Day 12: Last day! (kind of)

Hello! Sophia here, a senior at Mac. We awoke on the 12th day with renewed energy to start the day. The 12th day was coined as the last day of negotiations, and there were promises that the negotiations would finish at 11 am. We rushed to the conference thinking this was true.  Negotiators had been working for several days after an uproar around the fact that the previous draft did not include any mention of reducing the production or burning of fossil fuels specifically. While negotiators were working, we watched the “Friends of the Earth” organization debrief press conference, where they criticized the promises of COP28 and the language presented in the text. 

After this, we ate plant-based, vegan food at the “PBX” festival. We were greeted by really nice people, offering their seats to us. The menu included vegan burgers, sushi, and Bánh mì. I don’t have any pictures of this since we ate so quickly. After this, we went to the beach and enjoyed the view. We ate Chinese food overlooking the Ferris wheel. We finished the day taking a stroll around our hotel’s neighborhood. Unfortunately, we didn’t see any cats. However, enjoy this picture of a cat we encountered a few days earlier. 

Well after we left the conference, negotiators reached a deal to "transition away from fossil fuels". This is non-binding and weaker language than some had hoped for, but also seems better than nothing at all. We all felt lucky to have learned so much this week and to have seen this process play out!