Two powerful speeches at COP26 – both by women

There were hundreds of excellent addresses at COP26 in Glasgow. I listened to many on BBC and YouTube, and was impressed by Prince Charles’ address and that of Boris Johnson. Prince William too spoke with feeling, great commitment and concern at the sessions where the five winners of Earthshot Prize inaugurated by his Duke of Cambridge Royal Foundation in 2020 were centre-staged.

I was particularly captivated listening to a video of the fiery speech made by the Prime Minister of Barbados, Mia Amor Mottley. Her commitment to her country and her sincerity were evident and she spoke sense with no holds barred. Her cry was on behalf of island states that are most at risk of being sea-submerged unless atmospheric heating and climate change are addressed concentratedly and remedial measures taken immediately.

The other address that tugged at my heartstrings was by 14-year old Indian girl – Vinisha Umashankar – who was charmingly ingenious and again sincere in her appeal to save the planet. Her appearance and the concern with which Prince William introduced her and encouraged her by heartily joining in the applause given her and then guiding her to acknowledge the vast audience’s acceptance of her appeal, brought a tear to the eye. She was one of five winners of the Earthshot Prize.

Mottley’s address

Mia Amor Mottley, born in 1965, is an attorney and since 1994 a member of the Parliament of Barbados. In 2018 she was elected Prime Minister. She is good looking, smart and very forceful. Her speech was from her heart which was fearful for islands in the world being submerged unless global warming and sea rising were given the entire world’s attention.

The camera roving among the audience focused on the Canadian and other prime ministers including India, Britain, and the President of USA listening intently to her. She was absolutely forceful, commanding, and did not mince her words in laying the blame on world leaders for the delay in addressing with full commitment climate change. She vehemently accused the prosperous one third of the world which left two thirds to suffer the worst consequences of global warming, living in these countries as ‘people under siege’. She asked “Are we so blind? When will leaders learn? Are they so hardened that they can no longer appreciate cries of humanity?”

She said she was speaking for all island states including Samoa, the Maldives, islands in West Indies. She noted that the developed countries spent 25 trillion and of this nine trillion in the last 18 months to fight the pandemic. She suggested 50 bn. be placed in trust – just 2% of world expenditure – so developing and in-danger countries, mostly frontline, small developing islands, could draw on funds to mitigate adverse effects of climate change.

“We want to exist” she cried. “Path of greed and selfishness must stop.” She declared Code Red for G7 and G20 countries for not having “the eye to see and the heart to heal.” She warned “the train is ready to go” and all nations must get on it to save the planet. “We come to Glasgow with global ambitions to save our planet and people. We are digging our graves. We are here to say ‘try harder!’” If that speech alone will not shake leaders to commit themselves more to save the planet, what will?

The Indian teenager

Vinisha Umashankar, representing the youth of the world, echoed Greta Thunberg who was very much present in Glasgow but outside of conference halls, mostly protesting. Vinisha said young ones were angry with world leaders. Narendra Modi was in the audience at the awards ceremony. “We have every reason to be angry at leaders who’ve made empty promises. I will not speak about the future because I AM the future. I am not just a girl from India; I am a girl of the Earth.” She blamed world leaders for not doing enough to combat climate change which surely will devastate the earth if not controlled soon. She said we need to move together in this, meaning all countries to cooperate; to build a new world.

Dressed in a checked shirt and pants with a slide across her head holding her ponytailed hair back, she did not even reach Prince William’s shoulder, but she stood tall. He gave a heart-warming picture of caring. Her diction was good with no trace of the typical Indian accent.

Vinisha was born in Tiruvanmalai, Tamil Nadu, in 2007. She innovated a smoothing process – ironing clothes. This ironing of people’s clothes on the streets is a business carried out in large Indian cities, with the smoothing device being heated with burning wood or coal. Remember we had the same and some dhobies may still be using an ancient isthirekke filled with pol katu embers. Vinisha’s innovation was a mobile ironing board which she rides, both using solar power, and thus the boost she gives the environment with her use of a non-polluting energy source.

What prevails here?

I gave a punch in my article on Sunday 14 November, which along with the details of Vinisha Umashankar were swallowed by the printer’s devil. At the end of the article on one page was the instruction to turn to page 17 for the rest of the article. The rest was not in page 17 nor elsewhere.

Coming to our country, I dare, taking as example Vinisha’s and Greta Thunberg’s strong criticism of world leaders, fault ours for bringing this wonderful country with such potential to a beggar state, with far too little care and concern given to environmental issues. Deforestation is carried out even with government sanction; encroachment of elephant territory continues by greedy grabbers; coral reefs are damaged by illegal methods of fishing; coal is being used and the opening of another coal-powered electricity-generating complex was mooted. Chemical fertilizers, which were proven not to be the cause of kidney disease in the NCP, were banned overnight, thus endangering the agriculture of this land both for consumption and earning forex.

Muthurajawala is threatened and hotels built too close to sea shores. The Port City is expected to be our economy saviour, a great earner for the country. However, its construction has caused extensive erosion along the western coast. I found that the sea was almost six feet below the level of a hotel we stayed in recently in Kalutara. Earlier, you just walked from the hotel garden to the sea; not now – the sand of the shore has been gravely eroded/washed away. Without the seas rising, our shore line has been grossly endangered, and by government consent or closing eyes to illegal buildings. I echo Mottley’s appeal: “We want to exist. ” The path taken of greed and selfishness must stop.”

The world is at last awakening to the imminent destruction of our planet. Coal producing countries like Australia and India wanted the ban on coal watered down. But the report that emanated from COP26 does indicate a concerted, cooperative effort will be made to reduce carbon emissions to the stated 1.5. We do hope our leaders will act sensibly, at least in the future. I need not spell out ways and means. They should know best.