You may have read or heard the phrase Camino to COP26 recently and wondered what it all means. Camino simply means to walk or a path. We mostly come across it when looking at maps of Spain or brochures for a holiday there. The Camino Way is a famous pilgrimage leading from a number of different starting places but all ending in Santiago de Compostela. To be precise the pilgrimage ends at St James Cathedral in Santiago.
COP26 is the 26th United Nations Climate Change Conference. This year it’s being held in Glasgow. So you guessed already – people are setting off from a number of destinations and walking to Glasgow. The key is that in the walking there is a message, a time of mediation and of hope for movement or change.
The pilgrims/walkers are identifying with a cause which for many is bigger than humanity itself. In walking together and carrying banners and flags, meeting up with people who have a concern for the planet, they are reminding us of the consequences of avoidable climate change. I remember at school being shown a picture of human lungs filled with tar from smoking. The whole class proclaimed in unison – err yuk! At break time a small group of us went to the park and shared a cigarette. The message didn’t get through! I hope Camino to COP26 does get through.
I can’t say for all of them but many of the pilgrims are walking with a sense of spirituality about them. The famous Camino to St James Cathedral in Spain is a spiritual pilgrimage on which the faithful are seeking God. To go on Camino is to meditate on life, the world, God and our part in it all. Reading some of the daily stories of the Camino to COP26 you can get a flavour of spirituality in folk. I believe you and I are more than our body and much more than our thoughts – we are spiritual beings too. I don’t know about you but I battle with my body which enjoys what’s often not good for it! I also know my mind and thoughts can get in a knot. Yet when I make room in my life for the spirit within me to breathe I approach the world differently, better, more graciously.
What will these interesting people from all walks of life achieve by walking 300 odd miles to Glasgow? Will they even get to see the big wigs that have the power to change our course for the climates sake? I don’t know? What I do know is that the Camino to COP26 pilgrims have reminded us that there is hope. There is hope if we move in a new direction. It is not about joining a ‘Movement’ but in moving towards a greater understanding – in moving towards those with responsibility and decision making power – in moving off the settee and joining a conversation about what kind of environment our grandchildren and great grandchildren will inherit from us.
In terms of the climate – I don’t want to be that 14 year old version of myself who saw the tar filled lungs in a jar and responded by having a cigarette!
Rob Wykes 