It\’s Getting Hot In Here

An international group of young climate advocates on the stairs of German Bundestag in Berlin. This post's author is showing the middle * in the word "F***ING"

I type these lines in early August, on the eve of the UN intersessional climate talks in Bonn, Germany. I am few hundred miles away from Bonn at the moment, staying late into the night at the climate action center in Berlin. The space is shared by the twenty young organisers from Avaaz and 350.org coming from 15 different countries of the world. One hundred twenty days separate us from the biggest and the most important political meeting in history of humanity. Bigger than the Earth Summit in Rio in 1992 and arguably more important than the Yalta Conference in 1945, it will be a test of humankind’s readiness to leave its short-sightedness, selfishness, nationalism, and greed behind, and unite itself, for the first time ever, to prevent a planetary catastrophe and together build a happier, more sustainable world. The meeting is, of course, the United Nations Conference on Climate Change also known as the Conference of Parties (to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, UNFCCC) or simply COP-15 as it is usually referred to by politicians, activists, scientists and lobbyists from around the world.

This event is happening in December 7–18 in Copenhagen. These talks are so important because countries of the world are supposed to agree on a new climate regime – an international treaty for a joint political action on climate change – that should come into force after the first commitment period of the Kyoto Protocol expires in the end of 2012.

The negotiations process is kind of flawed and very frustrating. In Poznań and Bonn I witnessed the rich countries refusing to commit themselves to concrete and necessary actions, while the poor countries – who have been betrayed by the rich countries so many times before – refuse to make any moves before the rich countries do. It is a real deadlock, and it is a very painful one to see. My heart ached as I saw many of my activist friends cry openly at those talks. I have to confess that at times I could not hold the tears myself. It made me want to bring hundreds (even thousands) young people inside the negotiations halls and shout at the negotiators on top of our lungs: “Stop messing with our future!”. Through the newly started social enterprise Wake-Up Call, based in Sweden, my partner and I train young Europeans to become informed activists and effective youth delegates, and then we bring them to climate negotiations, including the upcoming COP-15.

But the problems with the UN climate negotiations run even deeper. As “A Provocation from Tällberg Foundation” sums it up: the current negotiations disregard wider ecosystem challenges posed by climate change; they fail to include into account the most recent scientific findings and the understanding of the mechanisms of “tipping points”; ethics and equity have virtually no place inside the UN negotiations, but cynicism and Realpolitik abound; and, finally, there’s a lack of an adequate global governance system that would ensure successful implementation of the new climate deal.

Mohammed Nasheed, the President of the Maldives Islands, put it this way:

“Copenhagen can be one of two things … an historic agreement event where the world unites against carbon pollution … Or, Copenhagen can be a suicide pact. The choice is that stark.”

So true. This is what Copenhagen is really all about: a cross-road on the developmental path of the human civilisation. Which way our political leaders will take us in 120 days from now? Will it be the way of 120 years of unimaginable suffering in the world, seeing species going extinct at the unprecedented rate and waves of climate refugees overwhelming our social and economic systems, as the tidal waves make entire nations and cultures disappear? Or will it be the way of a mature, responsible and cooperative action, in which the humankind emerges as a compassionate and caring steward – for all the biological species, ecological systems, and our human sisters and brothers everywhere in the world?

I can tell you the answer to this question right away. If the COP-15 happens today, or tomorrow, we are doomed. The politicians’ minds are nowhere near the realisation of what has to be done – over the next 5–7 years – to save the planet from climate chaos. They are in denial, they are confused, they are blind, they are not ready. They try to negotiate with each other, but they don’t understand that the laws of physics and chemistry will not make political compromises with them. And they have no right to negotiate away our survival. Because “survival is not negotiable”, as a young Swedish activist Emma Lilliestam reminds us in her latest song that she wrote after having attended the UN climate talks in Poznań.

The good news is: there is time still. We still have these 120 days to try and make our political leaders to come to their senses and commit themselves to urgent actions that will take us back to the safe levels of CO2 in the atmosphere, below 350 ppm (today we are at 390 ppm and will probably hit 400 ppm in five years from now).

We also have a plan, a smart one.

On October 24th, that same Mohammed Nasheed will lead 349 other citizens of the Maldives Island, in full scuba diving gear, to host a symbolic action under the ocean’s surface. Same evening, on the other side of the world, three hundred and fifty swing dancers will host a huge party in Amsterdam, couples chanting “We need three hundred fifty!” as they move around the dance floor. Farther west, thousands of cyclists will ride their bikes through the streets of San Francisco, forming a giant 350 figure, that will get registered by GPS satellites orbiting the Earth. Climbers will plant flags with a number 350 in the Alps and Himalayas and 350 vegetarian paellas will be cooked in solar stoves in Barcelona. Will we gather enough energy and people to stage the actions all over the country, all over the world? I don’t have an answer, yet. But time is tcktcktck’ing – and I rely on you all, on your creativity and ability to organise, to find out the answer together on October 24th.

And this is the best news for all of us. We will need all our positive energy and enthusiasm to prepare as many actions on October 24th around Sweden as we only can. Even the smallest action in the most remote and isolated place in Sweden will make a big difference! On that day you and your friends can change history together. How many times before have you been given this chance? I believe that it comes only once in a generation’s lifetime.

Are you ready?

Links:

•    www.350.org
•    www.tcktcktck.org
• www.Avaaz.org
•    Project Survival on MySpace.com
•    Tällberg Foundation
•    Wake-Up Call