I see Bali as a chance to broaden the debate. It is important we make our angle within these negotiations meaningful to their context. Bali is significant for a number of reasons. One is that being a country made up of thousands of islands, it is especially vulnerable to sea level rise and more intense weather behavior like what happen off the coast of Sumatra in 2004 and absolutely demolished Aceh among other regions. Bali has also been a “soft target” to terrorism twice recently, in 2002 and 2005, which begs the question, “What type of system drives people to such extremism, and how is climate change, and the solutions being set forth, related to that system?” I think it will be helpful for all of us to make an effort over the next couple of months to really understand free-market environmentalism and the assumptions that lie behind a carbon market. The Durban Group has published a number of very informative reports regarding this subject. There is an unimaginable pressure coming from big biz and energy industries to package and sell the carbon market at Bali as the panacea for climate change. There are people who want to profit from this crisis by putting a price on our atmosphere, our “carbon dump.” As they say in Bali – Ada gula, Ada semut (Where there’s sugar, there are ants!). We must all learn how to articulate why such a narrow “solution” will not only fail to mitigate climate change, but could actually cause more damage than good.

The stakes are high in Bali. Climate change is finally mainstream, so we must make sure the world is watching during Bali. That means building the momentum now and getting people to start marking their calendars now. I think Cameron is planning on moving down to NYC to work from the GYAN office starting in July sometime. We need to partner with other organizations and start putting together funding proposals that show we have covered our bases and are serious about sending a 200-300-500-deep youth delegation to Bali come December. Let’s do it!

If the fact that the US government was obviously sabotaging the future of international efforts was to gain serious domestic U.S. media attention, Bush might be forced to soften his stance. *media on this issue could be very important.