Whew, I will be posting a real blog shortly, but check it out, guys, I got some competition busting into the female climate rapper scene.
I found this video at the Dance for the Climate website. Essentially, you get a bunch of people together, coordinate a dance, and film it.
Check out the video with 12,000 Belgians asking us to GET MOVING.
Cross-posted at It’s Getting Hot In Here
I spent months helping prepare policy briefs on adaptation, plan how the SustainUS communications team would interface with policy and actions, and set up a framework for the international youth communications and media production teams to work within at COP. My personal (unaffiliated) involvement in yesterday’s unapproved sit-in inside the Bella Center was a transition into a new activist life outside of the COP-15 conference center.
In the end, we held our sit-in for nine hours. At around 2am, we walked away voluntarily (in some senses of the word), because the UNFCCC Secretariat and the security guards communicated an ultimatum to us: if they had to physically remove us, all 300 NGO observers (reduced from 7,000 allowed in on Tuesday and Wednesday) would be banned from entry. Three hundred is a paltry sum compared to the total number of accredited NGO observers (around 20,000), but it is far better than zero.
We were concerned about the silencing of civil society voices, and considered being arrested to show this concern. However, we agreed that to silence our voices further would hurt, not help the chances for a fair, ambitious, and legally binding deal. We were holding our sit-in to share this ask, signed by over 12 million people now, with negotiators and press in the Bella Center. We were therefore not willing to further reduce the already small chances for success in achieving this real deal in Copenhagen by allowing the UNFCCC to use our sit-in as an excuse to shut out civil society completely.
Our procession out of the Bella Center was bittersweet, mostly bitter. The sit-in had been a great success in some ways: gaining tons of media attention, engendering more smiles and thumbs up than we’d seen in the last 10 days in the Bella Center combined, and giving all of us an uplifting feeling as we realized we were not only supporting something we believed in but were also concurrently supported by millions of people including friends in the youth climate movement back in the US, official country delegates, and of course John Kerry. But as we left, we knew our impact inside the Bella Center was over, and with stalled negotiations over unacceptable texts, it felt like we hadn’t achieved enough.
But today was a new day. I woke up rejuvenated after five and a half ours of sleep (I’ve been averaging around six hours/night – better than I’d expected). This movement is still growing. Although we’re closer to tripping over climate tipping points with each delay of a binding, science-based treaty, this movement is going to continue. With added urgency to mitigate climate change and added need to help affected communities adapt to changes we can no longer avoid, the undercurrent I’m feeling among (my mostly new) friends here is that it is time to bring this movement to a new level. International Youth Climate Movement version 2.0.
Today, I fasted in solidarity with three Climate Justice Fasters who are now on day 42 (!!!) of a water-only fast. This cleanse is also a symbolic clearing of my system as I prepare for a new kind of involvement in an improved movement.
Tomorrow, I will continue (that is, unless I chicken out) down this path of a symbolic restart by shaving my head with a group of other activists in front of the Bella Center. Other things shaving my head could possibly end up symbolizing include: the ugly negotiating process, the bad decisions made by negotiators, or the catastrophic changes that unabated climate change could bring about. Those are risks I’m willing to take, though, because if the shave does turn out horribly, it will be, as the Climate Justice Fast was explained to me, a form of penance for being a part of the problem and not effective enough as part of the solution til now. At the same time, though, my shaved head will provide a promise of new growth – personally, in the movement, and for the world – to help us rise up above the challenges we have created for ourselves.
Life goes on and we will not let it pass us by. We won’t just sit and wait for a fair, ambitious, and legally binding deal. We will make it happen.
Hello! I am one of about 20 youth currently in our fifth hour of a sit-in in the Bella Center at the UN Climate Change negotiations in Copenhagen. Check out our preliminary video from when we had about 50 youth – some were dragged away and one was kicked out.
At one point, someone came by and said “thank you for all that you’re doing” and I looked up and it was Senator John Kerry. I reached out my hand and said “thank YOU!” and he continued down the rest of the line of us shaking everyone’s hand.
Later, we saw Dessima Williams, the Chair of AOSIS from Grenada. She told us that in 1998 she took part in an 8-day sit-in at the Commission on Social Development to call for reductions in military spending right here in the Bella Center!
I’ll sign out for now – check It’s Getting Hot in Here for live-blogging from our awesome support crew sitting at the tables behind us!
