Since 5pm, a group of approximately 20 youth from across the globe started a sit-in inside of the Bella Center outside of the Plenary and continue to stay put. They are reading the names of 12 million people who want a fair and just climate treaty as well as transparency in the process. Among them, my friend Lisa Curtis.
Sen. John Kerry passed by and greeted the youth sitting-in as well as other delegates.
Please help spread the word. Let the whole world know we want real long-term solutions!
UPDATE:
UN security told youth that if they do not leave now, then they will be arrested and civil society will not be allowed to come into the building Thursday or Friday. Group has agreed to walk out to allow the few civil society has been guaranteed for Thursday and Friday.
With tension building up in all directions at COP15, access to the center is being reduced to NGOs Tuesday and Wednesday, 1000 civil society members on Thursday and only 90 on Friday. Additionally, the G77 walked out of negotiations at noon yesterday causing a suspension. With that being said, I was eager to ask Yvo de Boer and Connie Hedegaard what they thought about G77 suspending the negotiations. What are the next steps? I also wanted to take the opportunity to ask a question in regards to why there is no international talk and action taken in regards to Climate Change and public health?
Due to last week’s experience waiting in line to enter the room for a high-level meeting with Yvo de Boer, I was determined to arrive early outside the room to secure a good seat for filming and was lucky that I was the first in line since a big crowd down the hall was going CRAZY over Al Gore walking by. Thankfully, I did not have to deal with the claustrophobic feeling of being shoved into the room by people behind me since security organized entrance better than previous events. I had the perfect seat at the front and was ready with my video camera to record the meeting especially since Linh Do, a fellow UNEP TUNZA youth advisory council representative for Australia was chosen to moderate the meeting.
The plan was for a 30 minute meeting. 15 minutes passed by and many youth in the room started to get concerned. 5 minutes later a UN staff member told us that Yvo De Boer and Connie Hedegaard were running late and still in a meeting. Finally, the UN staff member received a call notifying her to cancel the event. I understand that an unexpected walk out by G77 countries occurred at the negotiations, but if they both had to meet, strategize, and resolve the dilemma in negotiations, they should have sent someone to notify UN staff to cancel the meeting before so many youth went out of their way to wait in line and attend this high level meeting.
I was not too upset about this yesterday. However, today I got an email from the UNFCCC secretariat stating that the high level meeting with Ban Ki-Moon was rescheduled to Thursday evening! First of all, who will even get to this meeting with further access restricted for NGOs that day. It is almost guaranteed that no one in our delegation will have access on Thursday, much less on Friday. Additionally, the majority of Youth will not be in attendance. How does UNFCCC plan to distribute the secondary badges aka “yellow badges” amongst NGOs? Why are they doing this in the first place? Perhaps, due to security reasons and heads of state arriving. However, having 90 civil society members on Friday is just unacceptable! That is not being transparent at all. It is being exclusive. This is not a conference for the people. It is more a conference about economic benefit than it is about paying an ecological debt, human rights. In short: Money>People. Throughout COP15, the admiration of youth organizing kept being highlighted with comments from high level figures such as “inspirational youth” or “It’s great to see a large number of youth involved here.” However, they fail to understand our message that we want a strong deal with 350ppm and human rights included in the text. We do not need to be complimented on how great youth organizers we are. What we need is for them to act with us.
Over the course of the past four days at the climate negotiations, I have not had enough “Marisol time” to reflect on what has been going on in Copenhagen. At the very least, I would like to see in the final negotiations a legally binding agreement to reduce CO2 levels to 350ppm. The survival of many people is in negotiators hands. To be honest, that really scares me. I feel that the people most affected by climate change are often ignored when the countries that made the mess will be less impacted by climate catastrophe than small island states.
Yesterday, I participated in a youth “rainstorm” action at the Bella Center, reflective of the fact that together we can make a loud peaceful statement that we will not die silently and demand a legally binding agreement to reduce CO2 to 350ppm. At this action, a young girl from the Maldives spoke about how her island state is being affected by sea level rise as a result of climate change. She stated that even though 2 degrees increase in temperature may not seem too much of a change, it really does mean drastic change that may submerge the island. Listening to her testimony was very emotional for me. I had knowledge of the Maldives and other small island states that are facing the burden of climate change the hardest. However, hearing a live testimony from a climate justice youth activist is much more personal, more real, it is a first hand account.
