Media Advisory: COP30 Photo Op
DATE: Monday, November 17, 2025
WHERE: Action location 1 (next to meeting room 1 in area D).
TIME: 12:30pm (UTC) (Belém time), 10:30 AM EST (Ottawa time)
INCLUDING:
- Patricio Saravi, from Unión de Afectados y Afectadas por Texaco / Union of People Affected by Texaco (UDAPT)
- Health professionals
- CAPE representatives
- Featuring Baba Brinkman who will perform a closing rap.
From COP 30 in the heart of the Amazon, health professionals from the Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment (CAPE) have partnered with the Artivist Network to stage a high-impact visual action at COP30 that symbolizes the damage fossil fuels inflict on human health. Fossil fuel pollution is responsible for one in five deaths worldwide, causing 8 million deaths in 2018 alone. These lungs have a dual symbolism, representing the Amazon rainforest, “the lungs of the Earth”, which is also under threat from fossil fuel extraction and fossil fuel-caused climate change.
The installation will serve as a powerful visual reminder that clean air and a safe climate depend on phasing out fossil fuels and investing in new renewable energies.
“This action highlights the health community’s call for COP30 to deliver on the science-based imperative to phase out fossil fuels. The lung installation offers a striking, accessible visual metaphor for the real-world health consequences of continued fossil fuel dependence. Health workers are here to show that a fossil fuel phase out will save millions of lives.”
Spokespeople available for on-camera interviews in English, French and Spanish immediately following the action.
Photos and footage will be shared on CAPE’s social media.
MEDIA CONTACT:
On the ground in Belém: Nola Poirier
Manager, Health and Economic Policy Program
nola@cape.ca Tel: +43 678 41972977
WhatsApp/Signal: 604 487 0807
In Canada: Loujain Kurdi
Communications Manager | Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment
647-762-9168
media@cape.ca