From April 9th to 11th I attended the United Nation’s Framework Convention on Climate Change interim negotiations in Bonn, Germany. This session was the first meeting of the convention since Copenhagen in December and the goal was to create a negotiating schedule for the months leading up to COP16 in Cancun. It was supposed to be everything that Copenhagen wasn’t: low-key, productive, and inclusive. I wish I could tell you that the meetings were efficient and resulted in an action plan for 2010, but I cannot. In fact, by 6:30 pm on Sunday when I left to catch a train back home, the plenary sessions for the day had yet to begin (they were scheduled to start at 11:30 am) and no decisions regarding further meetings of the UNFCCC before Cancun had been reached. Despite the lack of journalists, disgruntled Non Governmental Organizations, and activists taking to the streets in frustration, the United Nations could not even get it together to schedule some meetings and come up with an action plan for how to move forward after the failure that was Copenhagen.
Meanwhile, outside of the United Nations territory, climate change is wreaking havoc on communities and youth are struggling to understand why the United Nations feel the freedom to waste our time when climate change is happening now and will not delay no matter how many meetings do or do not happen. Last week in West Virginia, 29 employees of Massey Energy died as a result of an explosion at a mining site, the worst coal mining tragedy since 1970. On April 15th, several activists attended a hearing on Capital Hill titled “The Role of Coal in a New Energy Age” and confronted dirty energy CEOs about the human and ecological implications of coal mining. And all across the nation, youth climate activists are meeting with their elected officials and informing that they need to Show Me Democracy by taking leadership on climate change legislation. Clearly, activists and climate change are not waiting for the United Nations.
I find this dichotomy to be extremely frustrating because time is of the essence when it comes to climate change and I think it’s about time that the United Nations realized that. While campuses and communities are rallying around climate justice issues and people are dying as a result of dirty energy practices, the United Nations can’t even seem to set dates for climate negotiations, let alone take meaningful action on climate change to ensure a just, sustainable future for the world. Shouldn’t the United Nations be focused on working towards a fair, ambitious, and binding climate treaty rather than spending three days wasting my time in negotiations that didn’t achieve anything?
Boredom
So, it is not 3:35 pm in Bonn and in less than 4 hours I will be on a train back home to Heidelberg. I would like to tell you that I’m surrounded by a flurry of activities and concluding negotiations, but in fact, most of today has been spent waiting around for plenaries to start and occasionally attending an NGO meeting. I arrived at the Maritim Hotel at 9:45 am, an hour and 45 minutes before the first plenary session of the day was about to start. I spent that time checking my email, blogging, and meeting with some other youth delegates and reported to the Saal Maritim plenary room shortly 11:30 when the plenary was scheduled to begin. And waited for it to begin. And waited. And waited. Until someone from the Secretariat said that the plenary had been postponed until 12:30. Okay. That gave the youth delegates an opportunity to meet up and get some lunch. Not necessarily a bad thing.
At 12:30 I showed up at Saal Maritim once again only to be informed that the plenary had been canceled and that the concluding plenary would convene at 3 pm. Off I headed to do some more email checking and news reading before the Climate Action Network (CAN) meeting at 2.
Okay, so at 3 I (along with a bunch of other CAN members) showed up at the Saal Maritim once again and it is now 4 pm and there are no signs that the plenary is starting anytime soon, although I did receive a letter from the Polish delegation about the plane crash that took the life of many important people including the Polish President Lech Kaczynski (my sincere condolences go out to all the families and friends of those who died).
So what have I been doing with me time? Well, I would like to tell you that I’ve been super productive and meeting with politicians or journalists, but that is not true as the few that are here are nowhere to be seen. Instead, I have been reading vegan and vegetarian cooking blogs, thinking about what book I would like to read next, and studying for a placement exam that I am taking on Thursday. And getting frustrated that politicians, negotiators, and diplomats view addressing anthropogenic climate change as something without a deadline or real life consequences. A topic of so little importance that it does not even require meeting your own deadlines or being on time.
I want to trust in the policy process, I really do. But it’s so hard when your time is being wasted even after you made the effort to travel 3 hours from your house to take steps towards providing solutions to the global climate crisis. United Nations, I really do want to have faith and trust in your abilities to tackle international issues, but you’re not making it very easy right now. So I’m going to stave off my boredom by reading about vegan sushi.
