The era of fine speeches and good intentions is over. That’s what Brazil’s President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva declared when he announced that COP30, to be held in the Amazonian heart of Belém in 2025, will not be another parade of empty promises. According to Lula, this COP will be about action. But forgive my cynicism ...I’ve heard this before, from every podium, every climate summit, every “decisive decade.” And yet the world keeps burning, drowning, collapsing, while our so-called leaders sip champagne under banners that read “Hope.”
We are living in the age of performative salvation, where words masquerade as deeds and photo opportunities replace progress. Lula’s declaration, while noble, sounds more like a desperate prayer than a plan. The truth is bitter; every COP so far has failed. COP after COP, the same theatre repeats. Leaders arrive in private jets, sign declarations, pose for cameras, promise to “phase out” fossil fuels, then rush home to approve new oil fields, new pipelines, new excuses.
The planet doesn’t negotiate. Nature doesn’t care about political cycles, polls, or shareholder interests. Ice caps don’t melt slower because Donald Trump denies climate change or because oil executives donate to campaigns. The Earth reacts, relentlessly and without sentiment, to what we do, not to what we say.
And what humanity has done is criminal negligence dressed as diplomacy.
Let’s be honest, the COP conferences have become ritualized failures. They exist to give the illusion of progress. Behind the speeches, nations fight tooth and nail to protect their profits, their industries, their short-term comfort. It’s not about saving the planet anymore, it’s about saving face.
The problem isn’t ignorance. We know exactly what’s happening. Scientists have screamed the truth for decades, armed with data, graphs, and desperation. The evidence is no longer up for debate. The question is moral, not scientific: how long will humanity choose convenience over survival?
And then there are the deniers, the parasites of reason. People like Donald Trump, who treat the planet like a disposable resource and mock the word “climate” as if it’s an insult. These men aren’t just wrong; they’re dangerous. They are the true enemies of humanity, the kind who, if allowed, would sell the last tree for a dollar and call it economic growth.
Trump may be the loudest, but he is far from alone. His shadow stretches across parliaments and boardrooms around the world. Climate denial has evolved from stupidity into strategy. It’s no longer the ignorance of the uneducated; it’s the cynicism of the powerful. Oil barons, populist politicians, “free-market” evangelists, all united by a single creed: profit now, apocalypse later.
For decades, the world has been trying to solve a burning crisis with lukewarm solutions. Incremental change, they said. Small steps. Balance between growth and sustainability. It sounded reasonable... civilized, even. But moderation doesn’t put out wildfires. Compromise doesn’t stop glaciers from vanishing. “Green capitalism” is just the same old greed painted in eco-friendly tones.
We need radical solutions because we face a radical threat. Humanity has entered a survival war, and our current tactics are pathetic. To rely on goodwill from fossil-fuel companies or moral awakening from politicians is like waiting for wolves to guard sheep.
We cannot coexist with those who deny reality. There is no middle ground between science and superstition, between life and destruction. The deniers must be excluded from the conversation. Not invited for “balance.” You don’t debate arsonists about fire safety.
If Lula truly wants COP30 to be about action, then Brazil has a chance perhaps the last, to rewrite history. Not through declarations, but through defiance.
Brazil must stand against hypocrisy. It must show the world that leadership in climate action doesn’t come from speeches but from sacrifice. Protecting the Amazon cannot mean half-measures; it means confronting the illegal loggers, the corporations, and even the politicians who profit from destruction. It means choosing the rainforest over GDP statistics.
Lula can make COP30 the turning point if he dares to expose the farce, if he turns Belém from a diplomatic stage into a courtroom where the guilty are named. Enough of polite applause for the very nations that pollute the most. Enough of “net zero by 2050” slogans that translate to “we’ll deal with it later.” Later doesn’t exist anymore.
If COP30 is to matter, it must abandon diplomacy and embrace accountability. Every country’s promises should be binding, their failures punished. Imagine a climate tribunal where leaders must face not journalists but judges. Imagine real sanctions for environmental crimes, just as there are for war crimes. Because make no mistake the destruction of the planet is a war crime, only slower and more cowardly.
The time for patience is over. We are no longer spectators in this tragedy; we are its authors. If the planet dies, it will not be a natural disaster, it will be suicide. The next decade will decide whether humanity deserves to survive.
Lula’s words might have truth in them, but truth without power is poetry. Brazil’s COP30 could be the last global chance to prove that humanity still has a pulse, that it can act not out of profit but out of preservation.
If not, then the Earth will do what it always does cleanse itself. The floods, the fires, the storms, these are not punishments but symptoms. The planet will survive us, but we may not survive ourselves.
So yes, Mr. President, the era of fine speeches is over. What comes next will not be polite, and it shouldn’t be. The age of action has arrived or the age of extinction will.
And humanity, for once, must decide which side it’s on.
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