CheckTheWeather

“Green is NOT white!”

So then why does it feel like only the rich countries like the U.S, Australia, Canada, and the European Union are dominating this Climate Conference and shutting out over 100 countries from the Global South!? This feeling is common in both the adult delegation as well as the youth. The adult delegation of these 100 developing countries has been threatening on several occasions to walk out of the Bella Center because of the lack of being heard and the US decision to stall negotiations. There has also been lack of communication from the US youth delegation towards other youth delegations of color.

I for one feel that if the US youth delegation and any other delegation that comes from a rich country for that matter, don’t show solidarity with other delegations then there shouldn’t be a delegation at all. We have made delegations to get together, and to unite with each other for a better future that will affect all of us. We did NOT join delegations to support only our own countries, and not attempt to make people-to-people ties with one another.

Coming from the US, this is just embarrassing. We, as a whole, adults and youth, are not representing very well, and it has been observed. We are all making decisions that are not improving our status, and many people are depending on us to start doing something. I for one am going to do what I can.

Over the next several days I will be in contact with other youth delegations such as the African Delegation, and the Indigenous People youth delegation, and others from all over the world. I will also get the stories from other adult delegations that will emphasize on the US and communications and how they think things will go in Copenhagen. I will be recording some of these interviews and writing their statements down. I will then compose a letter to Obama and send him the footage to show how many people depend on him and the US to do start doing something about climate change.

Lupita Troncoso is a junior at Abraham Lincoln High School in San Francisco, and is a 2nd year member of ESLI’s Youth Advisory Board. www.eslisf.org/youthblog.

Dear UN:

We are losing faith in you quickly. Please advise.

With love,
Future Leaders.

As Copenhagen boils with anxiety about today’s mass climate justice action at the Bella Center, all I can do is lower my head at the United Nations in complete disappointment.

Shutting out thousands of representatives of civil society from entering the UN conference this week, without showing a drop of compassion, has put me teetering on the edge of renunciation. We came to the UN conference to represent ourselves, as young leaders from the US and youth of color who believe that our presence here matters, and that the story we share can benefit the international community. What we faced Monday night and Tuesday morning, standing in the incredible line of 2nd week registrants waiting to get their badges – waiting a total of 7 hours in freezing temperatures, was offensive. And, from what we found out, we were lucky that it was only 7 hours – people we interviewed had stood for 9 hours on Day 1, only to be turned away on Day 2’s attempt after another 3-4 hours. A pregnant women, a high-profile expert consult to the Mozambique delegation, waited both days only to be forced to leave because of fear of her and her baby’s health. And not once did we receive clear updates on our potential to register as we stood in line. Not once did they show any compassion to the thousands of dollars and false hopes these thousands of people had spent to make it merely 20-30 feet from the Bella Center, only to be told that the UN could not accommodate numbers anywhere near to what was expected. Many got on early flights home.

I write this post as an indignant member of the next generation of climate justice leaders, who had nevertheless held onto her faith in an entity who has practically failed to address climate change for the past 15 years of the UNFCCC’s operations. The democracy here in Copenhagen is quickly crumbling before me, before the eyes of the two ESLI youth delegates that came with me and before the rest of the international community. Not to mention, police raids and preemptive arrests targeting young people has turned Copenhagen into a place of fear. Access to UN climate negotiations was already assumed to be limited to civil society – but now we know that we are blatantly not welcome.

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350-400 people were arrested in the first mass protest in Copenhagen today, reaffirming that civil society groups are determined to stay loud and clear on their message for a fair, equitable agreement out of COP15. See this Democracy Now! summary of Week 1 in Copenhagen, which tells a good comprehensive story of what’s going on inside and outside. Featuring Kate Horner of Friends of the Earth.

African Parliamentarians and members of African Civil Society groups joined representatives from US civil rights and environmental justice NGOs, including ChecktheWeather co-founder Kari Fulton, at a press conference Thursday from the Cop15 in Copenhagen to make an urgent appeal to US President Barack Obama calling for leadership on the issue of climate justice. The Pan African Climate Justice Alliance, an alliance of civil society organizations in 43 countries across Africa delivered an urgent appeal to Obama as he prepares to receive the Nobel Peace Prize tonight in Norway. The full press conference to come.

Photos from the Guardian, by PETER DEJONG/AP:

Coordinator Mithika Mwenda, left, and committee member Augustine Njamnshi, right, call upon the US president, Barack Obama, to take action at a press conference of the Pan African Climate Justice Alliance

ChecktheWeather co-founder Kari Fulton, a leader in the US youth climate movement, cries as she delivers an emotional speech calling upon the US president, Barack Obama, to take action on climate change

From a post by Naomi Klein on The Nation:

A video interview by The Uptake, with African poet and activist Nnimmo Bassey about Obama on climate.  Read Naomi Klein’s article about her discussion with Bassey here.

And tomorrow, African Parliamentarians and members of African Civil Society groups will be joined by representatives from US civil rights and environmental justice NGOs at a press conference in Copenhagen to make an urgent appeal to US President Barak Obama calling for leadership on the issue of climate justice. The Pan African Climate Justice Alliance, an alliance of civil society organizations in 43 countries across Africa will issue an urgent appeal to Obama as he prepares to receive the Nobel Peace Prize tonight in Norway. ChecktheWeather’s own Kari Fulton will be representing!
For those of you in Copenhagen:
WHERE:Asger Jorn, NGO Press Conference Room, Bella Center, Copenhagen, Denmark
WHEN: 8:30 a.m. Thursday, December 10, 2009

On Day 2 of UNFCCC COP 15 in Copenhagen, a major wave of reactions was caused by the ‘leak’ of a draft proposal written by Denmark, US and other developed countries. The proposal, written and negotiated by only a few select rich countries and largely leaving out any voice from the Global South, has been deemed unfair and dangerous.  You can read the full text and read more background information on the proposal at the Guardian, click here.

Here are some immediate reactions to the text:
–A press release statement from over 25 civil society groups of the Global South: “They are an attack on the democratic processes of UN negotiations. And they are an affront to the interest of small and poor countries in the negotiations.”
–Friends of the Earth: “grossly unfair and a non-starter”
–International Rivers: “The end result is lots of offsets, few real emission reductions.”

A video from NTV Kenya on protests held at the Bella Center in reaction to the proposal.  Also check out ChecktheWeather contributor Kari Fulton’s account of the protests here.