COP28 at Dubai Expo

GIDEON VOS WRITES about his personal attendance at COP28“Vast, expensive, majestic; a fossil fueled marvel in the desert; sweaty suits, corned feet, sunburnt faces. That epitomised COP28 held at Dubai Expo Centre; a two kilometre vast spread of mismatched buildings, interlinked through scorching hot cobblestones under blazing winter sunny skies. Day one, eighty thousand delegates prancing in Western suits, patent leather shoes, cufflinks and ties; by day three, sun and heat exhausted delegates resorted to colourful sneakers, open collar shirts, a few diehards braving jackets hanging limp from their arms. Everyone lost weight, gained callouses and melanoma tripled visibly. Air-conditioned luxury catering lounges covered in thick carpet away from the harsh sun and marathon walking, were exclusively prepared for politicians representing their nations. Two weeks of pampering, endless procedures to start a meeting, adjournments not following protocol and a monumental hogwash of self-important, self-promotion inspired endless jabber. Negotiations bogged in exasperating squabbling, with little debate and impact. Public statements proliferated, all pronouncing the same mantra: devastation, exploitation, a cry of help from the Southern Hemisphere: Unite! Act! Deliver! The real COP was held in surrounding myriad pavilions hosted by each participating nation showcasing their need and commitment to climate change, it is here in the Hinterlands where national dress, open debate and real-world dilemma was evidenced by testimony, commoners reciting failing crops, catastrophic storms devastating family homes; the affected are not politicians ensconced in fossil fueled air-conditioned indulgence. From our hotel we travelled four hours each day on the urban train, passing lines and lines of fossil fuel generators powering Dubai; we travelled through five districts each twice as tall as Manhattan, garishly vulgar in the day, fairytale beautiful at night; a paradise of lights touching the sky, the Burj Khalifa linking mortals to eternal afterlife, a human achievement Babylonians marveled at not that long ago around the corner from Dubai; a melting pot of languages, imported slavery serving an insatiable money machine. A marvel of human consumptive fossil fuel vulgarity, hosting the world, to save the world.

COP28 at Dubai Expo

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Republikein 2025-03-25

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COP28 at Dubai Expo

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