On boarding our flight in Nuuk yesterday morning, we noticed a small face peering through the circular plane window. She was a sweet little girl – most likely two years old – travelling with her mother to Kangerlussuaq.
During take off, the little girl burst into tears. She was terrified of the fast propellers on each side of the small 30-seater aircraft. In her state of fear and distress, I showed her some pictures on my phone and she began to relax. I found out her name was Livi.
Livi is an indigenous person, or ‘Inuit’, of Greenland. She didn’t speak any English (and I can’t speak a word of Greenlandic!), but we ended up playing for over an hour. Livi’s fear completely dissolved once we began playing games.
It’s experiences like this that remind me of our common humanity – the desire we all share to be happy and connected, and live free from fear and suffering. Meeting Livi also reminded me of the reason we are on this trip. Addressing climate change is a responsibility shared by people of all ages and nationalities, and a challenge we can only overcome by working together. Through recognising our shared humanity, we can dissolve cultural barriers and unite to create the kind of world we want to live in.
Because at the end the day, no matter where you come from or what language you speak, we all seek to live safe, happy and free lives – and tackling our climate crisis is fundamental in fulfilling that desire.
