'To be is to do' - How Can we Keep the Energy High Midway through the COP 25 in Madrid?

UN Climate Conferences, known as COPs are always epic journeys. This 8 December 2019, I celebrate a decade after my first COP. How could I forget “hopenhagen”, the famous COP 15 in Copenhagen that concluded as“brokenhagen?”

Every COP is different but they all make us physically and mentally tired. Often, I hear people questioning if it is still worth fighting against the climate crisis.

In times when a child is the main symbol of hope in the fight against climate change, the extreme determination of a woman above 70 in our ocean is deeply inspiring.

I also believe the experience of swimmer Diana Nyad carries many lessons for UN negotiators and sustainability practitioners.

Watch this fun and energizing TED talk and be inspired! In this talk, Diana describes her adventure in the pitch-black night in the ocean, stung by jellyfish, choking on salt water, singing to herself, hallucinating … and never giving up. She has many awesome quotes but the best is: “to be is to do”. With that in mind, Diana Nyad never stopped swimming and that's how she finally achieved her lifetime goal: an extreme 100-mile swim from Cuba to Florida, at age 64!

'I can't help the comparison. Working for planetary health feels like training as an athlete of extreme sports.'

We might sometimes feel like giving up but we simply must not. I'm convinced that our health should be above any economic interest. That's why we need to keep caring about climate change and other environmental topics, independently of the official results of the UN COP 25 in Madrid.

I particularly believe in the power of women to transform policies.

That is why our new network Women for Planetary Health, created at COP 25, gives me the strength to keep "swimming" against the currents. I'm sure that this team effort, which will support women empowerment for a cleaner and healthier planet, will help to follow Diana's advice: to make every day epic! “Putting action into words” is perhaps another secret to feel “at the prime” of our lives after 70 years. "Indeed, "to be is to do"!