Me, Nigeria, and Grenada? Thanks to you. « It’s Getting Hot In Here

It was a really powerful experience to sit up on stage at the 350.org press conference in Barcelona this afternoon with Ambassador Dessima Williams from Grenada and Dr. Victor Fodeke, the head of the Nigerian delegation, and talk to the media about the growing 350 movement. I started getting into climate activism when I was a college student in Vermont, mostly working with other students from the US. To be here in Barcelona, just a few years later, talking with the international press side-by-side with ambassadors from Nigeria and Grenada is honestly a bit hard to comprehend.

Or at least until I exited the press room and caught another glance of all of our 350 photos lining the walls of the convention center (I put one of my favorite pictures from Barbados in the Caribbean below).

You’ve built an incredible, vibrant, and uplifting movement in mere months and opened up the doors to all sorts of new possibilities. At the press conference, both Ambassador Williams and Dr. Fodeke spoke passionately about how inspired by October 24. And the reminded all of us that it’s back at home where the real work gets done. That’s where we set the agenda and build the public pressure that will make a deal possible. The most important place this year isn’t Copenhagen — it’s your home town.

There’s still plenty of work to be done, that’s for sure, but we’ve created powerful new alliances this week. Let’s keep this movement moving!

About Jamie

Jamie is the co-coordinator of 350.org, an international global warming campaign. A recent college graduate, he lives in San Francisco, CA. In 2007, he co-organized Step It Up, a campaign that pulled together over 2,000 climate rallies across the United States to push for strong climate action at the federal level. He's also an early member of the youth climate movement, leading one of Energy Action's first campaigns in 2005: Road to Detroit, a nationwide veggie-oil bus tour to promote sustainable transportation. He's traveled to Montreal and Bali to lobby the UN with youth, but he's a strong believer that change happens in the streets not in meetings. Jamie received the Morris K. Udall award in 2007 and has been recognized by the mighty state of Vermont for his work on climate change. You can also find him blogging at Campus Progress' "Pushback," Changents.com, and 350.org.