So yesterday I attended three different NGO briefings, one from the chair of the Ad hoc Working Group on Long Term Collective Action, one from the chair of the Ad hoc Working Group on the Kyoto Protocol, and one from outgoing UNFCCC Seretariat Yvo de Boer. All three of these briefings focused on civil society participation in the UNFCCC process, what we can learn from the way civil society was treated in Copenhagen, and how to move forward to COP16.
One thing that was mentioned over and over again through all three meetings was that all the plenaries thus far have been open to all observer organizations and that the UNFCCC would like to continue this as much as possible as we move towards COP16. Part of this is (I believe) to make up for the logistical and communication nightmare that COP15 was for civil society groups with badge limitations, etc. However, I think it also ties very neatly into the negotiations on Friday where parties expressed commitment to the UNFCCC process and transparency in negotiations. Whether or not these intentions come to fruition or not is another matter, but I think it is positive that dialogue is being started between civil society and the UNFCCC.
Another highlight from yesterday’s negotiations was an emphasis on national as well as international action from civil society. It was stressed over and over again that civil society needs to be extremely powerful on the national front letting governments know that climate change is a top priority or the UNFCCC process is never going to be able to produce a legally binding treaty. This advice was obviously very targeted toward the United States in particular and I think that it’s extremely important to remember that we need to tell our politicians to Show Me Democracy! and get a climate bill passed in Congress by the start of COP16.
Now, onto the more nitty gritty details of civil society at COP16. Yvo de Boer was surprisingly candid in his discussions of how he hopes to better handle NGO access in Cancun. So here are some quick highlights from that. One, it was made explicitly clear that governments delegations will not be limited and therefore if a country wants to show up with an extremely large entourage it could mean decreased access for civil society. Two, de Boer mentioned that at previous COPs, most notably COP14 in Poznan, Poland, civil society has the opportunity to present proposals to plenaries and he supported that happening again, even if it meant that the Secretariat would have to be a little more discriminating with accrediting NGOs. Three, he mentioned that the UNFCCC is thinking about moving the high level plenary sessions to an earlier time in the negotiations to allow for more civil society participation and allowing adequate time for serious issues to be discussed and decisions to be reached. Lastly, de Boer was very clear that there were several factors that led to the UNFCCC and civil society relationship being strained in Copenhagen but that he hopes to learn from the mistakes of COP15 (from both the Secretariat and civil society) and be more prepared and communicative at COP16.
So that’s all I’ve got for now. The first plenary session of the day got canceled so nothing new has happened since yesterday. More info tomorrow.
So it’s now 10:46 on Saturday morning and I am sitting in a LCA plenary hall where I have been since 10 am waiting since 10 when the plenary was supposed to start. Apparently punctuality isn’t that important when the fate of the world’s climate is being negotiated. Anyways, I think it’s time for an update on what happened in negotiations yesterday.
In short, there wasn’t a whole lot of progress made yesterday and the LCA plenary focused mainly on introductions and reports from parties on how they would like to move forward. Most parties (G77/China, AOSIS, Egypt) expressed a commitment to making progress on climate change policy in 2010 and would like to set up a working schedule for interim negotiations between now and COP16 in December. Which sounds very good, but nobody set out a concrete plan and very few even mentioned seeking a legally binding treaty before the end of 2010.
Two very important themes raised in the plenary discussions yesterday was transparency and inclusiveness, topics that activists are all too familiar with. Many parties expressed a commitment to the UNFCCC process and requested that all parties to the convention are transparent about any informal or unofficial negotiating sessions that happen outside of the UNFCCC and that the convention as a whole works toward rebuilding trust. Egypt and Congo on behalf of Africa talked about how several informal meetings between parties have happened since Copenhagen and while they don’t oppose such meetings, they do want the UNFCCC notes to reflect what has happened in those meetings in order for trust to be regained and avoid the creation of another Copenhagen Accord.
