The first two days of the United Nations COP29 conference have been incredibly hectic, informative, and surprising. I spent today and yesterday in the Green Zone of the conference. The Green Zone is a less restricted area and features cultural events, workshops, panels, speakers, and company stations. The Blue Zone, where I will be for the rest of the week, is a more restricted area where official negotiations take place. 
The people I have spoken to so far and the events I have attended have been incredible. One of my favorite sessions so far was a roundtable discussion with Rishi Jain, the Director of Impact at Liverpool FC. As a huge soccer fan myself, it was amazing to hear about the ongoing sustainability initiatives at the highest level of the sport. It was a very informative and interactive talk and he went into depth on all of the ways Liverpool works to reduce their carbon footprint. From working with sustainable partners, to reducing the number of fans driving to their stadium, to building electric lawnmowers for their field, they seemed to be looking at sustainability from every possible angle.
It was very eye-opening to hear stories of how climate change is affecting countries in the global south as well. For example, one person presented the story of air pollution in Mongolia. Mongolia has experienced a 2.56 Celsius increase in surface temperature over the past 70 years. This change causes extremely harsh winters which can wipe out nomadic people’s herds in a single winter. Having nowhere else to go, these nomads flock to the main city in search of economic opportunity. The city has a capacity of 500,000 and currently 1.5 million people are living there. There isn’t enough heating infrastructure to support everyone, so most people burn coal to stay warm. This results in severe air pollution which causes 7,000 deaths a year. That’s one in ten deaths in Mongolia. Unfortunately, as the presenter shared, the number of deaths isn’t high enough to demand immediate action and garner support, and she believes that no number of deaths will be enough. Air pollution is a political and economic choice that the Mongolian government has made, and a choice that a lot of countries continue to make.
I have learned a lot in these past two days and every event I attended has introduced me to new ideas and perspectives. I am very excited to see what the Blue Zone is like and to continue learning and meeting more people.
Faiz Farooqui is a UConn@COP Fellow and Computer Science major in the College of Engineering.