?? COP29 or cop-out? Here’s what young adults can really do to achieve environmental change

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?? Everyone has a part to play to save the environment, but…

The truth is: I don’t care as much about the environment as I probably should. When it comes to using more plastic bags than needed while grocery shopping – I’m guilty. If that isn’t bad enough, I’m a plastic straw user too…(don’t come at me ??).?

However, COP29 – the annual international conference where countries gather to update their plans that address climate change – happening this week got me thinking. Conferences such as these can feel distant from the lives of ordinary folk like you and me ?????. What’s the real change that busy, working adults should strive for, if we want to make a difference for our environment???

This week, we explore what we need to know about COP29 and simple things the average person should be doing to make a real impact ??.?

P.S. We have an upcoming fireside chat on how to find meaning in one’s career on Dec 5, featuring panellists Dione Song from Love, Bonito, lawyer and poet Amanda Chong, and Khairul Mohd Khair from Stroke Support Station! Sign up here.?

In this week’s issue

• Things to do and consider when coming across unexpected windfall ??
• Singapore can’t afford for sudden layoffs to be normalised ??
• What regular young adults can do for the environment in their daily lives ??

?? COP29: All you need to know

If there’s something that sets the tone of where the world is on environmental action – it’s the Conference of the Parties (COP).?

After all, it’s the climate event of the year that brings countries together to discuss what they intend to do about the ever-looming climate crisis ??.?

What is COP29? It is the 29th iteration of the climate change conference by the United Nations (UN). Nearly 200 countries are represented, and have signed the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change.

When and where is it held? This year, COP29 is hosted in Baku, Azerbaijan, from November 11 to 22.?

Who attends the COP? In addition to representatives of various governments across the world, there are non-party “observer”’ organisations present at the COP, too. This includes scientists, civil society organisations, business executives and activists in the climate space.?

What’s notable about COP29? COP29’s focus this year is on finance – but many plans around this topic could change drastically, particularly with Donald Trump’s win in the recent US elections. Trump is infamous for calling climate change “a hoax” previously, and has not shied away from dramatic moves, such as pulling the US out of the Paris Agreement during his previous term as the US president. He’s been loud about rolling back US support for clean energy and expanding fossil fuel production. Not a very sustainable guy.?

Why does it matter? Many countries at this conference come together to decide on various environment-related plans. This could be anything ranging from deploying capital to build green and sustainable infrastructure, to development of climate technology. At the end of the day, those final decisions will affect the livelihoods of ordinary people such as you and me. They determine what jobs are potentially on the rise, and what resources and sustainable infrastructure we have access to, for example.?

But perhaps more importantly, it could determine the fate of our planet. Already, the conference started on a sombre note with the UN announcing that 2024 is set to be the hottest year on record ??.

You can find out more about COP29 in this post here on our Instagram page too.?

?? An inconvenient truth?

It’s clear that the effects of big, business decisions at global conferences such as COP29 impact the health of our environment, and eventually trickle down to the lay person. But will small actions of the average joe still matter??

Sustainability, in many ways, is inherently a luxury too, according to Kymberly Goh, communications head of Singapore Youth Voices for Biodiversity (SYVB).?

“It’s often those who have the luxury of time and money that are considering it, while the masses are simply trying to get by with inflation,” she tells thrive.?

That said, making sustainable choices feels hard ultimately because it requires change, says Muhd Nasry, executive director of SYVB.?

“Anything that requires departing from one’s daily routine will feel difficult or inconvenient in the beginning,” he explains. “But a lot of things can become second nature very quickly, with the right amount of time and social pressure for sustainable habits to be ingrained in individuals.”?

He adds, however, that it’s dangerous to put the weight of environmental change entirely on the individual, too.??

“It’s action from the top that will make the most change, and the effort needs to be more systemic and on a large scale.”?

??? It’s speaking up that’ll do it

Kathy Xu, founder of The Dorsal Effect, an ecotourism business for shark conservation, shares that how the everyday Singaporean can make a difference in environmental change is to be more inquisitive.??

“We need to ask more questions. While we can make little steps by using reusables as individuals, it’s about making more calls upon governments and corporations to make it easier for us to live sustainably,” she says.?

Xu points out the example of food sourcing, where individuals who consume seafood can afford to interrogate where these marine products come from and other details about their species and fertility rates. People can opt not to support products that do not flesh out such information.?

“Singaporeans can afford to be more demanding in their perceived choices out there for them, when it comes to sustainability options.”?

Individual actions may seem like a drop in the ocean compared with large, global meetings such as COP29 – but they still matter. The needle can still be moved when people are well educated on important issues and enough support is galvanised. It was a viral video of a sea turtle with a straw stuck in its nose that brought about a revolution. Now, hardly any restaurants you see (at least in Singapore) will offer plastic straws.?

It’ll take both the man on the street and world governments to effect real lasting change. Fingers crossed that new leaders (ahem, you know who) don’t take us one mammoth step back ??.

TL;DR

• COP29 – the annual UN Climate Change conference – is happening this week till Nov 22, where world governments and organisations come together to discuss their climate change plans ??
• However, for the average Singaporean, many sustainable choices continue to be a luxury?
• The individual action narrative can be dangerous as it neglects how more wider institutions need to be accountable for their sustainable practices?
• Asking the right questions can make a difference in pushing larger bodies to move in a more sustainable direction ?

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