And we’re off!

By Lauren Nutter

About two weeks ago now, our COA group had our final get together, complete with apple cider and excited chatter about the change we want to see in the world.  There is no doubt in my mind that our ambitious, dedicated, and idealistic group is ready for this two week marathon of negotiations in Copenhagen.

(COA Road to Copenhagen group)

I will set off from Logan tomorrow night, and my bags are almost packed.  At least my granola bar, trail mix, and peanut butter supply to survive two weeks in an expensive European city, are all in my suitcase.  COA students were serious about fundraising to make this trip happen, and I know we are all thankful to those that made our plane tickets, hostel stay, and food supply possible.

So what does the next two weeks look like for the COA group at these negotiations?

-Most of us arrive this weekend. We will be meeting up with several hundred other youth from around the world who are coming together for the Conference of Youth (COY).  COY is the preparatory meeting for the youth NGOs who attend the negotiations.  COA students will be working closely with the youth constituency to follow the policy proceedings, help frame the global youth voice, and collaborate on a few plenary statements to the government delegates.  Some of us will also be doing direct action either inside the conference center or out on the street with other activists.

-During negotiations our days will begin early (6am) and end late (12pm or later).  It will be a flurry of running to youth meetings, official plenary sessions, and NGO briefings by the US state department. We will be sharing as much of it as we can with you through our blog.  We hope you join us through the journey, and please comment away on our blogs!

I also want to end this post by touching on some concerns about Copenhagen not yielding a treaty.  It does upset me that we aren’t able to address climate change as fast as we should.  But I think it’s important to stress that a lot will be decided in Copenhagen that will affect the final binding agreement hopefully a year from now.  The number of youth and other concerned global citizens will be record at this year’s negotiations; I believe that our many voices will have an impact that we’ve never seen before. And we will hold our governments accountable and demand strong actions now.

History will judge you.

By Lauren Nutter

The final day of Bangkok is now wrapping up.  It’s only morning here and now youth are sitting in the plenary for the Ad-hoc working group on the Kyoto Protocol.  It’s a bittersweet end to the talks… I want to be hopeful but I fail to muster much hope.  Really I guess my hope lies outside of these processes; it lies in knowing that youth all over the world, despite this pitiful display by our leaders, are taking leadership themselves.  We are not settling on the dimsal prospect– no we are rallying to continue our local work to fight climate change and support each other because it is afterall OUR future.  Below is the youth intervention for the KP session today, and more reflections to come later.

—-

My name is Rishikesh Ram Bhandary and I hope to be 64 In the year 2050.

Earlier this week, we declared “no confidence” on the road to Copenhagen.

The process has been hijacked by carbon cowboys looking to profit from this crisis; our future is being held hostage to the self-interested dirty delaying tactics of Annex 1 countries.

We have seen the arrogant betrayal of the Bali Action Plan, with the perverse idea that developing countries should or can somehow act first.

History will judge you.

We witness the US deliberately undermine the negotiations by introducing language to merge the Kyoto Protocol and convention processes, tearing out compliance and top-down target setting.

Other Annex 1 countries hide behind the US to avoid their responsibilities; setting disgracefully low targets; with deceptive offset measures that amount to no real emissions cuts at all.

We will not accept a dirty deal.

Our stand is clear. Let Norway’s commitment of 40% on 1990 levels by 2020 be the minimum benchmark for real emission cuts, but with no offsets, Indigenous rights based language secured before any discussion of REDD, recognition of climate debt, and targets of 350 ppm and 1.5 degrees Celsius.

History will judge you.

While governments are cautiously calculating their commitments based on what they believe is possible, the youth respectfully remind them that throughout history, political forces can shift rapidly when people rally together for change.

As one of the youngest people in this room, I will have to spend my life with the decisions you make today. We have an opportunity to make some of the most profound and positive changes in the history of mankind. Lets start acting like it.

Young people around the world are doing just that, organizing in our communities locally, nationally, and internationally, and we find our hope for the future in our movements.

We ask, will you join us? It is not too late to do your part.

The youth are leading..please follow.

History will judge this.

