It’s Getting Hot In Here

The sit-in has concluded.  The protesters were ‘detained’ and removed from the hall, and made to sit in a small holding room.  Then they were given the option to leave, or stay and get arrested.  Since no press was on hand, and no one was there to witness the arrests, they left the building.

Activists read off names of 11 million+ global citizens calling for real climate action

Keep planning more actions in solidarity.  We’re brainstorming!

Previous live-blog comments below…

1:04 video posted from a cell-phone camera inside State Department holding room.  Keep sending messages to the State Department to make sure they feel the pressure from this action.

12:52 Remind world that leaders like Gore are calling for civil society to escalate tactics in stopping climate change.

12:49 Group debriefing at Einstein Memorial.  Photo of cops taking photos of these brave climate citizens

12:39: In another action across town, four Greenpeace activists just arrested protesting US Chamber of Commerce Climate Crime Scene

12:37 Comment line full at State Dept, but you can send a message here to let them know that youth are united in solidarity:

12:34: Activists given choice: stay in small room and get arrested, or continue protest outside.  They are making that decision now.

12:29: From David: “OK, getting let-off!”

12:28: New photo posted – people sitting quietly waiting to get processed.

12: 21: “getting arrested now” from Sarah.  Phone lines all tied up, mailboxes full.  Keep calling and passing this on to friends – they are hearing us.

12:16: Activists standing against the wall in a small room.  No arrests yet.

12:12: All activists taken into another room and detained.

12:03: Cops surrounding us

11:52: A dozen youth have entered the State Department Lobby

Julie Erickson in the State Department Lobby

Yesterday, the youth climate movement stood up. Or sat down, as it were. 19 international youth delegates staged a sit-in at the Bella Centre in Copenhagen, refusing to move until negotiators and world leaders arrived at a fair, ambitious, and binding climate treaty.

As we speak, a dozen youth climate activists in DC are sitting-in in the lobby of the State Department in solidarity with their counterparts in Copenhagen. Help us amplify the efforts of those calling for climate justice by telling President Obama and the US delegation that the time has passed for political cow-towing and empty promises. Our movement is strong and our voices will not be shut out.

Here’s how you can help support the sit-in: Call the State Department at: 202-647-6575
Select option 1 to speak to a representative at the Public Communications department. If it goes to voicemail, please leave a message. Here’s what to say:

I stand in solidarity with the youth sit-in in the State Department lobby, and at the Bella Centre in Copenhagen for a fair, ambitious, and binding climate treaty. Fair is $200 billion in climate financing for poorer countries; ambitious is a 2015 peak year for carbon emissions and a safe carbon level of 350 ppm, and binding is a legally enforceable treaty. We will not accept your return from Copenhagen without these demands met.

From the press release: “So far, the talks have been mired by conflict and low ambition from the United States and other countries. We welcome today’s announcement from Secretary Clinton to a global fund of $100bn in climate finance – but the US still has huge distance to travel on other areas, especially our short-term emissions reductions,” said Julie Erickson, one of the activists in the State Department.

Thomas Friedman: has been calling for young people to escalate the action, make climate change an unavoidable issue for the public. He wrote in 2007, “That’s what twentysomethings are for — to light a fire under the country.” This movement has been building and building, we’ve been in DC in numbers, we’ve been in the white house, we’ve been stopping the bulldozers with our bodies, all with scant help from folks in your position.

As Meg Boyle writes in an open letter to President Obama,

Four years ago at the UN climate negotiations in Montreal, I was part of a delegation of hundreds of youth observers from across the country and thousands from across the globe. In a meeting we held with the lead U.S. negotiator at the time, I told him we knew he had been sent to the negotiations by an administration that would not lead the world to a strong, just global climate treaty. I promised him that we would go home and work harder than we had ever worked to elect the administration that would. This week, four years and one presidential election later, I am asking you to prove in Copenhagen that we have made good on that promise.

Tell President Obama and the State Department that the people of this country and across the world are united in calling for strong climate action.

The next 24 hours could be some of the most important moments for civil society in a generation. Please pass this call to action on, and follow the events in Copenhagen and DC as they develop.
Follow the Good-Cop15 site at http://good-cop15.org/ for updates on what the conference could be
Follow on twitter: @pws09 @350.org @avaaz @sustainusagents @youthforclimate @climate_justice@mogmaar