Which brings me to my last highlight from yesterday, Jonathan Pershing talking about Obama’s “leadership” at Copenhagen and the place of heads of state in the UNFCCC process. Pershing touted Obama (and other heads of state) as providing a lot of leadership during Copenhagen, cited the Copenhagen Accord as a success story and believes that the world needs to follow their lead. Meanwhile, he steadfastly avoided the topic of COP16 and whether the US Congress will have passed a climate bill by Cancun.
Pershing’s statements bothered me as a youth climate activist for a variety of reasons. One, how much leadership did Obama really provide in Copenhagen? He wasn’t even there for a full 24 hours, unlike the 2000 youth delegates, thousands of journalists, and negotiators who were there for two weeks, and had to be pressured by civil society and other politicians such as Nicolas Sarkozy to attend at all. And when he was there he showed complete disregard for the UNFCCC process and went into backdoor negotiations to create the Copenhagen Accord, a non legally binding and extremely vague agreement. Two, how much leadership have heads of state or governments really provided? While youth activists across the country are kicking coal off campus Obama and the US government is planning to expand offshore drilling. That doesn’t seem like environmental leadership to me. It seems like a very bad idea that has the potential to destroy precious ecosystems across America and alienate the youth voting block. In conclusion, I think that trust has been violated and it is time that heads of states and governments earned not only the trust of each other, but also of civil society as we move forward towards a fair, ambitious, and binding climate treaty in Cancun.
Greetings from Bonn
Hey all you amazing readers, I have arrived safely in Bonn and am currently waiting for the first plenary session of the negotiations to start. As I wait to hear what politicians and negotiators think about Long Term Cooperative Action Under the Convention, I am thinking about how different Bonn is from Copenhagen. Gone is the spectacle of thousands of activists on the streets and the heads of state in the Bella Center. Instead it much more resembles a work conference where people have a lot to do in a little time and are ready to be productive. Hopefully this turns out to be true and progress will be made in Bonn ensuring that a fair, ambitious, and binding climate treaty is reached by the end of the year in Mexico. And maybe the international community will finally let Obama know that off shore drilling is not the answer. More updates to come soon.
While in Copenhagen, we had the incredible opportunity to work with thousands of youth from across the globe to advocate for a bold, legally binding, and science based international treaty. This post is to explain briefly how the international youth climate movement (IYCM) was coordinated at COP15 to create a unified youth voice, send a clear message, and foster long term relationships.
The IYCM gained official constituency status at this years COP, but on a provisional basis. The IYCM’s official UNFCCC title is YOUNGO (youth non-governmental organization) and there are several other constituency groups like the NGOs, BINGOs, and YUNGOs. This means that the COP has now recognized that we are a large enough group and that our interest in the conference is strong enough that we can be officially recognized as a voice to be reckoned with. This constituency status also puts the IYCM on the same level as large NGOs and industry groups. Since the constituency status was issued on a provisional basis, the actions and behaviors of the youth that were there could either permanently secure our official role in these negotiations or dissolve it. Also as a constituent, we were able to have an official delegation office, which served as a critical place for organizing the thousands of youth that were there.
The IYCM has several very important ways that it organizes itself. The main way that decisions are made is through a spokescouncil and daily meetings. Since there are an absurd number of different country, affinity group, and organizational delegations that are represented in YOUNGO, a representative spokescouncil was found to be the most effective way to have an equitable decision making process. The video that is attached to this post shows a typical spokescouncil meeting that happened at 8am every morning of the conference. Each group could have one person sit on the spokescouncil to voice the options and concerns of their delegation and make proposals. All communication from each delegation must come through that one person. We took turns sitting as the SSC “spoke,” and I have to say that it is in the top three most exciting things that I did in Copenhagen. It was extremely empowering to be able to represent the SSC in an international arena and for us to participate in climate action at the international level! In terms of movement communication, there is a main international youth google group and several others for the different affinity groups. The main listserv is used to start discussions, announce actions, and submit proposals in text for review. They are open to join if you are interested in seeing whats being discussed, but be prepared to receive literally hundreds of emails every day on it. It is really exciting that there is so much passion and enthusiasm out there, but its pretty overwhelming as well.
