Brave ambition
I’ve been enjoying this post looking from the IPCC 1.5C report to the next intergovernmental climate conference, COP24 in Poland next month. I think Sarah Sutton’s choice of two words has impact: ‘ambition’ and ‘bravery’. COP21 agreed the goal of limiting the global rise to 1.5C; can COP24 agree a plan? As Sarah says, “for complex geopolitical entities, and highly-complex problems, setting goals while the path remains unfocused is how you establish ambition – the contagious desire to achieve more than ever before.”
“Bravery is announcing these ambitious commitments to those who could not be in the meeting rooms, access all the data, witness the losses of others … fielding all the push-back that stalls solutions, threatens the commitments, and tries to undo all the strength, patience, diplomacy and hope. So, when the leaders set ambition to … limit warming to 1.5 C, they have to be brave.” Which requires of us “to be strong, hopeful, and brave, too … Choose NOT to despair with the latest news, but to say ‘I will make ALL my choices matter.’ … You’ll create ambition in others, too. And that really, really matters.” And that is not the same as perilous magical thinking.