Climate Action Figures

Season 2, Episode 12: Luna

• John Whidden

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In this episode of Climate Action Figures, John Whidden interviews Luna, a young climate activist from Samoa, who shares her experiences and lessons from attending COP29. They discuss the importance of water conservation, the impact of climate change on Samoa, and community efforts in combating climate issues. Luna highlights the role of youth in climate action, the challenges faced by small island nations, and the significance of global conferences in fostering accountability and international cooperation. She emphasizes the need for increased climate funding and the importance of grassroots projects and youth leadership.

00:00 Introduction and Welcome
00:45 QuickFix: Water Conservation Tips
01:02 Meet Luna: Climate Challenges in Samoa
01:44 Cultural Insights and Climate Impact
05:24 Climate Awareness in Samoa
07:42 Youth Leadership and Climate Action
08:42 COP29 Experience and Takeaways
14:28 Final Thoughts and Call to Action

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luna-rossa---she-her-_1_11-28-2024_114522:

S'alofa lava, my name is Dinorosa Lumetusi Ape. I am here from Samoa and I'm here with you on Climate Action Figures. S'alofa.

john--he-him-_1_11-27-2024_154522:

Well, hello and welcome back to a brand new edition of Climate Action Figures, on location in the South Pacific. My name is John Whidden, and this week on the show, we are continuing our series featuring young guests who attended COP 29. Today, you will meet Luna, who was there, and she will tell us all about her experience. But first, this week's QuickFix, Carolyn from Calgary, collects grey water in her house for gardening purposes. She suggests we don't let tap water go down the drain, but collect it for watering houseplants and garden and other things like that. welcome Luna to the show.

luna-rossa---she-her-_1_11-28-2024_114522:

Hi, everyone.

john--he-him-_1_11-27-2024_154522:

And Luna, what do you think about that QuickFix?

luna-rossa---she-her-_1_11-28-2024_114522:

I think it's rather interesting.

john--he-him-_1_11-27-2024_154522:

Is water an issue in Samoa?

luna-rossa---she-her-_1_11-28-2024_114522:

yeah, every so and so would go for a dry season where the water doesn't come down from the sky so often. Rain. And so when our local rivers dry up, we end up with a shortage of water.

john--he-him-_1_11-27-2024_154522:

so you do have to be a bit careful with it.

luna-rossa---she-her-_1_11-28-2024_114522:

So, um, usually the average house has a tank.

john--he-him-_1_11-27-2024_154522:

Oh, I see, so you hold your own water to make sure you have enough.

luna-rossa---she-her-_1_11-28-2024_114522:

So we collect rainwater to store for, um, dry times because we can't always rely on the, um, supply of water from the local district

john--he-him-_1_11-27-2024_154522:

Very interesting. Now, your introduction, Luna, was in Samoan, right? And when I said we're on location, you're on location. Unfortunately, I'm not with you. But, uh, I would love to be in the temperature that you're in right now, I think. Samoan is is a beautiful language. Samoa is a beautiful country in the South Pacific, in case the, uh, the viewers and listeners out there aren't sure about that. I know this because I have a Samoan rugby jersey. That's what I'm wearing right now. So there you go. Is that part of your flag on the, on the logo there?

luna-rossa---she-her-_1_11-28-2024_114522:

Yes. That is the shield of Samoa, our, um, Samoan emblem. You'll find it on all of the ministry's, um, logos. That's the one.

john--he-him-_1_11-27-2024_154522:

I've watched the Samoan team play rugby a great number of times. And I'm always fascinated by the Polynesian culture. It's like there's this kindness, but also this ferocity, you know, when you watch them do the Haka, you think, Oh, I'm glad I'm not playing against them.

luna-rossa---she-her-_1_11-28-2024_114522:

Very fair. It's like we'll come up to you and we'll be we'll be these like really big buff people six foot five foot four uh, some are five foot four, but they're really buff and meaty. Then we have the ones who are six foot five They'll walk up to you. They'll scare you a bit. And then if they're really soft with they'll be like Do you want to come with me to my church service? On Sunday, we have a feed after. Come and join us for a family dinner!

john--he-him-_1_11-27-2024_154522:

since we're in our different places here, let's play a little game called Compare the Temperature. My temperature right here is minus 18 and it's snowing. Your turn.

luna-rossa---she-her-_1_11-28-2024_114522:

No way! It's currently 31 degrees right now in Samoa with, um, high humidities. So you'll walk around and you'll be melting at the same time.

john--he-him-_1_11-27-2024_154522:

Yeah. Okay. I'm not sure which I prefer because I'd love to have that for a little bit, but I don't think I'd, I'd, love it all the time. And, uh, no snow there today, I'm guessing.

luna-rossa---she-her-_1_11-28-2024_114522:

No, I would love to see snow though, one day.

john--he-him-_1_11-27-2024_154522:

