And they laughed.

When a journalist from the New Zealand Herald asked me why I was going to Warsaw, I said it was because I had only ever been ashamed to be a New Zealander once. It was when I was in Durban and I faced the withering scorn of a small island negotiator saying New Zealand was pushing Kyoto Protocol negotiations down to the lowest level of ambition. I believe we have a duty to our Pacific neighbours, and so that cut deep.

Now make that twice - and not because of anything New Zealand’s negotiators did or anything that happened here.

I’m ashamed of my government because they laughed when Russel Norman of the Green Party of Aotearoa New Zealand linked Typhoon Haiyan to climate change. They laughed. They mocked him. They yelled “shame”. Let me say that again: when Yeb Saño was quoted in the New Zealand Parliament, people laughed.

The worst typhoon ever recorded hit last weekend. It killed over 10,000 people. 478,000 people have been displaced. Real, human, people, with families and children and lives and loves. Philippine lead negotiator Yeb Saño is one such real person, and he pledged to fast until a deal was done for all our futures. And my elected leaders laughed. No one here in Warsaw is laughing. In fact, 30 or more people are joining Yeb in his fast.

You might have seen that one of the other Adopt a Negotiator Fellows this year is Carlie Labaria. She is here with us in Warsaw. But she is from the Philippines. She is another of those real people hit by Haiyan, and she is kind, funny, and very smart. It’s a privilege to work with her. When she spoke yesterday on behalf of youth to the United Nations, people didn’t laugh. When she pled for dignity, people didn’t laugh.

Members of my government accused an opposition Member of Parliament of being “political” for linking climate change to Haiyan. But the link is clear. While it is impossible to conclusively say that climate change caused a single weather event, we can be confident that climate change makes typhoons and “hellstorms” more likely. As my fellow Trackers have stressed already, climate change fuelled Haiyan. Sea surface temperatures around the Philippines were as much as two degrees above normal. This is not the old normal. It is the new abnormal.

That’s the science. That’s not up for debate here in Warsaw. And that is why it is not political to stand with the Philippines, but an act of basic human respect.

UPDATED:

I salute you Russel Norman. My deepest appreciation for your heartwarming gesture. I wish you the best. - Yeb Saño