It’s been interesting to watch the world’s leaders interact on climate change.
Although they agree on the problem, perhaps naturally, they only act in a limited way, prioritising how things will work for their country.
Yet, at a lower level, officials are busy mapping out a route for our future. Significantly, there was no place at the leaders’ forum for younger activists, like Greta Thunberg, who galvanised teenagers, made us all aware of the impending crisis and continues to lead the charge.
They were consigned to fringe events, and protests. Almost as if the political leaders didn’t want to hear any voices of dissent – failing to recognise that the world does not have time for procrastination.
This was also true during the height of the pandemic. Each country did their own thing, learned nothing from each other, and made huge mistakes. Meanwhile, at a lesser level, scientists and chemists worked together internationally to produce, in record time, a successful vaccination. A real positive and international achievement.
Passing it back to the political leaders meant, quite naturally, that they dealt with their own population first, but then became reluctant to share vaccines with poorer countries.
It’s fair to say politicians are always rather insular and operate 10 years behind the public they serve. Yet, people in their various fields work in cooperation with each other every single day, regardless of which country they represent.
10,000 people cooperated to save 12 boys
I remember an incident which gripped the world around three years ago, when 12 young Thai footballers and their coach were trapped underground in a water-filled cave. The team went exploring in Thailand’s Chiang Rai province, a normal leisure pursuit for the youth of Thailand, and ended up trapped in a nightmare.
When they didn’t return home, a search party was dispatched and easily found their bikes and bags lying outside the Tham Luang – a well known cave, famous for its twists and turns. It is the fourth largest underground cave in the world.
Once inside, the boys were caught by a flash flood which prevented them from getting out. In fact, they dug themselves five metres further into the cave in order to huddle together and keep each other warm. They had no food, just some water and their torches, which eventually expired, leaving them in the pitch black darkness.
There was no known way out. The fear was that the monsoon would overwhelm the cave and prevent any further attempts to rescue them. That’s when the world sprang into action.
Divers, construction engineers, 900 police, US Navy specialists, and volunteer divers from the UK, Scandinavia, Belgium, China, Australia and the USA, along with over 2,000 volunteers. A total of 10,000 people from various nations around the world came to help those trapped children.
Many were volunteers who wanted to help for humanitarian reasons, giving their time and experience as well as hope when a positive outcome appeared unlikely.
We can work together for the sake of humanity
In their underwater search, two British cave divers, John Volanthen and Rick Stanton, stumbled across the group in a precarious location. Work then began to find them a way out. The volunteers couldn’t drill down to rescue the boys, such was the angle of the caves, nor could they pump out the water as that would have taken months.
As the monsoons were imminent, it was decided to risk the dangerous and unprecedented action to remove the children, one by one. It would have been a terrifying experience for the youngsters, so they were heavily sedated to prevent them panicking or suffering a claustrophobic attack. None of the boys could swim.
They were trapped underground for a period of 18 days, in a situation which was considered hopeless. We can only imagine the relief and thankfulness of their families when they boys were rescued.
But the remarkable beating heart of this story proves that the peoples of the world can work together in unison for the sake of humanity, regardless of which country we come from.
Hopefully our political leaders who attended COP26 will realise the same and work together for the sake of our children and the future of the planet they will inherit.
Len Ironside is a former champion wrestler who served as an Aberdeen councillor for 35 years, with four years as council leader