Luna, Western Samoa, or Samoa as it's called now, is surrounded by the Pacific Ocean. Does that affect the urgency of climate change for you?

luna-rossa---she-her-_1_11-28-2024_114522:

Indeed it does, because with regards to other bigger nations with larger land masses, when it comes to the term climate migration, there's only so far that you can migrate in until you have nothing more to move further inland for. So, as the sea levels rise, so does the loss of land increase, kind of graphically like that. And, uh, we don't really have that much space for people to go through.

john--he-him-_1_11-27-2024_154522:

So you can move inland, but there is not a lot of space. So it is more pressing for you than most people in the world, I'm guessing,

luna-rossa---she-her-_1_11-28-2024_114522:

Yeah, also a lot of our landmarks and a lot of our village culture is inlaid in the coastal regions. Moving inland has become a thing only recently, but a lot of the cultural aspects were done on the sand of the beaches that we used to grow up on. Our parents grew up on it, a lot of cultural Buildings, cultural heritage sites are located on the coasts of Samoa.

john--he-him-_1_11-27-2024_154522:

right? I should mention, I'm just looking at, uh, at, your picture and I haven't told our listeners who are viewing that the quietest place you could find to do the interview was in your car. So that's where we're, that's where we're interviewing you in your car. So thanks for finding a nice sound booth on your lunch break. Now, back to Samoa. Is the average Samoan aware of climate change? Do they understand that that's what's going on?

luna-rossa---she-her-_1_11-28-2024_114522:

depends on which part of the country you live in. If you're in the urban area, more developed places, yes, you do know what climate change is because it is spoken about quite often, or it is mentioned because the more we move further on with this climate change problem, the more people are aware about it. Cause it's all we ever talk about because it's just like, Hey, we're actually suffering now. But if you go into the rural regions, it's like, they feel the direct impacts of climate change, but they don't know that it's climate change. They just think it's another storm. They just think that, Hey, the weather's getting worse, but they don't know that it's climate change related. They're just. They're living with it. And so the best they can do for those who don't know is just pack their bags and move

Luna:

after the sea has taken away half their house. It's just like, I need to move over to Grandma's house now, or I need to move to my brother in law's family's house now, because its on the other side, where the beach isn't swallowing our homes. that's the reality of Samoa right now.

Shure MV7:

Transcribing...

John:

So you said, uh, when your people suffer or feel the effects of climate change, is that the main, uh, effect that you're seeing there is the sea moving up?

Luna:

Moving up and when the storms also come, the lack of resilience. infrastructure to climate change. So, um, a couple of years ago, we suffered a major storm that opened one of the sleeping rivers. When I say sleeping, This river has not run for the last 20 years. So, people had built houses. That one storm came, and swept away four houses that was built along that route. So this is in in land problems as well.

John:

do you see a difference between adults and youth in their acceptance of climate change as being responsible for these kind of events?

Luna:

I do believe so. with regards to the adults, they believe that's more of a higher ups that's supposed to be implementing policies. the youth, they're more active on the grassroots level and more hands on. There are some youth that wish they, could do more, but they feel, held back by the fact that they're young, they're small, and they are incapable of doing anything And so this is where me and my team come in with our local climate leadership programs. Where we go and we do workshops around the local communities with, um, the villages, the church youth, as well as the schools, we just give them a list of things that they can do as youth, you know, as a five year old, what you can do to help. It's like, don't have to be a grown person with a master's degree to be able to fight climate change. You can start at home Because it's a common practice here get rid of dried dea leaves to burn them. We burn rubbish on our front lawn. And we're just like, yeah, we're just smoking that up burning it disappears faster, but it's these small things that they can be like, dad, by the way, maybe we shouldn't burn rubbish anymore. Or sometimes if it's the child's responsibility to get rid of the rubbish, it's also another way I can teach them. Hey, composting is a thing. You can use it for your garden.

John:

Right. Now, Luna, you attended COP29 in Baku recently. What inspired you to travel so far to COP29?

Luna:

He'll be one of my good friends of mine, Nicc Moeono. He's, um, he's a climate leader here. I used to be one of those kids that used to be like, climate change is so big and I'm such a small person, What can I do? It's watching people like Nicc Moeono here in Samoa do things that I've never seen any other youth do. I basically watched him work at to do similar things in a way that's like, if he wants to do the climate leadership workshops, I would join him. I'd work with him What inspired me as well is that the climate funding that goes around in the world. And I do believe that not enough of it comes to the Pacific, not enough of it comes to my homeland. for my field, specifically, I'm in the energy sector, Renewable Energy Engineer. there are many projects going around in the Pacific. There's a lot of projects that are going around the world with renewable energy. And I'm always wondering, why don't we have any in Samoa? Why don't we have that cool stuff being piloted in my own country? So that was also one of the reasons why I wanted to go to COP so that I can go and see how we could either bring a pilot project or bring some of those ideas and innovations back home into the country and use them to develop our country. entry further in the energy sector, as well as boost our renewable energy production, if the people in this country don't know where to get money, then I might as well go and attend a big conference, find where the other countries are getting the climate financing. And be like, Hey, if you didn't know where to look, this is, this is where we should be looking. So while I was in COP, I learned the technology negotiations. I discovered that there's a DIP and a CTCN. And these are networks that we can use as small island nations to, um, access climate financing. at COP, they also outline if you're in a small island nation and you're struggling with proposal writings, there's also small side events that also tell you this is how you apply for climate finance. where you find climate financing. Organizations that you can work with if you to get support for technical innovations. These the really cool things that I picked up from COP.

