It’s Getting Hot In Here

By Chris Detjen, SustainUS COP 14 Delegation

By Eli Allen, SustainUS Delegation

It has been interesting to contrast the messages of the international youth and the politicians coming out of the UN Climate Change Conference. We as youth realize that in the plenary halls and the small contact groups our future is literally on the table being negotiated. In response we are adamantly demanding in every way possible that our future is nonnegotiable, that it must be secured. The International Youth have marched through the streets of Poznan and put on a game show to show the discrepancy between how much we have spent to bail out our banks ($4.1 trillion) and how little we have spent to fight climate change in the developing world ($40 million). We as youth have provided assistance to Small Island States, which have the strongest stances on climate change, but lack the capacity to adequately influence the negotiations.

In every possible way we, as an International Youth Delegation representing over 50 nations, are trying to make the case that the time is running out to reach a decision. But to be honest, many of us are frustrated. Youth have been acting as the conscious of these negotiations for the past 16 years. Some of us were born into this discussion. Yet our governments still have yet to reach an agreement that will preserve our world for us and future generations. Continue reading ‘Message to Political Leaders: Consider Our Future’

By John Doyle, SustainUS Delegation Grassroots Coordinator

More than just being the lame duck, the US State Department has become a dead duck at this year’s UN Climate Negotiations in Poland. Contrary to past years, this year the US delegation has become the de facto outcasts of the conference: pleas are not directed to them, their statements are not repudiated, and even the press is ignoring them and focusing instead on the EU.

After the deplorable statement made Wednesday by an American negotiator encouraging 20% emissions cuts by 2050, far below what scientists say are necessary, the US youth have decided that we can not sit aside any longer. The American people did not vote in record numbers to be the laughing stock at some of the most important negotiations in the history of the world. We Power Voted for a new government that will engage with the international community on finding real solutions. Since our leaders are falling short, US youth are happy to fill their shoes.

This Friday, delegates from SustainUS, 350.org, EJCC, RAN, and Greenpeace will be extending invitations to government delegations from dozens of countries, developing and developed, to meet with us. We want to assure them that ‘the real US’ is ready to seek a bold, binding, equitable, and science-based agreement next year in Copenhagen. We will be extending this global engagement invitation to Senators John Kerry, Ben Cardin, and Amy Klobuchar, who will all be arriving in Poland next week. We have a long year ahead of us and there is no time to delay.

But, we need your help! SustainUS is launching a massive photo petition in honor of the International Day of Climate Action, December 6^th, that will let international delegations know that the U.S. youth will be pressuring President-elect Obama and Congress for climate action NOW! In the next 24 hours:
Continue reading ‘Out With the Old, In With the Youth’