The Foreign Service Journal, September 2018

THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL | SEPTEMBER 2018 53 Many environmentalists trace their awareness back to such youthful encounters with nature. The image of the unok and my experiences on the Chesapeake Bay stayed with me during my career as a journalist; then as an Environment, Science and Technology officer with the State Department; and through my service as U.S. ambassador to the Marshall Islands from 2012 to 2016. Defining Moments Former Marshall Islands Foreign Minister Tony deBrum had a far more dramatic defining moment. He grew up with whales, dol- phins and all manner of marine life, but perhaps his most seminal experience came when he was just 5 years old. On March 1, 1954, he witnessed the Castle Bravo nuclear test, the first of 67 tests the United States would conduct on Bikini Atoll in the Marshall Islands. Tony said the flash from the blast was like seeing a second sunrise. Tony deBrum died of cancer in 2017, but his environmental legacy lives on. He championed one of the world’s largest shark sanctuaries; he crusaded against nuclear proliferation; and he was one of the leaders of the 2015 United Nations Climate Change Conference in Paris. There he led the “high-ambition coalition” of countries hoping to set strong climate change goals to keep sea levels from rising and swamping low-lying island countries like the Marshall Islands. As the U.S. ambassador, I didn’t always agree with Tony. But I loved hearing his stories of the old days. And, since I was there during the Obama administration, we had a common cause in climate change. Still, what could I do from a small country so far away to sup- port President Barack Obama’s and Secretary of State John Kerry’s climate agenda? Not much, I thought—until 2014, when a Finnish documentary filmmaker friend of mine, John Webster, asked if there was someone from the Marshalls he could interview for his next film. He planned to cover the United Nations Secretary- General’s climate summit coming up in New York and mentioned that the U.N. was looking for a civil society speaker to address the heads of state. Could I recommend someone? Booyah! I knew just the person—not Foreign Minister deBrum, since the U.N. was looking for a private citizen, but a young Marshallese poet named Kathy Jetñil-Kijiner. I nominated Kathy and sent in her 2011 poem, “Tell Them.”The selection committee was reviewing submissions frommore than 500 applicants, but as soon as they saw Kathy’s work, the panelists wiped away tears and said, “We’ve found our speaker.” The poemKathy presented at the climate summit, which she was still finishing the morning of the performance, was called “Dear Matafele Penem.” Dedicated to her 6-month-old daughter, it brought world leaders to their feet and helped pave the way for the historic signing of the Paris Climate Accord a year later. A Marshall Islands unok , or feeding frenzy, in progress. KAITLINMEESE