Our Time At COP26

I attended COP26 (Conference of Parties) as a part of the Earth Guardians Youth delegation. I myself, along with five other youth, participated in the protest, actions, panels, and art builds, outside of the restricted Blue Zone as well as on the streets of Glasgow, Scotland. We came representing our Quechua, Lakota, Chorotega, Huetar, Filipino, Jewish ancestors and ways of life. We come from a variety of different and cultures.

When we arrived at COP26, many of us had to take trains, buses, planes, and long drives to arrive at Glasgow. We arrived tired, some of us working two jobs, some of us in the middle of our undergraduate or graduate studies, some with housing insecurity. Our main purpose was to share our personal experiences of defending our culture, our territories and our right ot live in a world that is bought by extractive corporations. Our belief is that the climate justice movement should not consist of greenwashing, nor should we have to minimize our voice so that we can be heard. We maintain that Indigenous and Black voices should be the ones heard within climate justice discussion, because climate justice is racial justice and climate justice what can unite us all.

The Earth Guardian delegation stayed for two weeks in Glasgow, and during this time we learned that although the struggle, the silencing of our voices and oppression does not stop, sometimes we have to.