COP30 - Poster of the Week
- politicalgraphics
- Nov 25
- 4 min read
It Takes Roots to Weather the Storm
Micah Bazant
Grassroots Global Justice Alliance; Indigenous Environmental Network
Digital Print, 2015
Berkeley, CA
45974
Over the past 2 weeks, more than 56,000 delegates from all over the world–except the U.S.– met in Brazil for the 2025 United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP30). This was the first year in COP history that the U.S. sent no official delegation, although a coalition of 100 state and local U.S. leaders attended separately.
The negotiations ended with a weak agreement that does not even mention how to reduce dependence on fossil fuels, the largest contributing industry to the climate crisis. Fossil fuel lobbyists and fossil-fuel powered nations like Saudi Arabia and Russia influenced the negotiations, while more than 30,000–largely Indigenous–people protested the event in the host city of Belém. Indigenous leaders from all over the world gathered to oppose the capitalist-led negotiations.
Meanwhile, here in the U.S., Thanksgiving and Native American Heritage Day serve as reminders to listen to Indigenous leaders. This COP is being referred to as the “Indigenous COP,” as there were more Indigenous peoples that attended, either as invitees or protesters, than at any previous COP. Here are some of their words:
"I’m part of the Amazon Flotilla and also Festivales Media in Guatemala… I’m also part of the Yaku Mama Flotilla. We traveled for more than 31 days from the Amazon River from Ecuador to Belém, and we see the ecocide there … one of the most important things for me for this COP is the action and the solidarity that we are building together as Indigenous leaders and land defenders from different parts of the world, because we know that the answer is us."
– Lucía Ixchíu (Maya K’iche’), Guatemala
"I’m part of the international movement of La Via Campesina … We are concerned about the power that is still playing in the COP. We feel the power is not equal. … The corporate capture of the system has gone high. … People should look at the people first, not at money, not at anything, but just look at the people and the farmers. We are the majority…"
– Delmah Wellington Ndhlovu, Zimbabwe
"[Indigenous Environmental Network is] a global, international network of Indigenous people … We’re demanding that all these fossil fuel lobbyists be removed. It’s very unethical and immoral that there’s more there than the Indigenous people here from the local regions. We have Indigenous people here who have to fight to get in, but we have these corporations that can just walk right in with no struggle."
– Tom Goldtooth (Navajo Nation & huŋka Bdewakaƞtoƞwaƞ Dakota), Minnesota (USA)
"I’m with the Peoples Rising for Climate Justice … As we can see, a lot of wars and occupations has been happening all over the world, from Palestine to Sudan to Congo and other regions, West Papua and even in Asia. And with that, the ongoing ecocide is something that we should not tolerate, something that we should not allow. And so we’re here demanding for these world leaders, for these imperialist nations to stop the U.S.-led wars, to stop their imperialist dominations over these countries, to stop the food blockades and to stop violating the human rights of those people and the environment."
– Rachelle Junsay, Philippines
It has been 10 years since the Paris Agreement, during which nearly 200 countries agreed to keep the average global temperature “well below” 2 degrees Celsius. CSPG’s Poster of the Week is from that COP, reminding us that movement leaders have been pushing for system change for decades, as the current system is not working! Significant progress has been made, but not fast enough. The world is already 1.3 degrees Celsius warmer than the 19th century, and scientists estimate that at our current trajectory the Earth will be 2.8 degrees warmer by the end of this century.
If we want a world safe for all, we must listen to and empower Indigenous people over financial lobbyists. Wealthy nations must take accountability for our role in ecocide, and aid those countries who are now being most severely impacted by the climate crisis. War, imperialism, and genocide must end.
The Earth must heal.
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