By Alejandro JARA WEITZMANN

Dear friends, dear all,

For two weeks we have been immersed in one of the most delicate forums for the future of mankind, vibrating with glimpses of hope but also danger along the road of complex country negotiations within the UN framework. I want to share the wonderful moments of consciousness and hope for the future while attending COP26. And, as many of you might gather, to share mounting concerns about the prevailing threat to our collective future, which has not dissipated, but on the contrary risen.

I believe it’s not an overstatement to say that the planetary and citizen’s consciousness after COP26 will never be the same. Many of us who were there experienced this unique moment of a global shift in human consciousness. More than thirty thousand people attended more than 1000 events (Green Zone and NGO hosted) and one hundred and fifty thousand were marching on the streets. A week where Glasgow Accord tried to agree to limit GHG emissions to a 1,5°, and vanishing hopes on more drastic measures on fossil fuels and carbon industries. The NDC review and negotiation process led to scenarios fading from 1,5 degrees and more likely nearing the bracket between 2,4 – 2.7 degrees by the end of the century. And that’s to chart the prophecy of systemic disaster. Only significant additional contributions from China and India could improve and limit those extra warming scenarios with more contributions over the next few years. And on the pledges side, analysts agreed that there’s is still a long way to go. The declaration Glasgow Accord has many diplomatic nuances that weaken the final text.

Nevertheless, there were budgetary announcements on Climate Adaptation and the SDGs project envelope doubled to supply the smart and equitable transition on climate vulnerable territories (Impact finance and blended schemes), beyond the more traditional Climate Mitigation window. So global and local development hubs for the green economy are now possible.

But all this said, although it is going in the right direction, it’s clearly not enough. And the young generation are right to recognise this as more “Bla…Bla…Bla”. The risk of systemic catastrophe looks stronger and more threatening than ever five years after the promising Paris Accord of 2015. So, there is growing anger, frustration, confusion, and fear that the planet ecosystem might get out of control and the poor end paying, as always, the higher price. In a nutshell the appalling summary: rising temperatures, escalating environmental disasters, ice melting, rising sea levels, endangered biodiversity, extreme poverty on the one side and on the other, citizens’ perception that institutions and politicians are hooked into a dystopian scenario. Greta and youth leaders said it out loud. Former president Obama said it out loud. And all the rest, even if silent in some cases, thought the same even if they didn’t state it. Which is even more dangerous. A highly polarizing scenario. Our post-COP 26 scenario.

But, where are we going? As Greta blatantly put it more of the same policies will not do the job of saving the planet. The same mindset cannot reduce the problem. But where is the new mindset? The new paradigm that might lead us from dystopia to a new sensible planetary utopia. To a re-enchantment with dreams? Well, some philosophers from the phenomenology school suggest that subjects and objects are inter-liked, through a “Law of Reciprocity”. For every evil, there’s a growing compensatory good. i.e, for every shortcoming of a COP there’s still hope. And leaders and citizens attending COP were part of a new consciousness, expressed in the new Eco Civil Rights Movement. Let us be the change at a micro and massive scale. Let’s work in the spirit that Gandhi, Luther King and Mandela did, but beyond national frameworks, as One Planet Citizens.

We need to co create this new paradigm, from bottom-up! As a smart grass roots movement. We can think of the new eco-communities as virtual Eco-Arch of Noah, containing everything that we know, every species, every diversity and spark of consciousness, every DNA, and even that we do not know yet.

And to do that, we need new tools, new technologies; We need to readdress the METAVERSE in an ethical way, allowing social networks, AI, VR, AR and other technologies to support the citizens and communities of the future. Not to get them addicted to mental slavery. Smart Republic and other fellow tech companies are proposing to create an ETHICAL ECOVERSE, and new green centres and hubs for a new life.

So, I came from COP 26 more inspired and committed than before. With new hopes and love for life. With more admiration for youth, for workers, for elders. Yes, I believe we can take our future into our own hands. Yes, collaboration is much better than confrontation. A strange word called love made even more meaningful than before. COP 26 is just the beginning of something new!!

My deep thankfulness to the INTERFAITH movement for their meditations, invitations to dialogue and conscious workshops that create a bridge with spirituality and the human and planetary challenges ahead. To MINGA Indigena for bringing ancestral knowledge, presence, artistry, music and magic. To the GAL GAEL art and youth centre in Glasgow for all their music, poetry and imagination of a better world. To the Celtic Grandmothers Circle for linking up traditions and commitment for the youth and future.

And to the many attending these vast two weeks of true eco activism and commitment with a new global ECO CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT. Drawing inspiration from Gandhi, Luther King and Mandela. To our team at Smart Republic and fellow Tech for Good companies. Something new was born at COP26. We are ALL part of ONE PLANET in our quest for a POSITIVE FUTURE !!

It falls on us to make this dream come true.

Alejandro JARA WEITZMANN
CEO & Co Founder, Smart Republic