Prostituting our natural forests to the higher bidder

By Juan Carlos Soriano

Over the weekend the Secretariat circulated Non-paper No. 11 with consolidated text for the negotiations to establish a mechanism to Reduce Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation in developing countries (REDD). I felt that the REED discussions were sort of moving forward, the text was shorter but the number of contentious issues remained the same. The facilitator of this discussions – Tony La Viña from the Philippines – formed three drafting groups to work in closed sessions on three sets of safeguards for the REDD mechanism:

1. Stakeholder participation

2. Integrity issues related to environmental co-benefits

3. Governance

This morning at 10am the Secretariat released a revised Non-paper No. 18. And oh surprise, the provision to “include safeguards against the conversion of natural forests to forest plantations” was DELETED!

I just came out of the session on REDD and watched over 20 countries call on the chair to bring the language back in the text. When the chair asked if there was consensus on that petition the EU with support from the DR Congo and Gabon blocked it. It seems to me that the Europeans have a strong economic interest to convert the Congo basin into a big plantation, not only that, they want to get credits for it so they can reach their reduction targets. Boooo!

Why I shouldn’t date an Annex I guy?

The following is cross posted from adoptanegotiator.org by their negotiator tracker for India Leela Raina

To date or not to date and why?

Among the 12 of us tracking the delegations here at Bangkok , I’m really tempted to go out in the evenings after a hard day’s work in the negotiations. I think after running after 60 year old negotiators from my country I require some youthful energy to enthuse the atmosphere!

From the perspective of a Non Annex 1 girl ,I feel that it would be literally impossible for me to find love among my team of 12( keep in mind, there are no non annex 1 guys) due to the following very very STRONG reasons:

1. He is not willing to COMMIT I am thinking Leela, I will think about it, I have loads of domestic responsibilities ( read: girls back home) to undertake said the American Tracker. Whereas all the others supported him ,obviously ,collectively coming to a decision as the European Union , but nevertheless made their individual statements. Instead they all say: Lets start all over again, lets try and get to know each other( read: shift baseline from 1990 to 2005) What is keeping you from committing? Is it the reason that you feel I’ll dominate the relationship in the long run? ( read: I’ll develop more than you over the years).

2. He takes more SPACE in the relationship  read:( has a massively higher proportion of pollution than us) and still demands he needs more space! This is so totally NOT FAIR!

3. He refuses to FINANCE dinners Although they have so much more money considering the dollar to baht exchange rate is amazing , they fail to fund my dinners. So I end up paying for myself, but considering that I don’t have the capacity to buy special desserts and exotic cakes, it becomes difficult to try and eat my share! ( read: we can fund local missions like solar but in case we need to scale up activities we require your help!)

4. Hates my mother ( READ: tries to kill the KYOTO PROTOCOL) Does not agree to any principles and conditions my Indian mother puts before him as far as getting back earlier than midnight etc etc and definitely hates my mother for them ! ( read: doesn’t like the conditions imposed and will not ratify them at any cost) .  My mother is the most special and essential part of my life, how can you neglect her like this? ( read: i have signed onto the KP and my commitment period is coming to an end not the protocol!

5. Doesn’t let me use the TV remote or the computer( read: no transfer of technology) I am deprived of using any sort of advanced technologies. Do you think that I don’t know how to use them? I come from India , we literally live with software and knwo the C to S of computers.

6. Wouldn’t save me If I fall off a cliff / Earthquakes hits us/flash floods take place READ: We are already losing lives and their inaction could push us over the cliff towards run away climate change….. He’s not going to come in a helicopter to save me like a Bollywood movie hero (read: countries are already feeling the effects and they are not reaching out enough with support for adaptation)

7.Doesn’t follow through and is indecisive READ:One second Obama is at the UN high level summit promising big things and yet here in Bangkok there is little to no action to meet those high remarks. Why do we hear different views all the time?

– Doesn’t share a blanket: Just don’t have any concept of sharing is it?? and then let you wrought outside in the cold at the middle of the night.

8.Possessive and wants daily reports READ : They want measurable , reportable and verifiable nationally appropriate mission reductions. Why do you keep tracking us , when you never has an answer to where you are ? 9. Have such a consumption oriented lifestyle Waste most of their money buying goods that they don’t use! We need to shift to a more sustainable lifestyle.

10. Would not make a good father Read: clearly doesn’t care about protecting the environment for future generations and has no concept of making a better world in general. So what say guys , are you willing to change or not?

International youth sound the alarm

All the youth attending the talks here in Bangkok gathered for a press conference this afternoon. Below is our press release.

INTERNATIONAL YOUTH SOUND THE ALARM:

WE ARE ON ROAD TO FAILURE!

International Youth have declared “No Confidence” in the road to Copenhagen.

