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To celebrate the 10th<\/sup>\u00a0anniversary of Innovators Magazine in 2025, every month this year we will publish some of our\u00a0milestone moments: the stories, podcasts, initiatives, projects and partners that\u00a0have shaped our journey so far. Here\u2019s one from our video series, #ACopHalfFull, created at COP27 in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt, where we ask innovators and leaders to share their hopes for a better future.<\/strong><\/p>\n \u2013 Dr Gunhild A. Stordalen<\/a>,\u00a0founder of the international nonprofit,\u00a0EAT Forum<\/a>, which works to transform global food systems, is truly one of the original trailblazers when it comes to highlighting the connections between food, health and climate.<\/p>\n Asked at COP27 if we can have\u00a0#ACopHalfFull<\/a>\u00a0mindset when looking towards the future, Dr Stordalen said that despite some negative trends, she believes that people power will ultimately win through and prove unstoppable in bringing about transformative change.<\/p>\n \u201cIf you look at the graph that is showing the number of COP events beside the parts per million of\u00a0CO2\u00a0<\/sub>in the atmosphere, you would say: why are you even leaving a big carbon footprint to come here because it is just going one way,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n \u201cBut it is not what happens inside the negotiating rooms that is the most important thing, it is the power of people. In Glasgow, we saw thousands and thousands of young people marching in the streets, in and outside of the negotiating rooms.\u201d<\/p>\n That same level of public activism isn\u2019t happening on the ground in Sharm-el-Sheikh but Dr Stordalen sees real hope in the new faces attending this COP.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is the first time I have seen a massive showing from the nutrition community, people that have never cared about climate,\u201d she said. \u201cThat\u2019s because this is becoming the global issue: climate and nature, period, there is no human health without planetary health.\u201d<\/p>\n This across the board increase in engagement is the reason the Norwegian scientist feels the three-word campaign slogan immortalised by Barack Obama can once again become a rallying call, and this time for the entire world.<\/p>\n \u201cIf we keep believing that \u2018Yes We Can<\/strong>\u2019 \u2013 it is possible, and get more and more actors to push for change, governments will follow,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n For more messages and opinions like this from COP27, follow me and\u00a0Paula Maultasch, the creative executive producer of the Inside Ideas podcast, and the hashtag\u00a0#ACopHalfFull<\/a>\u00a0on twitter, as we continue to bring you reasons to believe a better future is on the way \u2013 and make sure to share your own thoughts on why you think the same.\u00a0<\/p>\n
(first published in 2022)<\/p>\n