Wednesday
I spent so much time preparing for the forest action that my working group was
planning that everything else seemed to be pushed to the side. I started the
day by facilitating the YOUNGO meeting. I like facilitating meetings and it was
fun. After I facilitated the meeting, I went on a quest for fabric. My forest
working group was going to do an action, which happened today. For the action I
needed fabric because we made a human tree.
Ashley
and I went to the Souq Waqif and went into the first textile store that we
found. We bought green and brown fabric and quickly paid. Ashley felt sick and
I was trying to get back to the convention center ASAP. Getting around Doha is
impossible and takes hours and hours so the whole adventure took about 3 hours.
It was really aggravating being on the bus for that long and feeling like I was
getting nothing done. So I finally got back to the convention center where I
attended some meetings and started my paper for my capstone class. I worked the
entire night on both the tree components and the paper. We were waiting in the
convention center for the Kyoto Protocol closing plenary, which was scheduled
to be at midnight and then was postponed until 11:00 am the next day. It was
annoying that we waited so long for the plenary that never happened, but I got
my paper done.
We
headed back to the hotel where I cut out giant letters for the trunk of the
human tree that was going to say “Finance our Future.” I taped all the papers on
the brown fabric that we bought earlier that day. I also started to cut out
leaves out of the green fabric. It got to the point where I was dozing off, and
so I curled up on the couch and went to bed.
After
four hours of sleep I woke up to finish off the trunk of the tree. Adriana was
sleeping on the chair next to me and she looked like a pile of clothes and so
that startled me a bit. I had no idea she was there. After being startled we
got ready for the day, and walked to the bus stop to go to the convention
center. I spent the morning making leaves with messages of noncarbon benefits
that forests provide that developed countries should finance to protect. Youth
from all over the world helped me make these leaves by cutting out fabric,
writing on the fabric, and making branches. It was really fun to make. I also
helped out another youth in the working group with messaging for the speech and
the press release for our event.
At
noon we started the action. It started off with 4 people lying down in the middle
of the floor. No one really knew what was going on. Then Ashley and I covered
the young men with the trunk fabric. A person that was holding leaves would be
added every 30 seconds to the tree and eventually it formed the shape of the
tree with great messaging. About 20 people were on the ground and Sam made a
speech about these noncarbon benefits, and how a working group should be made
to identify and address these things and support them. A lot of press came to
the event and it was a really great action overall. What was better is that
this human tree was under the tree shaped structures of the conference center.
After
the action I reorganized my life, answered emails and tried to breathe a little
bit. I also did an interview for some students at the Qatar Foundation. I met
with the Sierra Club and the Sierra Student Coalition for the last time for the
conference. It is strange to think that tomorrow is my last conference day. It
seems like I have been here so long, but also like I have spent no time at all
here. It is surreal that I will be going back to my normal life, and I am not
sure I really want to. Going back to finals, drama with family, and everything
else is a miserable notion. Luckily I have super great friends that make it all
worth it, but I still am not super stoked to go back.
Oh
well. I had one final adventure of the day. Maria and I went into the plenary
room and wanted to take pictures with our country’s plaque while no one was in
the room. We took a picture with Maria and the Somalia plaque first. Then I
headed over to the US one. I saw an older gentleman sitting next to the plaque
and he was on the phone. I sat next to him and Maria was taking pictures of me.
The gentleman said that I should take pictures with a real negotiator. So he
called over a young man, one of the lower level negotiators and he took some
pictures with me. Then I realized who the older gentleman was. It was Trigg
Talley, third in line in the US negotiating team under Johnathan Pershing and Todd
Stern. He was on the phone trying to change his flight I later found out. I was
asking the younger negotiator, or Trigg’s lawyer some questions about the
technical aspects of his job, and Trigg started adding into the conversation.
He told me how he came to be a negotiator, what kind of education he had received,
and the timeline in which he completed all of this. He also told me more about
what his job entails. It was really interesting listening from him, and he was
very transparent and real with us. It was a really cool conversation.
After
that conversation Maria and I took some pictures around the room and the
conference center. We were being super touristy and everything. It was great!
It was a great day overall, and I am looking forward to the future, and working
on a strategy to the international working group for the SSC. This has been a
great experience and a lot of fun.
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