Chile in Madrid – CIDSE

Chile in Madrid

Reflections on the United Nations COP25 climate change conference (UNFCCC) by Martin de Jong, December 2019

The air was cold in Madrid,
so too, the political climate.

While we in the North
cut our emissions
just to be there,

the poor of the South had their voices cut,
shut down, pushed out, for now,

until their day in the sun.

Inside, arguments over words,
potentially misunderstood,
in multiple languages.
Competing voices.

Financial credits generated by banks,
backed by the powerful.

Carbon credits dished out by governments
to the big emitters.

While the poor hold begging bowls
for crumbs from the table.

At the end of the day,
as the wise remind us,
you can’t eat words, or money.

Yet these are the things we fight over.

And there’s no accounting
for those who care for the earth,
out of their good nature.


Photo: Youth action at the COP25. Credit: CIDSE

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