John:

So my next question was going to be, was the trip worthwhile? It sounds like you had some great connections and learned some new things there.

Luna:

absolutely loved the trip. It was painstakingly stressful, but, the lack of sleep was worth it.

John:

When you think back to the whole conference, where do you think the most progress was made and where do you think a lot more is required?

Luna:

I believe the most progress was made was between, the little interactions between countries during the pavilions, where, um, other countries got to learn about other countries and what they're doing in specifically the youth attending these smaller events on the side and just taking back information back to their homeland.

John:

Now, you mentioned Global South, Global North, I mean, you live in the Global South. You are speaking to an audience largely in the global north. Do you have a message for us?

Luna:

Please, we exist by the way. Yes, we are a small island in the middle of water, in the middle of nowhere in the Pacific. And yes, if you spin the globe around, yeah, we exist, we're here, we're at least 20, 000 people in here, but we do matter. We have feelings, we have personalities, we have culture, we have roots, and when you do visit us, we are very welcoming. So if you do want to feel a bit of our Samoan hospitality, culture, and love, Please remember we're here and please also help us fight climate change.

John:

Back to COP29, Luna, do you feel like it's actually going to change things in the world?

Luna:

I hope so. Apparently the COP29 is the only thing holding the governments accountable for their actions and the things that they do. They implement across the world, so the only conference that pulls the governments together to talk about climate change face to face and allows smaller island nations or countries and underdeveloped countries to tell governments of the global north. By the way, we lost half a country yesterday. It's like 300 people have been displaced due to climate change. other than the news, you know, you can turn the TV off, but these conferences, if a minister is facing you and telling you, Hey, this is happening in my country, you kind of have to listen. So it's only channels. That gives the Global South a platform to say, Hey, this is what's happening. And it's a very big channel because it's not only, um, heads of government talking now, it's actual delegates. We reach up to youth delegates who get to come and they have, they get a platform to say, Hey, this is happening in my country.

John:

Luna, now that you're back home, how do you feel you're going to take what you learned and your experience at COP 29 and integrate that into your life back at

Luna:

home? Um, with regards to my new position at work, I'll be in a very good place to start, putting together project proposals to the technologies that I spoke about earlier, and to Samoa, and also leverage this information that I have learned from COP to be able to integrate it, not only into our little learning curriculums that we have, the workshops that we have locally and we host, but it's also gives me a chance to also guide other youth through to COP as well. This is the most youth I've ever had from Samoa in one time. one was government funded, the other one had her own project funding, and then me and my team partner, we also, um, managed to secure funding to attend COP, and that's why Samoa, their biggest youth delegation,

John:

that's fantastic. congratulations on getting the biggest team ever there from Samoa. Now, Luna, before we run out of time, I need to ask you what your climate action is that you've chosen today.

Luna:

Climate action would be youth leadership, youth and climate change leadership workshops, because there's nothing more inspiring or more fulfilling than being able to take someone with you on your journey If you want to go fast, go. But if you go slow, you take more people with you by me slowing down slightly on my youth climate action. I get to also take people with me and navigate the bureaucratic systems of climate change here in Samoa. So it's like, this is how you get here. This is how you get here. there's so many youth climate activists for doing amazing things in here in Samoa, but they just don't have the system. And so that's my. Climate Action is helping youth get through the system,

John:

what gives you hope in the world today, Luna?

Luna:

What gives me hope is all the people grassroots level doing projects and not waiting for policies to be implemented before they get, they start moving.

John:

It's

Luna:

the people that just say, I'm just going to do it now.

John:

People of action. you seem to be one of those people, Luna, and, uh, you talk about amazing youth in your country. I'd say you're kind of leading the way there. So thank you so much for taking the time out of your busy schedule to join us, Luna.

Luna:

Thank you. Thank you so much for having me today.

John:

And thank you, dear listener. If you know of a climate action figure who should be featured on the podcast, contact us via email at climate Action figures all one word@gmail.com or via our social media. We will be back again next Tuesday to talk with another climate action figure who has stories and thoughts to share about their experience at COP 29. Until then, Go figures.