It’s Getting Hot In Here

Cross-posted from the Sierra Student Coalition: www.ssc.org/blog

In the political aftermath of COP15 in Copenhagen, many point fingers at US and Chinese leadership for stagnating the UNFCCC process and ultimately decimating the prospects for a legally binding climate treaty. The current gridlock is woven with mistrust between two superpowers- the two world’s largest economies and carbon emitters- that hold they key to meaningful global climate action on the international political arena. The bitter dynamic between the US and China in climate politics can be strangling, depressing, and frustrating.

But on Tuesday, US and Chinese Youth transcended the systematic mistrust that has characterized the diplomacy between our two nations for years. In an air-conditioned hall inside the Poliforum (a Cancun basketball arena), we held our first workshop to formally launch the US-China Youth Climate Exchange. Coordinated by seven US and seven Chinese youth delegates, this workshop was the culmination of a two-month long planning process that included hours upon hours of awkwardly-timed conference calls, skype chats, and email chains. As a member of this core team, I can attest to the difficulty of hopping on the phone at 11pm EST on a Saturday night (10am Sunday in Beijing) in a dorm infested with college freshman that had a bit too much Four Loko. But the extraordinary geographic distance aside, we managed to form a cohesive team and lay the groundwork for two weeks of intensive collaboration at COP16 that features multiple workshops, shared actions, core meetings, and a ‘diplomacy dinner’. Continue reading ‘COP16 US-Chinese Youth Climate Exchange: Modeling the Collaboration We KNOW We Need’

This morning, before the start of the first plenary session of the Subsidiary Body for Implementation at COP15, I decided to leave the roped-off seating area for observing parties of the negotiations and stroll down the rows of labeled seats for negotiating parties. After a few minutes of searching, I meandered past ‘Uruguay’ and over to the ‘United States’, and struck up a conversation with the US negotiators, among whom was US Trade Representative Barbara Weisel. I introduced myself on behalf of the US Youth Delegation to Copenhagen, and let the negotiators know that, as youth, we will be paying close attention to the role of the US over the next few weeks and are looking forward to see bold, positive action towards a strong climate treaty.

After chatting for a few minutes about the outstanding EPA announcement yesterday evening- one that now officially gives the EPA jurisdiction to regulate Carbon emissions as a pollutant detrimental to public health- I again stressed the role of US youth at COP15. The negotiators were quite surprised to hear that the US Youth Delegation is 500-strong! In fact- I have received similar reactions regarding the strong and loud participation of US Youth from other governmental delegates I’ve met, from Chile to Zambia. The world is beginning to realize the scale, passion, knowledge, and commitment of the US Youth Climate Movement. Over the next few weeks and beyond- both in Copenhagen and back home in the States- we will show our leaders that, to quote the President of the Maldives in his speech during the Opening Ceremonies yesterday,

We will not die quietly!

Our generation is empowered, passionate, and will not back off on our demands for a fair, ambitious and binding climate treaty. World leadership is finally beginning to see this; let’s just not forget to see it within ourselves.

I am a part of a delegation of 18 US Youth from the Sierra Student Coalition. Please follow along on www.sscinternational.org

At 6:30 PM this past evening, the US State Department held a closed policy briefing with all US Environmental NGOs- including the US Youth Delegation. Heading the proceedings was the Chief Administrator of the EPA  (and youth climate movement supporter!) Lisa Jackson along with the US Deputy Special Envoy on Climate Change Jonathan Pershing. In light of the US’s transformed role as a constructive actor in the international negotiating process as well as the recent EPA announcement regarding the Obama Administration’s mandate to regulate CO2 under the Clean Air Act, this briefing presented an extraordinary opportunity for civil society delegates to hear from the head honchos about the emerging political dynamics of COP15 and how the US plans to assert its position.

About an hour prior to the briefing, I huddled up with other members of the US Youth Delegation Policy Working Group and helped hash out tough questions about US roles and policy positions in context to COP15. Our plan was simple: strategically prioritize a few questions for both Administrator Jackson and Negotiator Pershing and distribute them to all US Youth in attendance to ensure that the most critical issues were addressed. Depending on the number of youth in the room, we figured we’d at best get one or two questions answered.

How wrong we were. As participants filed into their seats and the proceedings began, I quickly realized that youth constituted an overwhelming majority (the-numbers-that-let-you-block-filibusters-in-the-Senate-kind-of-majority) of NGO members present! As EPA Chief Jackson took her seat at the panel, a standing ovation marked the beginning of an amazing evening. Although I cannot disseminate exact details of the briefing, the atmosphere was positive and buzzing with energy. After an interesting brief on the US policy position by Pershing and a brief speech by Jackson, the floor was opened for questions. In the row in front of me, a US Youth Delegate donning a PowerShift t-shirt was called on. As she began her question, she announced that she was in attendance along with over 500 American Youth. She turned around, and about 80% of the room waved to our negotiators. Now that is an illustration of power. From there, 6 of the 9 questions during the session were posed by youth leaders. Although there are undoubtedly critical issues to be addressed by the US negotiating team and much work to be done by our movement to ensure that our leaders are behind a fair, ambitious, and binding climate treaty, the momentum is moving in a positive direction. At the end of the session, the moderator of the briefing- an administrator under Secretary of Energy Steven Chu- gave a wholesome shout out to the youth delegates in attendance. This is what we need- US Youth at COP15 will continue to show our leaders that we are paying attention- and that our future is in their hands.