has met the pope, other refugees, people both supportive and not supportive of refugees, other 12-foot-tall puppets, and so many more people.”

This is one of the most amazing things I have ever seen, and I love that I just got up and followed her outside my window when it was so dark outside. Being able to be in the heart of this conference and so many other things by living in Finnieston, Glasgow… I don’t think there are words to describe it.

If you want to read more about Amal, click here, and if you want to see my own videos, click here.