By Kalain Hosein, Environmental Journalist and Weather Anchor, Trinidad and Tobago

Climate change is the issue of our lifetime, and to report on the impacts and existing and potential solutions is both a privilege and an onus.

As a journalist specializing in covering weather, environment, and now climate, my foray into this field began through reporting on the fallout from weather events in Trinidad and Tobago. However, as my tenure progressed in the field, the impacts from a single rainstorm grew more disastrous—the chief culprit – a changed climate.

My day-to-day reporting on weather and the environment began to incorporate the science behind climate change, which ultimately took me to COP27, the United Nations flagship climate change conference in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt.  It was a surreal experience not just because I could rub shoulders with presidents, prime ministers, prominent environmentalists, and business leaders but also to see the work being done on an international state to combat climate change.

However, these conferences have received substantial criticism due to the perception that they are talk-shops.  At times, at COP27, it certainly felt like that. While negotiations were falling apart, and small-island states were pleading to wealthier nations to take meaningful action, the Caribbean region was battered by storms in November 2022.

I distinctly remember moderating a panel that included  the President of Vanuatu, Prime Ministers of the Bahamas and Saint  Lucia, and other activists on how they are using international law to secure climate justice, all while my country, Trinidad and Tobago, was experiencing one of its most significant floods in recent history, with homes under ten-plus feet of water, some homes being washed into the ocean, and people had to be evacuated. On the panel alone, my experience was not unique. While we spoke, a tropical storm was hitting the Bahamas, and Vanuatu was picking up the pieces following another tropical cyclone.

But, the words from a lead negotiator at COP27, on the penultimate day, stayed with me. She said, “It may be a sh*t-show, but it’s the only sh*t-show in town.” As crude as it may be, she was right. These conferences were the only time, every year, the world powers were fixated on a future with a liveable climate. I also learned that grassroots action can be just as necessary outside the political realm and even more impactful to those on the ground.

Following COP27, which changed my career trajectory, I focused more on telling the stories of people who have seen everything taken from them as a result of a climate-related disaster and those who are championing solutions at all levels. This work has taken me around in the last two years to other COPs and beyond.