An international group of young climate advocates on the stairs of German Bundestag in Berlin. This post's author is showing the middle * in the word "F***ING"

I type these lines in early August, on the eve of the UN intersessional climate talks in Bonn, Germany. I am few hundred miles away from Bonn at the moment, staying late into the night at the climate action center in Berlin. The space is shared by the twenty young organisers from Avaaz and 350.org coming from 15 different countries of the world. One hundred twenty days separate us from the biggest and the most important political meeting in history of humanity. Bigger than the Earth Summit in Rio in 1992 and arguably more important than the Yalta Conference in 1945, it will be a test of humankind’s readiness to leave its short-sightedness, selfishness, nationalism, and greed behind, and unite itself, for the first time ever, to prevent a planetary catastrophe and together build a happier, more sustainable world. The meeting is, of course, the United Nations Conference on Climate Change also known as the Conference of Parties (to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, UNFCCC) or simply COP-15 as it is usually referred to by politicians, activists, scientists and lobbyists from around the world.

This event is happening in December 7–18 in Copenhagen. These talks are so important because countries of the world are supposed to agree on a new climate regime – an international treaty for a joint political action on climate change – that should come into force after the first commitment period of the Kyoto Protocol expires in the end of 2012.

The negotiations process is kind of flawed and very frustrating. In Poznań and Bonn I witnessed the rich countries refusing to commit themselves to concrete and necessary actions, while the poor countries – who have been betrayed by the rich countries so many times before – refuse to make any moves before the rich countries do. It is a real deadlock, and it is a very painful one to see. My heart ached as I saw many of my activist friends cry openly at those talks. I have to confess that at times I could not hold the tears myself. It made me want to bring hundreds (even thousands) young people inside the negotiations halls and shout at the negotiators on top of our lungs: “Stop messing with our future!”. Through the newly started social enterprise Wake-Up Call, based in Sweden, my partner and I train young Europeans to become informed activists and effective youth delegates, and then we bring them to climate negotiations, including the upcoming COP-15.

But the problems with the UN climate negotiations run even deeper. As “A Provocation from Tällberg Foundation” sums it up: the current negotiations disregard wider ecosystem challenges posed by climate change; they fail to include into account the most recent scientific findings and the understanding of the mechanisms of “tipping points”; ethics and equity have virtually no place inside the UN negotiations, but cynicism and Realpolitik abound; and, finally, there’s a lack of an adequate global governance system that would ensure successful implementation of the new climate deal.

Mohammed Nasheed, the President of the Maldives Islands, put it this way:

“Copenhagen can be one of two things … an historic agreement event where the world unites against carbon pollution … Or, Copenhagen can be a suicide pact. The choice is that stark.”

So true. This is what Copenhagen is really all about: a cross-road on the developmental path of the human civilisation. Which way our political leaders will take us in 120 days from now? Will it be the way of 120 years of unimaginable suffering in the world, seeing species going extinct at the unprecedented rate and waves of climate refugees overwhelming our social and economic systems, as the tidal waves make entire nations and cultures disappear? Or will it be the way of a mature, responsible and cooperative action, in which the humankind emerges as a compassionate and caring steward – for all the biological species, ecological systems, and our human sisters and brothers everywhere in the world?

I can tell you the answer to this question right away. If the COP-15 happens today, or tomorrow, we are doomed. The politicians’ minds are nowhere near the realisation of what has to be done – over the next 5–7 years – to save the planet from climate chaos. They are in denial, they are confused, they are blind, they are not ready. They try to negotiate with each other, but they don’t understand that the laws of physics and chemistry will not make political compromises with them. And they have no right to negotiate away our survival. Because “survival is not negotiable”, as a young Swedish activist Emma Lilliestam reminds us in her latest song that she wrote after having attended the UN climate talks in Poznań.

The good news is: there is time still. We still have these 120 days to try and make our political leaders to come to their senses and commit themselves to urgent actions that will take us back to the safe levels of CO2 in the atmosphere, below 350 ppm (today we are at 390 ppm and will probably hit 400 ppm in five years from now).

We also have a plan, a smart one.

On October 24th, that same Mohammed Nasheed will lead 349 other citizens of the Maldives Island, in full scuba diving gear, to host a symbolic action under the ocean’s surface. Same evening, on the other side of the world, three hundred and fifty swing dancers will host a huge party in Amsterdam, couples chanting “We need three hundred fifty!” as they move around the dance floor. Farther west, thousands of cyclists will ride their bikes through the streets of San Francisco, forming a giant 350 figure, that will get registered by GPS satellites orbiting the Earth. Climbers will plant flags with a number 350 in the Alps and Himalayas and 350 vegetarian paellas will be cooked in solar stoves in Barcelona. Will we gather enough energy and people to stage the actions all over the country, all over the world? I don’t have an answer, yet. But time is tcktcktck’ing – and I rely on you all, on your creativity and ability to organise, to find out the answer together on October 24th.

And this is the best news for all of us. We will need all our positive energy and enthusiasm to prepare as many actions on October 24th around Sweden as we only can. Even the smallest action in the most remote and isolated place in Sweden will make a big difference! On that day you and your friends can change history together. How many times before have you been given this chance? I believe that it comes only once in a generation’s lifetime.

Are you ready?