Here’s a link to a video of our action:
Bringing it back home, I feel that communities impacted by the coal industry are also often ignored. Yes, federal government has made a big step by suing Midwest Generation, an Edison International company that owns six coal power plants in Illinois, including the Crawford plant in Little Village and Fisk Plant in Pilsen. However, we still need to wait and see what will be the outcome of this lawsuit.
With the new finding that green house gasses are a threat to public health. What will be done to address public health? People living near coal power plants are most impacted by air pollutants that lead to respiratory illness and premature deaths. People living in Appalachia are severely affected by black lung disease due to coal extraction, mining, and coal waste dumped into local rivers/valleys. Who are these people? Low income, African-American, and Latino. I’m from Little Village, a predominantly Mexican-American community. I live four blocks away from the Crawford coal power plant and I refuse to be labeled just as a “statistic”. I am a human and I deserve to breathe clean air! If politicians like coal so much, why don’t they put one in their backyard?
Some people may ask, “Well if it is so dangerous, why do you continue to live there?” When that is the only place your family can afford, you do not have the luxury of a choice.
Crawford Coal Power Plant. Photograph by Paul L. Meredith
At the negotiations yesterday, the island of Tuvalu, which is a small pacific island state proposed a new protocol that would require countries to reduce emissions to at least 350ppm, which is the most amount of CO2 that the earth can resist and lessen climate catastrophe. China reacted negatively to the proposal, which caused Tuvalu to suspend negotiations. If countries do not commit to reduce emissions to at least 350ppm, Tuvalu will not survive as it is currently on a tight rope. Tuvalu is at 1 meter above sea level. Tuvalu and other island states have contributed and supported developed countries in their wars. However, they do not want to reciprocate support to help fight climate change. Suppose a 350ppm global legal binding agreement is NOT set, where will these people go for refuge? I think this could lead to further social injustice if countries do not extend their help right now and do something about it. Imagine being a citizen of Tuvalu, you immigrate to a different country because your island was destroyed due to climate catastrophe. Will you be given hospitality or will you be labeled an illegal alien? Will you be treated well or oppressed? I do not know the answers. However, I challenge negotiators to answer my questions.
Yesterday was the welcoming ceremony for the COP15. I did not get a chance to actually be in the room for the opening ceremony. Apparently it was by invitation only and entrance was only allowed for those with tickets but that did not stop me from viewing it on a projector screen in the Karen Blixen Room at Bella Center. The welcoming ceremony began with a short video about a little girl who has a nightmare where climate change takes toll and sea level rises to the point where she needs to climb a tree to save her from getting drowned. She wakes up scared and tells her dad what she dreamt. They both then go online and find out about the UNFCC and learn more about climate change. One of the web pages she comes across sends the message “Document what you see today so that our children and grandchildren can see how the world looked like” She then goes outside her home with a video camera and records herself saying “Please help save the world.” The video was a bit over dramatic. It reminded me of the 2012 movie everyone was freaking out on. Of course, climate change is scary but when you are in a COP15 opening ceremony you expect for more policy talk and climate justice action than to make a video that probably costed lots of money to begin with. Yes, we all know climate change is here. Otherwise, all these high-level officials wouldn’t be here. Let’s not waste time and move forward with the negotiations shall we?
One of the speakers at the welcoming ceremony included Connie Hedegaard, Danish Minister for the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen 2009. The phrase “Let’s get it Done!” is what most resonated during her speech. She really meant “Let’s get our act together and sign a deal!”. However, with little time and not much action on behalf of the U.S., I think it may not be wise to sign on to a legally binding treaty at the moment. At least not at COP15. Such ideology matches with Ritt Bjerregaard, mayor of Copenhagen who clearly stated last night at a concert at the downtown square that we need a legally binding treaty within the next year and we need one well done.
So…this really cool band called Nephew performed at the concert. All the Danish folks went gaga crazy over them and with good reason because they really sound good! I’m already a fan. Check them out.
We must work for justice at home and abroad, connecting our local struggle for democracy with the global one and live by the principle that as working and poor people globally, we have the right to control our lives and resources.
“The struggle to save the global environment is in one way much more difficult than the struggle to vanquish Hitler, for this time the war is with ourselves. We are the enemy, just as we have only ourselves as allies.” by Al Gore
