Dispatches from the Youth Climate Movement
Hello American friends and others-
Just came across this on the web, on an Irishman’s blog (expat American I believe.) http://filmstripinternational.com/
Nothing we didn’t already know, right? But it lays it out fairly clear: Your government is pretty much 100% corrupt. Are you really ready to wait another two years for them to damage the planet and destroy civilization that much more? I mean, come on, guys. This warrants a revolution!
So, tonight’s a big night for me… I’ll be giving a speech to about 650 people at a benefit for the Canadian Youth Climate Coalition. It’s an amazing concert here in Montreal, organized by a group called PoP Montreal, which does music and activism stuff. Montreal is a pretty active, pretty progressive and fairly political city, being both one of the biggest college towns in North America (5 big universities + more than 10 colleges) and one of the very cheapest. Something we don’t talk a lot about in the global warming circles, save for our EJ talks, is the connection between affluence, oppression and climate change. For me, if I couldn’t afford to go to school and live, I couldn’t spend time doing the work of advocacy and outreach. This is how it breaks down: average tuition in quebec for a year = ~$2000, my apartment monthly rent incl. all bills = $300, food = ~$50/week… my income is usually around $1200 a month, part time, making this all possible. I Know that ain’t the situation in many places.
Word up my climate people in the houssssssse! Jus a little note to share that 4 of your youth reps just concluded a kick ass meeting with a high level Indonesian Delegation Rep regarding organizing an International Youth Summit at Cop 13 in Bali and facilitating stronger youth participation in the COP!!! As they say in Indo, Selamat Pagi and See you on the Beach!
“We’re on track to meet all of our obligations under the Kyoto Protocol but not the target,” said Rona Ambrose on Canadian national television yesterday. She blames the previous Liberal government for failing to put in place measures that would have reduced Canada’s emissions instead of seeing them rise by nearly 30%. She says her government is being ‘realistic’about meeting its commitments – meaning it simply will not be possible. Yvo De Boer, Executive Secretary of the UNFCCC, says otherwise, and I wholeheartedly agree. Canada can and will meet its reduction targets whether there is a Conservative government in place or not. Why? Because we have a moral obligation to do so. How can a government get away with effectively committing a crime against millions of people around the world? This smacks of genocide to me. The ultimate and most despicable outcome of the right wing, fossil-funded climate change denial club has been to force the scientific and environmental communities to pour the majority of their resources into simply proving that global warming is happening and is being caused by human activities, rather than focusing on the anticipated – and now evident – effects of this phenomenon.A chart found on page 6 of http://unfccc.int/resource/docs/publications/caring2005_en.pdf, from the IPCC 2001 Third Assessment Report, struck to the core of me when I first saw it last year in the UNFCCC document ‘Caring For Climate’. To me, it cuts past all the legalese and subdivision that seems to bog down the UN process and prevent a serious, coordinated effort to cut greenhouse gas emissions and implement sustainable development and climate protection. At the end of the day, and the end of the discussion, this is what we are left with: a situation that is only going to get worse – unless we take action now. I believe every plenary, every side event, every informal group, every high level session should open with a complete read-through of this docoment, to remind everyone of why they are here. Perhaps I’ll include it in the welcome package we are sending to Rona Ambrose today, with a little note attached:
“Dear Ms. Ambrose – let’s be realistic.”
The movement grows, like a storm gathering force. Almost one year after over 500 youth converged in Montreal for the 11th Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change and the 1st Meeting of the Parties to the Kyoto Protocol, a team of young Canadian and American climate activists are preparing to depart for Nairobi, Kenya, to COP12/MOP2, committed to representing the youth of North America who need their voices heard in the world.
It’s a special time for Its Getting Hot In Here as well, as COP 11 was where the now-infamous blog made its debut. Acting as the central medium for youth to communicate their experiences at the Palais De Congres and the Climate Justice Convergence Centre, IGHIH saw a phenomenal rise to fame in literally days.
Continue reading ‘Youth Head to Nairobi for COP-12/MOP-2′
It’s October 24th. This time last year I was probably running from work at Concordia, developing the allego Concordia (http://allego.concordia.ca) program to a Montreal March for the Climate planning committee meeting, or perhaps I was visiting potential locations for the Climate Justice and Youth Convergence Centre. I was balancing two jobs and school while trying to plan for a major impact at COP 11, the actual reality of which i had no idea, being that I had never attended an international meeting or even been inside the Palais De Congres. A lot of weight was on my shoulders and I knew this was both a chance to shine and a test of my capability as an organizer. I could never have predicted anything that happened, from the crazy adventures bringing the convergence centre together, to the intense all-in-french meetings for the March, to the incredible beauty and pride I felt at the site of 30+ thousand people in the streets on Saturday, December 3rd, 2005, to the unexpected call from the Montreal police and my subsequent arrest and imprisonment! Continue reading ‘The Difference A Year Can Make’