Helicopters. Danish Police. UN Security. EVERYWHERE.
Most of the SustainUS delegation are currently inside the Bella Center, where the UN climate change negotiations, COP-15, have been taking place despite increasing limits on civil society involvement at the talks.
Outside, the Reclaim Power march reportedly has 5,000 or so marchers headed towards the Bella Center. Accredited NGOs Friends of the Earth, AVAAZ, and TckTckTck have had their accreditation suspended and were removed from the Bella Center. This may be related to a peaceful demonstration that was carried out in the Bella Center yesterday without the approval of the UNFCCC Secretariat, but the details are unclear.
Meanwhile, some folks leaving the Bella Center reportedly have been arrested pre-emptively in case they are planing to join the Reclaim Power protest. And there’s rumor that the Youth Convergence space, a workspace for accredited youth outside of the Bella Center, has been visited/raided/??? by the Danish Police. What!?
I don’t know what is going on, but this is all ridiculous.
I just wanted to blog this photo. I was sleeping in (until 8:30) for my birthday, so sadly I missed this fun SustainUS-organized event. “Don’t leave us out in the cold,” yelled US youth as delegates and others waited in security lines to get into the Bella Center. We need science-based targets – ahem 350ppm – for survival of all the world’s peoples and for a habitable planet for future generations.
Time is flying here in Copenhagen. The question is, are we flying in a private jet or gracefully soaring like an eagle? Are we headed towards an outcome in Copenhagen that will continue to support a dirty energy economy that pollutes greenhouse gases without thought of its grave impacts on the ecological systems and habitability of this earth or one that will give us, and future generations, a chance at a beautiful, sustainable future.
This pointed question is at the middle of today’s activities in the Bella Center. This year, global youth at the UNFCCC acquired a more formal status, that of a “constituency”. Constituency status, initially just given to “BINGOs” (Business and Industry NGOs) and “ENGOs” (Environmental NGOs), allows NGOs falling under particular umbrellas to have greater access to the UNFCCC Secretariat by way of funneling shared issues and requests through one or two representatives or “focal points”.
To celebrate the addition of YOUNGOs to the list of constituencies to the UNFCCC, today, December 10, we’re hosting Young and Future Generations Day in cooperation with the Secretariat. We have 1,000 youth running around the convention center with bright orange t-shirts asking negotiators, NGO leaders and press, “how old will you be in 2050″ and demanding that negotiations “don’t bracket our future”. We’re also handing out 1,000 orange scarves to our supporters in country delegations and leading international NGOs.
I’m currently sitting in a Side Event (where NGO observers have a chance to speak on various issues related to the COP-15 negotiations) presented by SustainUS on Youth Voices on REDD (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation). The opportunity to hold events such as this forest side event with its quiet, academic tone is a necessary part of youth involvement at COP alongside our other actions.
credit: Robert vanWaarden
Sometimes our loud, media-grabbing actions such as supporting Tuvalu’s call for new, transparent discussions for a legal treaty yesterday outside of the Plenary hall or crashing an Americans for Prosperity live telecast event held outside of COP (yes, this is the one where Lord Monckton repeatedly calls us Nazis and Hitler Youth) paint youth involvement into a corner – one where it can be difficult to see our deep understanding of the climate policy and ecological science.
Yesterday, Lord Monckton called us “Hitler Youth who know nothing about climate science” but the bright minds in this forests side event, and the young people from the world over whom I’ve talked to around the entire convention center, disprove him time after time.
We are a force to be reckoned with, not just because of our numbers or our energy, but also because of our knowledge climate science and our understanding of what is at stake. Our compassion for one another, for the small island states and the world’s poorest communities, and for future generations is overwhelming and contagious.
I’m so energized to keep working in this movement, and to keep appreciating the importance and the power of youth even as I get older. Today is my birthday and I’m now 24. On December 10, 2050, I’ll have just turned 65. By that point in time, official retirement age will probably be over 70, but even it if it isn’t, I’ll probably still be hard at work managing environmental issues.
P.S. Haven’t gotten me a birthday present yet? Consider donating to my Copenhagen Fund. A $5 donation helps me buy a meal at the Bella Center (where food is subsidized, thank goodness) or a bit of tap water in the city of Copenhagen… And hey, it’s tax deductible!
Cross posted from It’s Getting Hot in Here
As 27 of my fellow SustainUSers are in Copenhagen are attending plenary sessions and planning actions with international youth from around the world, I’m holding down the fort in Washington, DC by bridging the news from Denmark to actions at home.
