Representative Sheila Babauta from Saipan penned this essay before she attended Climate COP26 in September 2021.  I'm sharing it here in the hopes that it inspire you, the way that it inspired me. “RAISE awareness, gather allies, and unify your voice.” President Barack Obama pointed me in that direction when I asked him a question about the military presence in the Pacific islands. Our brief exchange occurred in 2019. I stood among an audience of global leaders, he responded from the stage at the convening of the Obama Leaders: Asia Pacific cohort in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. For the past two years, I have been moving in that direction, taking his advice to heart, and it has brought me to Glasgow, Scotland for the 26th United Nations Climate Change Conference or COP26. Raise awareness . I was born and raised in a small village on an island called Saipan, next to the Marianas Trench. For over 500 years, my home, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, and my cultu