Bangkok – A declaration of “No Confidence in the Road to Copenhagen” was announced today by the International Youth Delegation attending the UN climate change talks. The delegation cited the failure of reaching a commitment from developed countries on strong targets, a growing concern that a second commitment period in the Kyoto Protocol will not be secured, and a lack of guarantees for protection of Indigenous peoples’ rights and interests, in its Declaration. The current text of the draft climate deal is so weak and so full of “false solutions” – measures like offsetting that actually make the problem worse – it is currently unacceptable.

“Youth are sounding the alarm. These talks have been polluted by self-interested corporations and countries looking to profit off of our crisis,” said Joshua Kahn Russell from the U.S. and Rainforest Action Network. “We cannot allow rich countries to use U.S. inaction as an excuse to kill the Kyoto Protocol. Our future cannot be held hostage to the politics and interests of the United States or any other single country. We see Copenhagen as a beginning, not an ending. We will not accept a dirty deal.”

One young person from each continent, organizers from an international youth climate movement of hundreds of thousands, addressed those attending the negotiations today.

“My people are experiencing the severe effects of climate change,” said Anil Rimal from Nepalese Youth Climate Action. “This is happening now, not in 2050, and people are losing their lives, homes and livelihoods. We can not afford to delay global action.”

“The youth have been looking to the rich developed countries like in the EU to take a leading role to secure an ambitious climate change deal in Copenhagen,” said Anna Collins from the U.K. Youth Climate Coalition, “They are failing us.”

With less than two weeks of negotiations remaining before the Copenhagen meeting, the pressure is on developed countries to commit to providing finance and at least a 40% reduction in emissions by 2020. “If they do not, we will witness the derailment of this climate deal in Copenhagen,” said Grace Mwarua from Kenya.

Paulina Monforte from the Youth Environmental Network of Yucatan, Mexico continued by saying “any agreement in Copenhagen must include the numbers 1.5 degrees and 350 ppm order to safeguard the survival of all nations peoples.”

“Young people all around the world are working locally and internationally for genuine solutions.” Concluded Gemma Tillack from the Australian Wilderness Society. “We are building a strong civil society and working in our communities and will not give up on a strong and fair climate agreement. We will never give up, because it is our future at risk.”

Where are we at?

By Lauren Nutter

Exhaustion is the first word that comes to mind personally.  But in all seriousness, now fully in the second week of negotiations, I find myself asking where are we at?  I find myself in a bizarre and somewhat conflicted state. On one hand the 200 page text we started with here in Bangkok has been consolidated, and countries are being quite frank about outlining their deal breakers and what they need domestically to make this happen… all seem to be good signals right?

And yet in my exhaustion I can not tell is that enough to allow myself to celebrate or grasp as a glimmer of hope? We are still moving painfully slowly, and although there are fewer pages there are still probably as many controversial topics. And even more frustratingly I find myself being pulled back once again to the US domestic scene where it feels the fate is hanging at the moment… will we get numbers and a law from Congress that will allow us to stop holding up progress in these negotiations?

I’m not sure on any of these points. The best I can say is stay tuned and in the mean time here are some more anecdotes and comments from Friday’s stocktaking session in the Long-term Cooperative Action track (aka where shit has to get done for a global climate deal in Copenhagen).

AOSIS- a political decision is not enough in Copenhagen; we need a legal implementation that will bring us to 2012 and beyond.

Mauritius- referring to the recent natural disasters “This is not a wake up call; this is a final call”

Switzerland on behalf of the Environmental Integrity Group- held up a sign “Yes we can” and expressed concern that we need to pick up the pace of the negotiations.

Saudi Arabia- followed by holding up a sign “Yes, if fair and equitable”.

The COA bike path to Copenhagen

Welcome COA community, family, and friends.

Earth in Brackets is now hosting the College of the Atlantic delegation that will participate in the United Nations Climate Change negotiations this coming December in Copenhagen, Denmark. The outcome of the agreement in Copenhagen will determine if the world transitions to clean energy; and moves forward to a cleaner, healthier and independent future for our children and our countries.

We are 13 passionate students (intros and bios coming soon!) from the US, Finland, Saint Lucia, Peru, New Zealand, and India. Since last year – with help from professors Doreen Stabinsky and Ken Cline – we are learning all we can to engage internationally at these negotiations.

While we continue learning about the international process, we will share with you our reflections, insights, anecdotes, and analysis of this journey on our bike path to Copenhagen.