For how many individuals and groups are involved, it is incredibly impressive how well organized and coordinated the IYCM is. It is even more impressive how powerful we have become. Time and time again I heard from other NGO delegates and negotiators that they were really impressed with the youth and how important they think it is that we were there participating in these negotiations. My response has been, and will continue to be: great, because we are here to stay. We are here to remind you that the decisions that you make today directly affect our lives tomorrow and the future. We have reached across continents and oceans to come together and stand up for our collective future.
Bike Bloc Action. And meeting the cops at COP.
Long before I came to Copenhagen for the climate talks, I knew I would be taking part in the Bike Bloc. Ever since I read The Nation’s article, “Seattle Grows Up”, I chose this action as one I would direct my energies towards. Why? My love of competitive cycling intertwined with environmentalism has transformed me into a bike to work lover and alternative transportation enthusiast. But I come from a traditionally conservative atmosphere at a southwest Virginia University where critical masses are considered radical and silly. I’ve always secretly craved the visibility and awareness that wild outspoken critical masses have brought to the West Coast. Have you seen the new 60 Seconds to Mars music video? Yea I wanted to live that dream in Copenhagen. Plus I wanted to put the fun between my legs, as the Bike Bloc slogan called for. My love of the bicycle was further solidified this past summer when I participated in the Trek to Re-Energize America. I like to think that I helped build a movement from the seat of a bike during this phenomenal cross-country bike ride to Congress to demand passage of strong climate legislation, primarily the house bill; American Clean Energy and Security Act. There’s even talk of a 2010 summer ride being organized, if you want in! Perhaps this one will focus on passing a Senate climate bill, if nothing is to come of this spring.
The Bike Bloc Action was the first demonstration for Wednesday’s the 16th of December Reclaim Power day of action. The civil disobedience was also known as the People’s Assembly. See a video of the protests here. The night before the action, after the Gogol Bordello concert at Hopenhagen Live, it was best to spend the night out in Ragnhildgade, a free activist housing space, with my newly made Danish friends. The graffitied warehouse housed over 1000 international activists and was a main grounds for climate action planning. (For a full list of COP15 actions see: the Mobilization for Climate Justice website). A Danish culture house project in the making, the Candyfactory, was the collective that rented out the free space.
The morning of the action was a crazy time. With forecasts of a blizzard, Wednesday’s Reclaim Power action and Bike Bloc was going to be a feral day. I arrived at the Candyfactory (<-great video of UK activists building bikes for Bike Bloc!) with my Danish friend where hundreds of bike frames lay collecting snow. As a city of cyclists, Copenhagen is also home to many abandoned bikes. These 200,000 forgotten bikes a year, collected and compiled from around the city by UK activists, were then fixed and put to use for the Bike Bloc action. I excitedly picked up a maroon colored cruiser built by Kildermode, a local Scandinavian bike brand, and we began our journey to the critical mass. Since we had woken up late, we cheated and rode the metro with our bikes for some of the way in order to catch up. In passing the Bella Center via metro, we gingerly peered over the train and instantly noticed the thousands of Copenhagen Politi (Danish for Police) surrounding the conference. We grew slightly squeamish, but reassured when we remembered the Bike Bloc action was going to be a peaceful demonstration.
A hop, skip and jump away from the Bella Center, we joined up with a few other Bike Bloc stragglers and anxiously waited for the hundreds of cyclists on their way. As we rode around the bloc(k), nearly a mile away from the Bella Center, Danish police were eyeing us. They knew why we were there. As part of the new laws Copenhagen passed prior to COP15, under the new Police Act, police could arrest anyone “suspicious-looking” in their judgement with no evidence, for up to 12 hours. Unbelievable. Suddenly, the ten or so cyclists and I became a target for police deemed suspicious activity. Our homemade signs reading “There is No Planet B” and DIY clothes were dead giveaways.
Slowly but surely, Police vehicles began following our tracks of two wheeled solidarity. The group tried to maneuver away from the police hotspot, but the police had already made their decision. Sadly, we weren’t going to meet up with the larger critical mass. Soon, from all directions, vehicles honed in on our small group of cyclists. It was only a matter of time before we were trapped.
