Tuning in from Catalina Island: Gibson Climate Justice Lab researchers recap their COP27 experience 

At 10:00 p.m. on a night in mid-November, Murad Jah’s alarm started buzzing. This was usually an evening hour reserved for winding down for bed, but for Jah, an environmental studies M.A. student, it was time to finalize his agenda for the long night of climate negotiations ahead. 

Whereas USC students normally only resort to pulling all-nighters when faced with major deadlines or exams, Gibson Climate Justice Lab researchers were eager to spend a week starting their “days” at 10 or 11 p.m. As accredited observers for the 27th United Nations Conference of the Parties (COP27), the world’s leading climate conference, they could have attended the event in-person in Sharm-el-Sheikh, Egypt. Associate Professor of Environmental Studies Shannon Gibson elected to spend the week at the Wrigley Marine Science Center (WMSC) on Catalina Island, however, to limit the group’s carbon footprint and enable a more focused, collaboration-oriented experience. That meant accommodating a time difference of 10 hours, but Gibson and her students considered the tradeoff worth the trouble. 

Accessibility issues at the forefront of COP27 

Five students from a range of disciplines formed the COP27 Gibson Climate Justice Lab cohort. Despite being tasked with various roles in tracking and analyzing COP27 developments, all the researchers examined the negotiations through a climate justice lens and with the goal of uplifting the perspectives of groups–such as communities of color, Indigenous peoples, and citizens of the global South–that are oftentimes left out of these discussions.

Murad Jah examined accessibility issues at the conference for a journal article he will co-author with Gibson and public diplomacy M.A. student Kirian Mischke-Reeds for the academic journal Climate and Development. 

“A very big takeaway for me was an institutional accessibility issue,” said Jah, who attended a Pan-African Climate Justice Alliance meeting that was delayed because no event staff were available to point the speaker to the event venue. “When you have presidents of certain delegations who can’t find where they’re meant to be speaking, it hinders their chance to make their voices, and the voice of the people they represent, heard,” said Jah. 

Moreover, although the hybrid nature of the conference allowed more people to attend without having to travel to the venue, Jah noted that communities with fewer resources still had to overcome a digital divide in order to participate remotely. 

“I remember [a woman from Uganda] saying to me that she had to travel two hours to access the computer to attend a meeting because she didn’t have an internet connection where she was,” said Jah.

For international relations major TJ Martynowicz, the shortage of language translators was another prominent accessibility issue at the conference. He noted that the lack of live translation options, both online and in-person, inhibited some groups from communicating to the best of their abilities. 

“We were very surprised that, considering that it is such an international event, it was very dominated by English, French, and Spanish,” said Martynowicz. “Although [those] are very global languages, we noticed from an indigenous perspective that it was not inclusive.” 

Attending COP27 reaffirmed Martynowicz’s desire to pursue a career advocating for language rights so that minority and Indigenous voices are included in international negotiations, given that these communities are disproportionately affected by the climate crisis. 

“I walked away feeling hopeful because I can see that these voices are being heard, somewhat not enough, but they’re there at the decision-making table in one way or another,” said Martynowicz. 

Extending the climate change conversation beyond COP27  

Gibson Climate Justice Lab researchers also aim to bring the conversation about climate change to a wider audience. 

Martynowicz and global studies and earth sciences double major Christina Chkarboujl captured insights that will improve climate negotiation simulations in Shannon Gibson’s classes. They also attended talks to learn how the gamification of climate education through online simulation tools can enhance the educational experience.  

Using this knowledge, the two will work with Shannon Gibson to incorporate climate justice elements, such as “loss and damage” funding (financial compensation and assistance paid by wealthy polluting countries to poorer nations most affected by climate change) into her classroom simulations.  

Social media for increased public climate engagement 

In a similarly outward-facing role, communication and environmental studies major Annika Goldman focused on sharing important COP27 developments with a public audience. When Goldman noticed that many of her peers were largely unaware of international climate change conferences like COP27, she turned to social media as an avenue for educating them about environmental issues. 

Upon arriving at WMSC, she set up a makeshift media room where she created graphics and interviewed her peers about their takeaways after each conference event. She then created the @cjlab2022 Instagram account to broadcast bite-sized, easily-digestible content to inform the outside world about the issues at stake. Goldman also leveraged Gibson’s TikTok account @profsmgibson and the platform’s trending sounds feature to bring creativity and entertainment into the climate change conversation. 

In one video, the students lip sync to the popular chorus of Becky Hill’s “Remember” while explaining commonly used acronyms at COP27. In another video, Gibson and the students poke fun at the conference’s long hours, ending with a clip highlighting the joy and enthusiasm of first-time COP attendees.  

“If you just come down on people with a bunch of depressing realities, that’s not really going to be motivating at all,” said Goldman. “So you have to communicate the good, the bad, and also give people hope that there will be progress in this area.” 

A unique climate conference participant experience 

Although Shannon Gibson describes COP outcomes as “hard-fought, incremental wins,” she sees value in continuing this experiential learning opportunity for USC undergraduate and graduate students. 

“Whether you’re into natural science, ocean biology and diversity, communications, or business, there’s a space for every type of major and for every student interest at this particular forum,” said Gibson. “We’ve also shown that we can engage in high-level research without having to use a heavy carbon footprint to do it.” 

“It was absolutely incredible to be surrounded by the environment we’re protecting,” said Martynowicz, who came across a Catalina Island bison during a daytime hike, one of the many activities available to the researchers during their down time. “Seeing an animal living naturally in its environment was a really cool experience. And then we’re seeing the people fight for that [at COP]. So it made the work more validating and more important because you saw what’s at stake.” 

Related Media 

Throwing soup on a Van Gogh and other ways young climate activists are making their voices heard over Egypt’s climate summit protest suppression, The Conversation, November 16, 2022 

Scholars’ Circle – COP27 Review and other Global Environmental Agenda, The Scholars’ Circle Interview, December 11, 2022