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Eugene, Oregon, United States
I believe my generation has the unique opportunity to save the world. If no action is taken, the world will see catastrophic climate change within the next half century, the cost of which will be measured in human lives. But at this pivotal moment, we have a window of opportunity. We can create the just, sustainable and prosperous future that we seek. I am a Vassar student spending my junior year at the University of Oregon, and I am going to Copenhagen this December to do everything I can to ensure that a mutual survival pact is agreed upon, not a suicide pact.

Tuesday, December 8, 2009

Word of the day: Overwhelming

Hey, that's me!  After arriving at the Bella Center this morning, I met with the Tck Tck Tck campaign and waited around holding my box that said 'people' for hours!!  But it was so awesome because I got to be on stage at this press conference when we delivered the petition for a Fair, Ambitious and Binding deal to Connie Hedegard (COP 15 President, former Denmark Climate Change Minister) and Ivo Boer (UNFCCC Secretary), which was amazing.  What was more amazing was the speech Leah gave.  She is from Fiji, and she broke down in tears when she talked about how she hoped her children would be able to live in her beautiful home country. She demanded that the talking end and the action begin, and Ivo Boer's response was kind of funny because he said, "I know you want less talking and more action, but I ask you to be patient and give us just two more weeks to talk, then I promise that we will act." It was cute, and although I'm sure he means it, politicians' promises don't mean much these days (or ever, I suppose)!


"10,000,000 people want a fair, ambitious and binding deal"

I am on the left holding the box with the word people on it, and that is Connie Hedegard in lilac.

We are actually at 10.5 million people now, but the higher the number the better so sign the petition now!







The word of the day is: OVERWHELMING.

There is so much going on at the Bella Center, I think you could probably stretch every hour into a day and still not have enough time to attend or check out everything going on at the Bella Center (hundreds of booths, actions, side events, meetings, cool media presentations, etc, etc), and then you haven't even gotten to everything that is happening in the rest of the city!  The alternative climate summit KlimaForum, for instance.  That is why I am trying to narrow my focus... I think I can be most effective if I choose something that I feel I can make substantive headway on as one individual amongst all of this madness, and then do everything I can to move that issue along.

My pet issue within the vast, broad, globe-encompassing topic of climate change is adaptation policy.  Today some members of the US youth delegation met up to start to organize our policy efforts, and we have decided that we will consolidate a US policy statement so that when we run into key negotiators, we can talk to them about the issues.  Also, the US State Department will hold a briefing every other day, and we want to try to pack the meeting, and ask pointed questions of our delegation.  I am excited about this effort, because as a US citizen, I have an added responsibility to pressure my government to do the right thing since what the US does has the ability to make or break what the rest of the world does.

We have seen this concept in action recently.  Before Obama changed his plans to attend COP15, the general view was that Copenhagen couldn't produce any sort of substantial deal.  Since Obama has planned to attend the end of the conference, the number of Heads of State has increased from about 60 to over 100, and now everyone expects a deal to come out of Copenhagen.




Flash mob that I unfortunately didn't get to join in on because I was delivering the tck tck tck petition

2 comments:

  1. Gahhhh that sounds so amazing Moey. Glad you'll also be in and out of the Bella Center. This is the experience of a lifetime - perhaps not in the eyes of everyone, but certainly in the eyes of an activist. I'm so glad to see that it looks like substantial progress could come out of the conference. After all the energy I've invested in this issue, it pains me to not be more involved, but I'm so glad that you're ON THE FRONT LINES.

    So much luck and love,
    Jimmy

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  2. So Cool! We just saw you on Oregon Public Broadcast, the News Hour! It was the photo above and a pretty close-up view of you. They also showed a short clip of the chanting youth outside.

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