Bikes confiscated, cold bottoms from sitting on the snowy cement, wrists tethered behind our backs with Ziploc ties (they must’ve ran out of handcuffs), we sat calmly in the now blistering blizzard. My heart pounded even though I knew I had done nothing wrong. I was less scared than anxious to experience climate justice ground zero. Finally when a woman police officer arrived at the scene, I was thoroughly patted down and searched. I was speechless when she pulled out my Bella Center pass from my inner most shirt. I thought I had hidden that well, apparently not. I became worrisome about getting my delegation in trouble. I felt sick to my stomach. Later while being detained in my activist holding cell, I learned that hundreds of NGO delegates had also taken part in the People’s Assembly and were now detained, their Bella Center badges temporarily taken away. Serves UNFCCC organizers right, of course NGO delegates would transition to outside actions since their rights as public observers had been shamelessly taken away.
The actual process of becoming detained was a sluggish process. While waiting to get in the police vehicles to activist jail, we chatted and joked with the Danish police officers. The police even admitted that they were on our side about the urgency of climate change and need to act, but simply their job was to maintain high security because prime ministers and heads of state were now streaming into the conference, President Obama being of utmost security. I didn’t blame the police, I recognized the many potential trouble makers in Copenhagen and anti-capitalism hate that some activists at COP15 possessed. It was the same police security that led to blockading the McDonalds during the Global Day of Action. 
Unfortunately, those that seek to be destructive during demonstrations often times ruin it and change the messaging. It’s a reason why many people think actions do more harm than good. Without a clear strategic peaceful message, chaos can take hold.
All our belongings finally contained in clear baggys and in police hands, we waited until we could get into a warm vehicle out of the unbearable below freezing cold. Now friendly with the police, I asked one of them if they’d take a picture of us so I could continue documenting my experience. He chuckled, took out my camera and snapped a shot. Perhaps to some it was humiliating, but I believe it was necessary so I could include the picture here and write this blog post. Furthermore, I was not ashamed of being arrested.
After finally being transported to a holding room, one by one we were mugged shot and taken to our holding cells. I politely asked the policeman who escorted me how long he thought we’d be detained and he replied only a few hours. A few hours in my mind, means three or more, but I did not anticipate that three hours to turn into ten.
The rest of the day in the specifically constructed COP15 activist holding cells became a valuable and unforgettable life experience. I got exactly what I wanted, climate justice ground zero. My cell, a 10×10 steel barred cage was one of many in a hefty warehouse. I entered my new home around mid-morning. The two girls in my cell starred at me at first when I entered, but instantly became friendly and spoke excellent English. We revealed and shared our stories of how we detained and shared perspectives on climate change. My cellmates were Swedish and Danish. They couldn’t believe I had come all the way from America until reluctantly I told them I was a delegate in the conference. I was afraid they would think I was too good for them if I revealed I was with an organization. It was silly. My cellmates were actually more receptive and curious when I told them I was accredited with the Sierra Club and had been inside the Bella of the Beast.
More girls filed into my cell throughout the day as more and more were arrested at the People’s Assembly. Now all around me, NGO youth delegates, anarchists, students, people of all backgrounds filled the holding cells to the brim. Being detained with hundreds of activists was no depressing event. Two English girls from Cambridge with remarkable singing voices in the cell next to mine, began chanting empowering songs from historical movements. I felt tingly all over. As the two girls led the chant, everyone joined in. It was a powerful feeling of solidarity. While initially inspiring and peaceful, angry trouble makers would occasionally cause chaos. The ten hour stay in the holding cells was a rollercoaster of ups and downs. Boys banging on the bars and breaking some of the cell side walls lead to police frustration and relocation of detainees. Hands down, we were an unruly crowd full of young idealistic energy and passion. Our loud chanting, while empowering many, was ultimately a reason for police to hold us for so long. I became wary and took naps throughout the day. Later in the evening, I got word that males activists in the corner of the warehouse had acted aggressively and intimidated police had sprayed pepper spray. We all began coughing. It was a little scary, but didn’t phase me. The police weren’t evil, they’re just people too. And all people make mistakes.
It had been a lot of hours, I had lost track. My stomach was rumbly. My Swedish cellmate told me it had been at least 6 hours. Now fully realizing that my delegation was probably completely in the dark about my whereabouts, I read the sheet of paper police had given us about our rights. In it, read the following:
“You are allowed one phone call while being detained…but to expedite the process of release…police may refuse your phone call.”
