Dear World Leaders

Posted by Simon on October 27th, 2021

Dear World Leaders,

It’s a pleasure to welcome you to Glasgow, the city where I was born 35 years ago to the day, for COP26. I am currently about 40 miles away, on the Isle of Arran in the Firth of Clyde, it’s about a 2 hour journey by train and ferry if you fancy it. You should come down, it’s beautiful!

Anyway, I just wrote to let you know that we’ve got this. Yep, you read that right. We've got this. There is a lot of work to do, but we’re all working our arses off to do something - anything - to stop the catastrophic effects of climate change. Here on Arran, all up and down the west coast of Scotland and on our islands, in communities in Glasgow and in communities all over the world. We, the people, have got this.

We have got this, and that is in spite of the best efforts of you and your governments doing everything you can to grind us down in the name of those you represent - your corporate sponsors. I doff my cap to you for your sterling efforts - it’s really inspiring to watch how much time and money you pour in to making us think that in fact you are the ones who have got this. That world leaders and governments “are coming together in Glasgow and really working jolly well hard” towards saving us from an ecological collapse.

Please allow me to now make a shocking revelation: we all know it's total bullshit (and you’d do well to note that Glasgow is not a place that suffers bullshit lightly). We all know billions is spent on your media trying to make us think you are working hard and doing things, whereas behind the smoke and mirrors you are spending billions more on weapons, taking bungs from oil companies, having fancy lunches with car manufacturers and arms dealers, giving tax breaks to rapacious billionaires and I don’t even want to know who else you are taking money from and giving money to, you dirty bastards, to "keep things just the way they are, thank you very much".

COP26 looks like quite the hullaballoo! What heroes. Is this really the 26th time you have done this? And what's this I hear - we are burning more fossil fuel than ever? Fuck My Life! You’re not very good at this, are you. It’s almost as if you don’t actually want anything to change for some reason? That would be very cynical of me to draw that conclusion, wouldn't it.

And do you know what? In spite of all the endless money and bullshit you keep printing, I’m still optimistic. I can only speak for myself, based on my own daily life and experience here on Arran, but every day when I turn away from your mass media, I meet people working hard to build sustainable communities that are resilient to the challenges we face. I see it in the volunteers that I am fortunate to work with through the organisation The Arran Pioneer Project CIC, and I see it in all of the organisations and businesses I listed on The Arran Green Map. The rangers in the mountains; the farmers in the fields. All doing something.

I meet people who are struggling to afford to eat well, to pay their rent and to stay warm who are throwing everything at this - everything - in spite of your best efforts to fuck them over. I even see the good people on the front line working in your name, for your failed and corrupt institutions giving everything for their communities, while all you and your pals do is take, take, take.

And that’s just one Scottish isle with a few thousand people. The list goes on and on and on.

Just in case I haven’t made myself clear by this point in the letter - and thank you for making it this far without being distracted by the opportunity to drop bombs on some civilians - we are going to turn this around regardless of your best efforts to grind us down with all of your money and all of your bullshit.

So I know you’ve all got your thing going on over there, at COP26. Sitting around a table or whatever it is, eating Scottish Smoked Salmon - oh how natural! And I know you must mean well… you do at least mean well, don’t you? Actually, don’t answer that.

But please do not kid yourselves - it’s far past time for you to do anything. You won’t be the ones who turn this shit show around. It will be us - the people.

So don’t worry, we’ve got this.

To wrap up on a positive note, have you considered a change of vocation that might actually have a genuine impact on tackling the serious issues we are facing? Just a thought, if you do in fact mean well, and you know, don't want your grandchildren to inherit a hellscape. You can come help out on Arran, if you like. It’s not too late for you to change your ways.

Enjoy Glasgow! As I say, it’s a one hour train journey and then 1 hour on the ferry if you want to come down.

Yours faithfully,

Simon Ross-Gill,
Isle of Arran

P.s. if you made it to the bottom of the letter, please can you chip us a fiver? I won't spend it on the global arms trade, I promise! Go on, it is my birthday after all ... x x