"Our future will not be written for us. Our future will be written by us"

Today was the first day of the Conference of Youth!  What an amazing experience.  There are over 500 young people from almost every country in the world here working together to prepare for COP15.  There is so much energy, knowledge and dedication in this group of people, I am certain that we will  make ourselves heard and our leaders will not be able to ignore our vision for the future any longer.

I went to two workshops, mingled with people and watched a mini flash dance during lunch, then there was an 'open space' discussion where we broke into groups of about twenty and discussed the youth's goals, role, and how we can be most effective at COP15.  Then, we learned about the structure of YOUNGO, which (I believe) is now an official "constituency" recognized by the UNFCCC (United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change).  

I went to the YOUNGO Adaptation Policy group, where we had a very productive meeting.  We identified our strategies for ensuring that funding for adaptation is included in the treaty.  We are first going to find out what the Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS), the African Constituency and the Least Developed Countries (LDCs) and any other relevant groups would like to see in the treaty, then we will identify which delegates we should target for lobbying.  As a member of Youth Supporting Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights for a Just and Sustainable World, I am going to hopefully get sexual and reproductive health and rights in any adaptation document we create.  

In one of the workshops, we learned about the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM), which basically allows large companies in developing countries to essentially receive money from developed countries for putting in place supposed carbon reduction projects.  After we had been discussing the intricacies of this program, a young woman from the Caribbean raised her hand in anger and asked why, if there are people who live in places like her homeland, that are going to be catastrophically affected by climate change, and peoples' homes and entire countries are going to be submerged underwater, leaving them with nothing, are we pandering to businesses?  Why aren't governments doing something to stop this thing which already is harming so many peoples' lives?  It was the first time I had heard an appeal from someone who is already being affected by climate change, and it was really powerful for me because it brought home just how high the stakes are.  This is not about politics, its not about policy, and its not even about the environment. This is about the survival of real people, and as a human race we have the choice to either let them die or to stop climate change.

Another Successful Lobby Meeting

Maneesh Arora, Kelsey Ward, Casey Gifford, Karyn Smoot, and me outside the Eugene courthouse before delivering our photo petition!

Less than an hour ago, four other students and I met with Senator Wyden's Eugene Field Representative to ask Senator Wyden to strengthen the climate bill.  She was very receptive to our asks (Require 25% of our electricity to come from clean, renewable sources by 2025; Utilities should be required to use one third of all emission allowances allocated for investments in energy efficiency; Retain the EPA’s authority to regulate stationary sources of greenhouse gas emissions; Include funding for adaptation for here and abroad) as well as candid about the type of feedback they receive in their office.  She brought up an interesting point - there are no young people who are actively mobilizing against stopping climate change.  The only people who call in to say they want things to stay the same are people from the older generations.  She said that since the climate bill has been pushed behind other reform (health care, jobs stimulus, finance) in the senate, the best time for us to come back in would be early February, and she suggested that we video conference the D.C. office.  I am looking forward to following through with this opportunity!

I leave tomorrow morning at 8am!  Now it is time to pack, meet with profs about finals, and take care of everything I need to do before I leave the states.  Copenhagen here I come!

This is what 500 supporters of a Clean Energy Economy looks like!

Today, a group of three students and I met with Senator Merkley's field rep to ask Senator Merkley to strengthen the climate bill.  We presented him with this photo petition that has over 500 pictures of students and community members posing with our wind turbine prop.  He was really excited about the photo petition and put it up in the office!  Overall, the meeting went really well, which is pretty much expected because Merkley is really great on climate change.  The rep said that he would get back to us on the four points that we brought up.  I am proud of our lobbying team - I think they did a fantastic job!

500 pictures of people with the wind turbine

Me with the photo petition

A close-up of the photo petition

T Minus Two Days

Wow, I can't believe I am leaving in two days!  Bring on the stress headache!

I got up this morning and immediately started calling media contacts for our lobby day that we are holding today and tomorrow.  I am lobbying Senators Wyden and Merkley at their Eugene office today and tomorrow with a student group and in solidarity with students lobbying in Portland and Salem to ask our Senators to strengthen the climate bill in four specific ways:

• Require 25% of our electricity to come from clean, renewable

              sources by 2025.

• Utilities should be required to use one third of all emission allowances allocated

              for investments in energy efficiency.

• Retain the EPA’s authority to regulate stationary sources of

              greenhouse gas emissions.

• Include funding for adaptation for here and abroad.

We are bringing in a collage we made of over 500 pictures of students with wind turbines!  

We are also asking Senator Merkley to meet with members of the Cascade Climate Network in Copenhagen since he will be there.  I am very excited because Jeremiah Baumann (Senator Merkley's lead environment guy) just replied to my email this morning and said that as soon as they figure out what their schedule will look like, he wants to schedule a meeting with us!