The power of tears

Photo of Christiana Figueres from the Global Alliance of Clean Cookstoves; http://cleancookstoves.org

Christiana Figueres is one of my “eco-heroes.” As Executive Secretary of the United Nations Climate Change secretariat (UNFCCC) between 2010 and 2016, she was responsible for leading the annual UN climate change conferences, which eventually led to the 2015 Paris Agreement on Climate Change. Last year, she was a candidate for the role of secretary-general of the United Nations. When she wasn’t elected, I wondered what wonderful work she would do next.
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Figueres is skilled in policy-making protocol and diplomacy, which is exactly what we might expect from the daughter of Jose figures Ferrer, a three-time President of Costa Rica who founded democracy there and abolished the nation’s standing army. Her US-born mother, Karen Olsen Figueres, served in Costa Rica’s Congress and as ambassador to Israel.

Costa Rica is a small country that has become a model for sustainable ecological development. They have set aside 26 percent of their rainforests and coastlines in national parks and kproved that ecotourism could become their most important industry. Christiana Figueres, small (five feet tall) but mighty, approaches her work with passion and energy.

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Red-eyed Tree Frog in Costa Rica

When I first read about her in “Climate Controller” by Clara Germani in the Christian Science Monitor Weekly, I was struck by references to her deep concern for the environment. Here are some things that made her weep:

• Describing the beautiful golden toads of the Costa Rican rainforests as the first species believed to have become extinct because of global warming.
• Considering women who cook on open-fire stoves that pollute the air their families must breathe.
• Discussing the immoral pollution of our world, which will be the inheritance of our children.
• Viewing the pitiful remnants of the Schmiedlinger Kees glacier in Austria, severely reduced by global  warming.​

Figueres’ tearful passion for protecting our environment is not a sign of helplessness. She also pounds tables, negotiates agreements, and convinces national leaders to rethink their positions. I see this two-pronged approach as an effective one for each of us. In my book, I Heard the Willow Weep, there are two parts: “Part One: What Have We Done?,” (the weeping part) and “Part Two: What Can We Do?,” (the table-pounding part).

What is Christiana Figueres’ new project? She’ll join a group of global leaders and business executives on the Leadership Council for the Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves. Nearly three billion people around the world depend on wood, charcoal, animal dung, or coal in open fires or in inefficient stoves for their daily cooking needs. Their cooking emits pollutants, such as black carbon, carbon dioxide, and methane, which contribute to global climate change and pollution. Figueres will be working to improve health, empower women, and protect the climate and environment. ​

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