Links:

•    www.350.org
•    www.tcktcktck.org
• www.Avaaz.org
•    Project Survival on MySpace.com
•    Tällberg Foundation
•    Wake-Up Call

But it was something which happened almost one year ago in Montréal that created momentum to continuously inspire me throughout the year, including these latest efforts to organize Climate Manifestation in Lund, which became one of the three cities in Sweden where this November 4^th event was organized (two others being the biggest Swedish cities of Stockholm and Gothenburg). In order to make this manifestation a success, we had to build a coalition of several very different organizations united in one concern: to turn the public and a new government’s attention towards the catastrophic climate changes threatening all life on our planet. The most active in this coalition (which saw such unlikely allies as rival political parties from both left and right of the political spectrum, apolitical graduate students, and young anarchists) were the students’ environmental organization “Hållbart Universitet”, the students’ fraction of the Swedish Green Party “Gröna Studenter” in Lund, the environmental committee of the student union “Smålands Nation”, and, of course, my wonderful classmates from the LUMES programme. We were also lucky to get a support from the municipality of Lund, which is the most progressive municipal government in Sweden when it comes to the climate change mitigation and adaptation efforts. The fact, that one of the municipality’s officials was a Hållbart Universitet’s chairman several years ago, played its positive role too.

We set up a number of interactive “stations” where everyone could get more information on renewable sources of electricity, energy-saving tips, everyday solutions to combat the climate change, as well as taste cookies and cakes and take a couple of souvenirs like bike stickers and such… Meanwhile, the TV and newspaper reporters were busy recording the informative and inspirational speeches from representatives of the Lund University, municipality and the biggest environmental NGO in Sweden, SNF. The manifestation concluded in an hour and a half with a “bike music concert” (which went much better than I expected, it was more like real music than a random noise, mind you!), but even after that people didn’t hurry to leave the square – partially thanks to the sun which decided to appear from the clouds and to the “free hugs” action, which caused a lot of enthusiasm in a freezing crowd. All in all, it’s been a big success for all of us, so we could finally relax and celebrate it properly!

The very same evening some of us returned to the square to light candles (which supposedly saved some energy, if compared to the “baseline” of all of us sitting in our rooms with the lights on) to meditate on what’s going on with our precious planet and how many people across it were united today in their sincere desire to step from the destructive way of the modern society’s development onto a lighter and more sustainable one… I was feeling exhausted, but also very happy and calm: all the crazy time of our preparations has finally paid off big time.

The next day, having slept until noon, I went out to buy a fresh newspaper. In a biggest regional paper Sydsvenskan there was a report about the Campaign Against Climate Change on the second page with a photo from the demo in London, and a big article about our very own manifestation in the middle of Lund’s section.

Dear all!

I send a message from the country, where the Kyoto Protocol was born.

As you already know, climate change is a very important issue, which we, humankind, must seriously think about, starting immediately. In a very short run in the mankind’s history we destroyed a lot of things just for our comfort. The result being a situation in which our generations to follow won’t be able to live in peace. We absolutely must not make them victims of our idleness.

The problem of the planet is a problem of the world. To solve the problem it’s necessary that all peoples, all countries of the world work together. Only a part of the world isn’t enough. For this goal one needs to discuss the issue with the entire world. If the common language of the conference was English, then the discussion would go in favor of the English-speaking countries. It’s a great irony, that one must discuss these matters in the language of the United States, which refused the protocol and keeps on emitting a huge quantites of carbon dioxide.

The Kyoto Protocol is only the first step to solve the problem. We, especially a young generation, are capable to be a great force to improve the situation and save the planet. Go forward!

Sincerely,

Nori (SAITO Yoshinori)

Mesaĝo el Japanio

(verkita de Nori speciale por tiu ĉi blogo kaj publikigita de Oleg laŭ la peto de Nori)

Karaj!

Mi sendas mesaĝon el la lando, kie la Protokolo de Kioto naskiĝis.

Kiel vi jam scias, klimat-ŝanĝiĝo estas la gravega temo, kiun ni, homaro, devas tuj serioze pripensi. Dum tre mallonga periodo en la homara historio ni detruadis multajn aferojn kontraŭ oportuneco. Rezulte ni kreis la situacion, ke niaj postaj generacioj eĉ ne povos vivi trankvile. Ni absolute ne devas igi ilin vikitimoj de nia maldiligenteco.

La problemo de la terglobo estas la problemo de la mondo. Por solvi la problemon estas nepre bezonata, ke ĉiuj homoj, ĉiuj landoj en la mondo kunlaboras. Nur parto de la mondo tute ne sufiĉas. Por la celo oni bezonas diskuti la temon en la tuta mondo. Se la komuna lingvo estus la angla en la konferenco, la diskuto irus favore al la angla-parolantaj landoj. Estas ja granda ironio, ke oni devas diskuti en la lingvo de Usono, kiu rifuzis la protokolon kaj daŭre ellasas grandegan kvanton da karbona dioksido.

La protokolo de Kioto estas nur la unua paŝo por solvi la problemon. Ni, precipe juna generacio, kapablas esti granda forto por plibonigi la situacion kaj savi la terglobon. Antaŭen!

Sincere,

Nori (SAITO Yoshinori)

斎藤　義典