Swarm Intelligence for another Future
by Burkhard Paetzold
PEC Representative at COP 26
Walking
along the hallways of the COP26 conference center in Glasgow feels like being
part of a beehive. COP26 with a reported number of 40.000 participants is the
largest global conference ever.
Being a
beekeeper myself I know that our common image of a beehive being a chaotic
“toing-and-froing” is not true. Bees constitute a larger organism with
different groups of bees having specific roles. And, the patterns of their
„dances“ are a “language” for communicating with each other. I won‘t go into
detail, but it‘s fascinating to learn about this. In the end, however, we see
this perceived chaos is actually a collective effort. Let’s call it swarm
intelligence as a precondition to produce something beautiful, for creating the
swarm’s future - honeycombs.
Such
an organism should be a beautiful image of the whole COP26 process.
The truth
is that unlike a beehive where only the queen bee, because of her ability to
reproduce, has the power to hold this all together, in international relations
some nations have more strength to push their interests through than others.
Economically stronger nations have powerful fossil fuel lobby groups to put
further pressure on the process. And, they do this not by competing in an open
democratic process but by manipulation and through the back door.
The UN
process, however, requires consensus, and that is good, but that process can’t
avoid the tendency to water down language to the lowest common denominator.
Beehives have a Subset of Hive frames
My „hive
frames“ are the ecumenical and the wider faith community here at COP26. “Earth
Beat” (https://us8.campaign-archive.com) describes “that both
officials and the media have discovered the power of religious groups” and
quotes the AP, “The faith-based movement for climate action knows no
denominational boundaries, as leaders of most faith traditions see it as part
of their mandate to care for the communities most vulnerable to climate change
and preserve what they see as a divinely given environment”.
Without the ecumenical group
organized by the ACT alliance, without our ACT colleagues’ tireless work,
mindful guidance, and strong encouragement I would have been clearly lost.
And Fred
and I even had some fun participating in stunts that ACT alliance set up
focusing on three key messages:
Financing Loss and Damage
On
Monday, November 8, we were actively involved in a stunt to promote a clear
commitment to finance “loss and damage”.
https://actalliance.org/act-news/climate-induced-loss-and-damage-is-a-harsh-reality-in-nepal-press-release-cop26/
Our
action called for a solution to accept accountability for “long-term
impacts like sea-level rises as well as
severe extreme weather events like Cyclone Idai, which
killed more than 1,000 people, left 400,000 homeless and destroyed
700,000 hectares of crops when it struck
Mozambique in 2019. International fundraising appeals raised less
than 50% of their target, forcing
Mozambique to borrow from international
institutions.” As pointed out by MakeCopCount,
(https://makecopcount.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/Faiths-briefing-combined-FINAL.pdf)
“Loss
and damage also includes ‘non-economic
losses’: that means things you can’t put a
price on, like biodiversity, sacred lands, cultural monuments or local
traditions.” (ebd.)
COP21 in
Paris did not address loss and damage as an independent and additional category
of financing with their own rules.
Fred’s and
my role was symbolizing the rich nations ignoring loss and damage needs having
their ears plugged with coal and are drunk from making money with oil.
Climate Justice is Gender Justice
On
Tuesday, November 9, I joined the call to „Climate justice is Gender
Justice“ and we read short stories of women in different countries in the
Global South who lost their livelihood, their jobs, their houses, their
plantations or their harvest because of climate disasters.
https://actalliance.org/act-news/there-is-no-climate-justice-without-gender-justice-media-release-cop26/
In many
climate disasters, women and girls are among the most vulnerable. We want to
keep the support for them as a priority and at the same time involve more women
in climate mitigation and adaptation programs and projects which do not risk
reinforcing patriarchal norms in climate solutions.
Creation is not for Sale
And our
last stunt was on Thursday, November 11, „Creation is not for sale“ when Fred
and I played two “distinguished gentlemen” trying to bribe people
to give up on praying for diversity of nature, for human rights and for keeping
the trajectory of 1.5 degrees alive.
All these
stunts have been shared widely through ACT alliances’ excellent media people.
The “loss and damage” stunt even hit the news in Dutch national TV.
Other Frames
One of
the other „hive frames“ in a COP conference is the national and transnational
pavilions, science labs and UN entities that promote aspects of climate
mitigation and adaptation, e.g. those which deal with wind or solar power or
those which address health, economic cooperation, or renewable energy.
Many
pavilions set up their own programs, sometimes with a limited number of
panelists or audiences, but zooming in panelists from Geneva or Cape Town,
Santiago or Warsaw.
Most
programs are life streamed and can be accessed online from around the world.
And, all
this hive activity happens in parallel to the plenaries, side
events, group meetings, action zone meetings or those of best practice
presentations. Several side events were organized across the city of Glasgow,
some in churches, some in the Green Zone as well.
The
Zoomed-in panelists and the wider public or civil society able to participate
wherever they are located, constitute an additional “global” frame for
communication.
I believe
the different hive “frames” have a bond which unites them:
- - a growing
awareness of global injustice as result of a history of colonial conquest
and slavery still visible today in unbalanced terms of trade and of
inequities of perpetrator and victim of climate disasters
- - the global
networking of interdisciplinary science - resulting in the IPCC
report that paints an unambitious picture of the human-made climate crisis
- - the youth
taking to the streets for our common future
- - the
mushrooming of divesting from fossil fuel companies and investing in
alternatives
- - the change of
business models and products (race to net-zero)
- - the
collaboration of cities and towns with civil society and business
stakeholders for sustainable neighborhoods to establish clean energy,
human-centered transportation, smart heating and cooling
- - the
implementation of proposals from environmentalists and naturalists
- - a new
spirituality and interfaith exchange about the common ground of our human
existence
- - the
redefinition of health that refers to our environment and diet,
- - a growing
awareness of the interconnectedness of food production,
consumption and the climate crisis
I believe
there is a momentum of collective wisdom. Isn’t the interwoven build up of all
relationships to save human conditions by liberating God's creation on this
globe a way to worship God?… like the way bee swarms produce honeycombs and
care for and create their future is, in its deepest sense, a worship to the
creator?
What
then, brothers? When you come together, each one has a hymn, a lesson, a revelation,
a tongue, or an interpretation. Let all things be done for building up. (1
Corinthians 14:26)
Post Scriptum, November 13
1
I
returned home on Friday, November 12 and am just finishing my diary while
watching the COP26 “end-game,” and as always there are “cliffhangers” and
a “show down”. It looks like those who wanted to water down the Glasgow Climate
Pact and had been unable to succeed in the open argumentation process
used a last minute intervention knowing they actually don’t have arguments, but
power - I can only see this as their clear weakness. Or as the trade
union speaker at an NGO forum said: “We are many and you are few”.
2
Please
read the final press release of Act alliance at
https://actalliance.org/act-news/faith-leaders-more-must-be-done-to-achieve-climate-justice-after-cop26/
I'm glad that someone is out here saying what needs to be said about earth care.
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