A friend of mine earnestly remarked today that he thought grassroots and youth organizing for COP15 was a lost cause because the real negotiating at Copenhagen, and that legislative change in the U.S. Senate happens behind closed doors between high-level decisionmakers and powerful lobbyists; that protests, petitions, and rallies are tiny blips on the political radar. And I suppose he has a point – the COP15 outcome depends highly upon decisions of key leaders, and the deep pocketbooks of special interest groups and corporations resonate at higher decibels than kids with hand-painted banners and street actions.
But he’s wrong to conclude that it’s a waste of our time. After a brief afternoon existential crisis of the importance of our collective work, I stopped to look around at all the inspiring work coming from delegates in Copenhagen and my friends all over the country. It’s easy to become apathetic or discouraged, but it takes a lot more to keep fighting the fight.
Don’t underestimate the value of expressing your two cents to your leaders – it’s money well spent! We’ve already seen a positive change in political climate from our tireless campaigns – from Obama’s willingness to engage with youth climate leaders to the growing support for 350 ppm as our new global CO2 stabilization target – and though our gains may seem incremental, they are certainly pointing in clear direction: forward.
“I have cast my lot with those who, age after age, perversely, with no extraordinary power, reconstitute the world,” writes poet Adrienne Rich. We may not have money or extraordinary power on our side, but we have our youth, creativity, energy, enthusiasm, and dedication, and no astroturf effort can buy that kind of genuine passion. Sure, even a visible Ark on the National Mall isn’t alone going to convince my Senator to vote for the Climate Bill, but it’s the combined effect of all sorts of actions happening worldwide that show our collective force.
As youth delegate Caroline points out in her dispatch from Copenhagen, it’s important for us at home to build on the momentum from our friends in Denmark to push for domestic action. Join a rapid response team! Call your senators to voice your support for the Climate Bill! Talk to your friends and neighbors to raise awareness about these issues to people who might not otherwise know about them! Attend a 12/12 candlelight vigil!
Tomorrow, youth activists in Copenhagen are holding a Bed-In to commemorate the assassination of John Lennon by singing a climate-adapted version of “Give Peace a Chance.” The message? Give youth a chance.
Last summer, Louise asked me one night in the middle of a July week to write and record a rap song about 350. After a little pestering, I complied. I wrote, recorded, and edited the rap all together in about three hours that night. I uploaded it, tweeted about it, and pretty soon 350 caught wind of it.
All along, I said, “This is just a demo. I’m going to re-record it with a real band. I’m going to make a music video.” Ok, so life caught up to me (hey, I moved to from the US to Germany and started a master’s program over here…) and I just got around to the music video part after skipping the “working with good musicians” bit. After missing the October 24th Day of Action as a video premiere date, I wanted to be sure to get it out before Copenhagen. So without further ado, the 350 Rap music video (which premiered yesterday on N30):
Dot .- (read aloud: “dot dot dash”) is my rapper moniker. Right. I don’t think I need to write anything more to explain the title of this post.
Oh, and if you like my work (heh), please consider donating $10 or $24 to my Copenhagen Fund. My expenses ($130 train, $500 hostel, $$$ food, etc.) are adding up as I’ll be serving as “video queen” for the SustainUS delegation and I am covering several hundred dollars of equipment costs for microphones and a tripod and all that good stuff myself. I look forward to providing you with high quality video updates from the negotiations, which will almost certainly involve more interviews and less rap (but hopefully a lil bit of rap makes its way in there as well), but I also hope to have enough money to eat!
Dear President Obama,
The science on climate change is overwhelming, and the momentum from the climate movement is at full speed. Don’t resign to postponing climate action just yet! We’re not just asking you to attend Copenhagen in person, we’re asking you to be at Copenhagen with all the dedication, energy, and diplomatic grace that you have demonstrated so many times before. We want to see you come home having made progress — real progress! — on climate negotiations, not pat yourselves on the backs and say, ‘The timing wasn’t right, but let’s certainly do this again later.’
Time is running out! It’s true; we may not feel the repercussions of unabated climate change in the same way we feel the backlash of this economic recession right now, but we have already made irreversible damages to our earth and it is imperative that we act now to prevent too many more from happening.