My Danish cellmate saw me reading the section and told me that she had asked for her phone call and had been refused the right. With the unruly detainee atmosphere and full to the brim warehouse I figured it was fruitless and gave up on the initiative.
More time passed by, and to our delight, we were given sandwiches for dinner. Turkey sandwich meat, red peppers and Danish cheese. Not bad. An angry vegan English girl in my cell was livid when they had no vegan alternatives though.
An hour or two after food coma had taken its toll, whispers circulated that we were to be released soon. I was ecstatic. As the first detainees left the warehouse, cheers reverberated throughout the warehouse, even though the release was another sluggish process. After everyone was escorted to a Politi bus, we were transported to the closest S-train and officially released into the darkness of the night and enduring blizzard. I wrote down contact information of the friends I had made with promises to stay in touch. We had endured 10 hours together in a 10×10 living space. I knew I’d forever feel this bond. I felt enlightened by the international array of perspectives I had listened to and came away stronger.
Overall, being detained was quite the adventure. I do not look at it as a negative experience. Whether or not my part in the Bike Bloc Action was effective or not is debatable. I was not lucky enough to become the official Bike Bloc and be part of a massive critical mass, however I did put the fun between my legs. I met the Cops at COP. I took up space in a crowded climate activist holding warehouse so police could not stop the People’s Assembly and arrest everyone. I walk away from my Copenhagen climate justice ground zero adventure as someone who has felt the international grassroots energy and pressure to act on climate change growing. The global community is hungry for change. I love it.
As heads of state, prime ministers and presidents filed into Copenhagen, the second week of the climate change conference took on a new face, for the worse. The security scene, once accommodating and friendly, took on a new aggressive restricted role. Tensions mounted as the cops prepared for climate justice actions such as Wednesday’s Reclaim Power, The People’s Assembly. Furthermore, the constant reductions in Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) pass allowances into the Bella Center became a frustration for the overbooked 22,000+ delegates admitted. Entry into the conference was restricted to 1000 passes on Wednesday to 300 on Thursday and finally a mere 90 on Friday. It was an outrage. Restricted public participation created a clash. Plenary sessions became impossible to get into. Closed door negotiations became the norm. NGO’s who had traveled far and wide were livid. Kicking out civil society from the UNFCCC process still remains the hotly contested criticism of the conference.
The SSC delegation, awarded only 5 passes early on in the week between the 18 of us by the Sierra Club, was forced to take a new direction on how to be most strategic and effective at COP15. While others worked out of Tck Tck Tck’s Fresh Air Center, I went down to climate ground zero. This is my story. As someone who got involved in climate activism through grassroots organizations like Mountain Justice, getting back on the ground felt like home. It was empowering. Realizing that entry into the Bella Center as a NGO delegate is a privilege that many were not equally offered, it was grounding to finally get involved in activities outside the Bella Center. For the thousands of activists that came to Copenhagen to organize demonstrations, Klima Forum and actions for the voice of the people; the rallies, marches and protests played a crucial, often times under looked aspect of building the oh-so-very-important grassroots movement. For if you didn’t have the angry citizens demanding action from the government, politicians would go about solving the climate crisis like “business as usual”. In a daily Sierra Club debrief, US Delegate Trigg Talley, the State Dept. official responsible for organizing the US Delegation at COP15, revealed that the grassroots pressure and public support for climate change action is in fact the missing piece to the puzzle. He even admitted the domestic grassroots energy, or mobilizing the American public to give a damn about climate change is exactly what is needed for Congress to enact climate-energy legislation. In essence, the “radical” progressives are needed to demand change. They are needed because you need all types of people in a movement. They are simply the ones to start the call for a clean energy revolution when it seems silly. They are sowing the seeds for change. The change that will come from the bottom-up and evolve into climate policies and law.
At the conclusion of the conference, despite the disappointment and shame felt by US NGO’s because of Obama’s lackluster speech, a number of good things are evolving. There still is hope we can all believe in. The weak three page “Copenhagen Accord” is not an end all. While nothing significant came from international agreement on CO2 emission reductions with politics, I believe a powerful wave of citizen action has grown. In my personal opinion, one of the best things to happen in Copenhagen was the Saturday Global Day of Action, where an estimated 100,000 people participated in the People’s Climate March to the Bella Center.
