In spite of recent headlines describing disappointment in the final, financial commitments reached by the United Nations’ member states to mitigate the effects of global climate change, for The Rev. Dr. Lisa da Silva, attending COP29 was a moving and profoundly hopeful experience. In a recent interview, she described how, during her 25+ years of environmental activism, while in the early days she was a lonely voice, at COP29, she was amongst hundreds of fellow environmentalists who were devoted to addressing the urgency of our ecological moment. As such, the COP was an electrifying experience for her.

 

Mother Lisa is a familiar figure at St. Columba’s. In 2019, she was sponsored by the church in her ordination to the transitional diaconate and priesthood, having been a member of Father Vincent’s New Skellig community long before he came to St. Columba’s in 2017. With her academic background in ecology and cosmology, and university teaching career in environmental ethics and wisdom traditions, Mother Lisa was well placed to help form and chair St. Columba’s Ecology Vision Council, a committee precursor to today’s Council for Ecological Discipleship.

 

For Mother Lisa, while becoming an official delegate for the Episcopal Church at COP29 was “a sacred duty, born out of prayer,” it involved a tremendous amount of dedication and time. In Spring of 2024, she was formally selected by the previous, Presiding Bishop Michael Curry to be one of 17 delegates from the Episcopal Church, three of whom attended in person. Beginning in June 2024, the delegation began training to be advocates for Creation Care policies and climate justice priorities established through the Episcopal Church’s General Conventions Resolutions, which focus heavily on the voices of the marginalized and the representation of the vulnerable.

 

Each member of the delegation chose to focus on specific areas of interest from core COP29 themes that included Biodiversity, Loss and Damage, Gender Issues, Adaptation, Indigenous Rights and Climate Finance. Mother Lisa focused on Biodiversity, Finance and Indigenous Rights, and preparation included studying documentation from previous COPS, for background, and for the development of questions, blog posts and position papers. 

 

Attending COP29 virtually, given the 12-hour time difference between Baku, Azerbaijan and the Pacific time zone, meant completely restructuring one’s life, sleeping during the day, and working through the night in order to attend meetings over Zoom, formulate questions, research and write. The Episcopal Church Delegation also met early every morning to assess progress (both virtually and on the ground), and to share information. Multiple church and prayer services for the wider COP29 community emerged from these meetings, which helped to reinforce the Episcopal Church’s Ministry of Witness and Presence in its participation at the COP.

 

Mother Lisa attended COP29 for all two+ weeks and found the last days to be drama-filled and riveting, given the extraordinary level of effort that was required by 200 nations to reach final, wording agreements. In the Episcopal News Service on December 4, 2024, Mother Lisa is also quoted as saying that she was deeply moved by “the fortitude and quiet dignity” of some of the smaller nations, where she “witnessed hope in the tenderness of petition…especially in the gatherings of indigenous peoples.”

                         

Mother Lisa’s overall message from COP29 is one of faith and vibrant hope. “While I’ve always understood hope to be a virtue,” she says, “I also see it as a renewable resource, even as we face our fear; even as we seek to navigate our climate grief.”