Magazine Spring 2024 Learning Climate Lessons in Dubai

ANALEE JOSSELYN ’25 and CONRAD MORGAN ’23 traveled to Dubai for the U.N. Climate Conference (COP28) in December. They joined Christian Climate Observers, a non-denominational Christian organization advocating for God’s creation while training the next generation of U.N. climate observers from a Christian perspective.

“I hope the impact doesn’t stop with me but reverberates back to Westmont and helps cultivate more conversations about faith and climate action, which I see as inextricably linked,” Analee says. She majors in both history and economics and business and minors in environmental studies.

She describes her first trip to the Middle East as “incredible, crazy, mind-boggling and life- changing.” “I heard so many moving stories, including ones about people living in the Pacific Islands who’re fighting for the continuation of their culture and their people and genuinely fear the loss of their whole island,” she says. “It was poignant to see what’s affecting people right now. The impacts that once felt distant because of where I live feel a lot closer now.”

“I feel convicted about creating change but in a way that puts love first — love for the marginalized as well as love for our enemies.”

Analee noted the irony of the United Arab Emirates, one of the world’s biggest oil and gas producers, hosting COP28. “We saw some of the largest malls in the world and found consumerism everywhere at the sprawling conference, including thousands of oil industry executives,” she says.

They struggled with how, as Christians, they could love their enemies and motivate people in the oil industry to move toward a thriving, cleaner future rather than regarding solving climate change as us versus them. “I feel convicted about creating change but in a way that puts love first — love for the marginalized as well as love for our enemies,” she says.

Conrad says communities of faith and the church can be catalysts for substantial change in the climate and the environment. “We can become an example for others and help spread the faithful mission of environmental stewardship and living in reciprocity to the rest of the world,” he says. “Our role as part of God’s creation is essential for flourishing in the future and working to bring a vision of the kingdom here on earth.”

Conrad earned bachelor’s degrees in environmental studies and communication studies and led Students for Sustainability.

 He has worked for Sustainable Coastlines Hawaii back home in O’ahu since 2017. “Everyone has a coastline they can care for, whether they’re on the beautiful shores of Santa Barbara or in the summits of the Sierra,” he says. “No matter where you live, your choices of consumption, and thus your production of waste, affect neighborhoods, communities, ecosystems and animals downstream from you.”

Conrad and Analee both participated in Faith. Climate. Action: A Workshop on Christian Climate Advocacy last summer. The event, held at Westmont, welcomed about 40 students from Christian colleges. Analee will attend the conference again this summer.

This spring she serves with the local chapter of Citizen’s Climate Lobby, which trains and supports volunteers to build relationships with their elected representatives. She received a scholarship to participate in their Summer Conference and Lobby Day, June 8-11, in Washington, D.C. Analee has also worked with a UC Santa Barbara archaeologist studying ancient Mayan sustainable farming.

“Westmont Students for Sustainability, the garden, and our environmental studies minor have been helpful to me as I navigate my faith in the context of what it means to live environmentally,” she says.

Eventually, Analee hopes to attend graduate school and continue working at the intersection of faith and climate, empowering people to enact meaningful climate policy.