Like the Hopenhagen campaign calls for, I am a true believer of when people lead, leaders follow. The march took this to heart. The international array of ordinary citizens demanding system change, not climate change left a powerful message as it transcended far and wide on every news channel. Even more amazing, the march wasn’t only a young person activist event, left and right I saw baby strollers and entire families. What does this mean? Climate change is a people’s issue. It is in the here and now. It’s not just something to tackle so that we don’t compromise the future of our kids, or future generations. For the vulnerable low-lying islands states it is a matter of survival today. A 2 degree rise in temperature is unacceptable. As a young person, one of the 500 that represented US Youth during COP15, we know what we’re up against and we’re up for the challenge. America is a remarkable country. I am optimistic about the future and especially the spring as climate-energy legislation takes center stage in U.S. politics. The fate of humanity rests on the shoulders of U.S. Congressmen. The world knows this, and the US Senate must lead. Now.
Signs Considered Protest by the UN
So, in a previous post I mentioned that I had been escorted around the Bella Center by UN Security, eventually ending up marooned in the Youth Arcade area. Anyways, after awhile I cleared the situation up with Youngo and the UN Secretariat, and it turns out that I was removed by security because I was holding a sign. Never was I given this explanation by the Danish police officer who escorted me out to the Youth Arcade, because if I had been I would have gladly put my sign away and continued going about my day.
Below is a picture of me with the sign that I was carrying around.
Now, granted, I’m a little biased, but I think that removing me for carrying around this sign was a little uncalled for. I was not standing on tables shouting about the fact that I was fasting, I was simply holding it up while I went about my business. In my mind the purpose of the sign was to inform dignitaries, press, and world leaders about the Climate Justice Fast and the fact that thousands worldwide were fasting in support of a fair, ambitious, and binding climate treaty. And before I met up with the police officer, it was working. Multiple people, press and party delegates alike, stopped me to talk about my fast and dedication to environmental justice.
So did the UN Security remove me because I was disrupting negotiations or because of some other reason? It’s something that I would really like to know and wish had been better communicated to me in the Bella Center.
Signing Out
COP15 is over and I’m back home in New York. Throughout the conference I tried to remain optimistic about how the conference was going to turn out, but in the end, I could not be any more disappointed with the outcome. Do not even for a moment believe the mainstream media in the US when they tell you that the conference was a moderate success. To the contrary, it was an absolute failure. The agreement that was reached at COP15 is perhaps the weakest UN text ever to be drafted and sets the world back to a time when people still doubted that climate change even existed. Our survival was being negotiated and we pretty much missed the mark. This video accurately depicts what happened.
In addition to the weak text that was drafted, another major development set the negotiations back: the fact that the public was almost completely excluded from the conference. I was able to obtain a state department pass for part, but most were unable to even get close to the Bella Center for the entire second week of the conference. This violates the UN’s Aarhus Convention of 1998, which requires entitles the public to participate in environmental conferences.
Despite “Flopenhagen” I am truly blessed to have had this life-changing experience. I think I learned more about myself these past two weeks than I have in my entire life. And these were definitely the most emotional two weeks of my life, a daily roller coaster.
This is not intended to depress you, but rather just to tell you what actually occurred at COP15 because I don’t think the press is giving you the full story. We must take these awful results and use them to motivate us forward in the fight for climate justice. The climate crisis has this amazing ability to allow civilians, particularly young people, to put aside their differences and really fight for what they believe in. We’re going to get a positive result on climate change soon, but until then let us rally together and fight not only for our future, but also for the future of generations to come. As my uncle Eric Hertz reminded me, this is a marathon, not a sprint.
In solidarity,
Rob Friedman
ethanbuckner
Rob Friedman
lauraleecrain
joshualevine
Mary Candice Shindler
lyndsaymck
snarkattak
christaowens
Chelsea Howard-Foley
angiedesoto
Rachel Guillory
dhco
peterroquemore
josephmanning92
Rachel Aitkens
chenderson
annabarnwell
