It’s Getting Hot In Here

Tesco, the UK’s largest retailer, has announced a plan to put ‘carbon labels‘ on four categories of its own-brand products: orange juice, potatoes, laundry detergent, and light bulbs.  The labels, which were developed with the Carbon Trust’s carbon labelling program, show the number of grams of carbon which the product is responsible for during production, packaging, distribution, and disposal.
Continue reading ‘Comparing salt, fat, sugar, and CO2′

At the moment I’m sitting on a fourteen hour flight, the last leg of my journey home. My round-trip flight from London (where I live and work) emitted about 3 tons of carbon dioxide. When I started a Facebook group to support youth activism at the Bali conference, one of the first comments I got was “Isn’t it ironic that you’re all flying to Bali for a climate change conference? You’re better off spending all that money on local climate change efforts at home.” It echoed a sentiment I had heard from a number of people, including my own partner. I wasn’t the only one going, of course; I was part of a delegation of 22 young Americans and approximately 150 people under the age of 26 attending the conference. I fully recognize that flying halfway across the world and staying in a big, air-conditioned hotel is hardly the most obvious way of living out my principles. So what possessed me to go? And what did I do when I got there to justify the expense and the emissions? Continue reading ‘BaliBuzz: The end of the beginning’

Whew! Another hot day in Bali! Well, okay, there are only hot days in Bali. In theory this is the weekend, but in fact it’s time for climate justice rallies, virtual (and non-virtual) marches, aerial photography stunts, strategy meetings, side events, and the occasional quick trip out of the city to remind ourselves that Bali is not just a convention centre.

The most memorable time so far was the ‘Fighting for our Future’ side event – an informal sharing and learning session organized for other people at the conference – we held to highlight the youth climate movement.

Presenter after presenter took the stage to show amazing work done by young people in Australia, Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia, the Philippines, Japan, Canada, the US, and the UK to raise awareness and inspire action. There was more energy in the room than I’ve ever felt at the UNFCCC conference, and the session was packed. We heard about cycle campaigns, press stunts, lobbying, and even how to occupy your local coal-fired power plant without disrupting the national grid.

At the end, a woman in the audience stood up. “I’m from Kiribati,” she said, “which is two meters above sea level.” She had to pause to fight tears. “And I just wanted you to know how connected I feel to all of you. Thank you.” We all had tears in our eyes too. It’s rare to get such a powerful reminder of just what we’re all fighting for.

Continue reading ‘BaliBuzz: Fighting for our Future’