In solidarity,
Your friendly, neighborhood Climateers
____________________________________________
Dear all,
Most of us are not as lucky as Valida and hundreds of other youth to be able to voice our opinions at Copenhagen in person, so here are a few things we can do at home to make sure we let President Obama and the Senate know we don’t intend to let them off the hook on this one.
1. CALL YOUR SENATORS! You have two of them, and while sometimes it might not seem like it, they work for YOU, so let ‘em know what you want!
2. Attend a climate justice action on November 30: http://www.actforclimatejustice.org/ – happening all over!
3. If you are in DC, help 1Sky and CCAN deliver art to the White House on Dec. 4!
4. It’s not all petitions and protests! Think of something creative! Valida and I wrote 350 songs; Berlin held a silent climate parade; DC released dozens of beautiful, floating lanterns at the White House during Obama’s trip to China — what can you come up with?
5. Send Obama a message or sign a petition – no worries about sending two, or three, or four! The larger the volume the better!
http://www.whitehouse.gov/live | www.itsgametimeobama.org | www.climatecountdown.org
Here’s a possible list of things to ask him to do:
- Attend Copenhagen in person
- Put pressure on the Senate to pass a strong climate bill — no watery bills wanted
- Meet with the youth leaders who have been working so hard at the grassroots level on environmental issues
- Address the country with a public, televised speech on the importance of climate and energy legislation so to tell the world that this is a top priority on his agenda
Louise
October 24, 2009, was an amazing day in Berlin and, from what I can tell, around the world at over 5200 events in 181 countries.
There were a few major events in Berlin.
The initial idea that we had was to have a casting show (like American Idol) to seek out the true Climate Chancellor, a title Angela Merkel likes to give herself despite doing little for the climate, amidst 350 people with Merkel masks on. At the end, a Climate Pirate from 2050 would deliver the true Climate Chancellor 350 roses and a note thanking her for all the right steps she took at Copenhagen in 2009 that led to a sustainable, beautiful world in 2050. I was always a bit uncertain of whether we could pull this final messaging off – how could we make it clear that we were thanking a Merkel that we’d like to see and not the real, current Merkel; how could we be sure to convey the 2050/time-traveler aspect? Luckily, in the last few days before the event, others made the decision to overhaul the program despite already sending out the press releases and mobilization emails. (I was unable to make the final planning meetings due to class and a trip to Bonn for a scholarship retreat.)
Our new show, which I first caught word of AT the event on Saturday morning, was much easier to handle. We had our 350 volunteer Merkels as the studio audience and split inner-conscience of Angela Merkel during a studio interview. The messaging changed to “The time for uncertainty is over” and we left Merkel saying “Jein” (yes/no) at the end followed by the rest of us saying “Act! Now!” The 15-minute show was perhaps still a bit long for most reporters to take note of all the details, but the masks were great and got us in as one of the nine featured events in the New York Times slideshow. I call that success.
Honestly, this was the most fun protest/action/whatever that I’ve ever participated in. Basically, it was bunch of youth partying in the middle of the main streets in downtown Berlin. Like getting into a very underground or elite club, we with headphones were rocking out to sweet jams that no one else could hear. Passers-by were quite perplexed, so we handed out 5,000 fliers explaining the event: greenhouse gas emissions are a mostly silent problem, but if we listen to the scientists, it is clear that our politicians have been too silent on the issue of climate change.
Many of the people on Unter den Linden are tourists, so I volunteered to help deliver the German fliers and had one ear out to try to identify non-German speakers who might want an explanation in English. I talked to dozens of people, giving a full 2- or 3-minute explanation to maybe 20 people, and they were all captivated by and supportive of the Silent Climate Parade and broader 350.org message.
A chance meeting with an old friend who lives in another part of Germany and the adrenaline rush from dancing through the streets certainly helped make this one of the best days of my life. However, I think it was seeing all the volunteers behind their Merkel masks at the Show, all the hungry activists at the Carrotmob, and all the energized youth and interested bystanders at the Silent Climate Parade – at least a thousand of us, all behind the call for 350ppm – was really what made this day a day to remember.
I was lucky enough to have had access to a wonderful new HD camcorder and edited this little highlights video together before hitting up the 350 After-party on Saturday night (also a fun time, hah). Click to view the video at Vimeo.com to see it in HD.
Berlin 350 International Day of Action Highlights from Valida Prentice on Vimeo.
Did you organize or participate in a 350 International Day of Climate Action event? How did it go?
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