Scripps junior Isabella Newcomer ’27 attended the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP30) in Brazil through a 5C opportunity to engage with global environmental leaders and amplify youth voices in climate action spaces.
Isabella Newcomer ’27 (far right) and fellow COP30 attendees
By Nichola Monroe ’27
This past fall, Scripps junior Isabella Newcomer ’27 joined five students in Pomona College’s environmental analysis (EA) program for an opportunity of a lifetime: attending the United Nations Climate Change Conference COP30 in Belém, Brazil.
Thanks to Pomona’s accredited Research and Independent Non-Governmental Organization (RINGO) status, Newcomer and her peers spent their days attending panels and events among environmental leaders.
“All my life, I’ve had a deep passion for environmentalism,” says Newcomer, an EA major and double minor in Spanish and media studies. “I love finding creative ways to communicate about the causes I care about, so I chose a non-science EA track that allows me to combine my interests and prepare me for a career in the environmental humanities.”
Making Opportunities Happen Through the 5C Consortium
Thanks to the generosity of Pomona alums Michael Rucker ’90 and his wife Karen Gibbs ’91, The Claremont Colleges have sent a delegation of students and faculty to the last two Conferences of the Parties in Azerbaijan in 2024 and in Brazil in 2025. The application process is competitive and the reward is high.
“Being in a consortium has given me access to so many incredible 5C opportunities, like this trip to COP30,” Newcomer says. When she learned about the event through the Pomona EA department, she immediately applied.
“The Belém COP was hosted in an old airport hangar with 50,000 attendees from almost 200 different countries. It was an extraordinary learning experience because students are thrust right in there,” explains Thomas McHenry, visiting professor of environmental analysis at Pomona and Claremont McKenna Colleges. McHenry accompanied students in Brazil during the second week of the conference.
Being in a consortium has given me access to so many incredible 5C opportunities, like this trip to COP30
“The funding has let students participate in climate discussions, meet climate experts from government and nonprofit sectors, learn how large international conferences sponsored by UN agencies are organized and run, and visit fascinating parts of the world,” he adds.
Finding Inspiration in Community Organizers
At COP30, Newcomer and others attended sessions with government officials in the “Blue Zone”—an option exclusive to students who received special authorization through Pomona College’s research-institution status.
Here, creative climate solutions quickly arose. The group discussed urban planners designing resilient coastal cities, archeologists using ancient Amazonian cities to inform more sustainable urban design, and a partnership between the governments of California and Catalonia to share climate research and best policies for a Mediterranean biome.
COP30 headquarters
Thanks to her Portuguese fluency, Newcomer also connected with local attendees and climate organizers in the COP “Green Zone,” open to those without a UN badge.
“My mom is from the Brazilian state of Amazonas,” she explains. “Cultural heritage, alongside my environmental studies, has shaped my lifelong passion for the Amazon forest’s wealth of biodiversity and carbon storage capacity.”
New Year, New Directions
If there’s one thing to take away from COP, it is that there are endless ways to get involved. [The student club] 5C Environmental Justice is a great place for anyone who wants more experience in climate activism!
Reflecting on her experience at the COP, Newcomer is looking forward to her next steps.
“I came back to Scripps with a newly sparked interest in journalism as a potential career path,” she says. “I ended my fall semester sharing stories from COP30 in ways that were relevant to our community. During my last year here, I want to seek out more opportunities to practice my climate communication skills.”
This April, the COP30 student delegates, McHenry, and Rucker hosted a lunch and panel discussion at Pomona College’s Oldenborg Center to share their learnings from the conference. For the soon-to-be senior, centering student and youth voices in the climate action landscape will continue to be critical for real progress.
“We tend to be the group that refuses to accept the status quo,” Newcomer says. “If there’s one thing to take away from COP, it is that there are endless ways to get involved. [The student club] 5C Environmental Justice is a great place for anyone who wants more experience in climate activism!”