Earthrise

Earthrise – the poem by Amanda Gorman – feels peculiarly relevant to COP26, both inside and outside the venue. Here is an excerpt, and a link to a new teaching resource I’ve created specially for COP26. I hope you and your students will enjoy it.

‘To see it, close your eyes.
Visualize that all of us in this room
and outside of these walls or in the halls, all
of us changemakers are in a spacecraft,
Floating like a silver raft
in space, and we see the face of our planet anew.
We relish the view;
We witness its round green and brilliant blue,
Which inspires us to ask deeply, wholly:
What can we do?
Open your eyes.
Know that the future of
this wise planet
Lies right in sight:
Right in all of us. Trust
this earth uprising.
All of us bring light to exciting solutions never tried before
For it is our hope that implores us, at our uncompromising core,
To keep rising up for an earth more than worth fighting for.’

Music for COP26

Day 1 of COP26 and we have heard some impressive opening statements. And though words are important, we – all of us watching now, as well as future generations – will judge our leaders by their actions, not by their words.

Bolovian President Lui Arce said that developed nations are “just biding their time without facing any sense of responsibility toward humanity or towards Mother Earth.”

“Their credibility is at peril,” he said. “The developed countries are coming up with speeches that portray them as champions to combat climate change and to address emissions by 2050, but this is far from being the truth.” So we wait, wish them well and will hold them to account.

Meanwhile, in hope rather more than expectation, here is some environmentally themed music from the excellent Outrage and Optimism podcasts. Enjoy!