People do need to be made aware of their actions.
With respect to the UN conference, a lot of the effort to address climate change is also happening outside Canada. If we don't play an active role in that conference, we won't necessarily be able to influence the decisions that will be made there.
Here's an interesting fact as well: At COP28, the delegations included many more people, particularly those from the provinces. I'm thinking in particular of Alberta and Saskatchewan, which had a strong presence at COP28.