By forcing through the text without removing these loopholes, developed countries would be allowed to emit millions of tons of new carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gas emissions without accounting for them. This would lead to a major deviation from emissions reductions demanded by science and would have catastrophic consequences for developing countries and future generations.

International youth observers at the UN conference responded to the threat of the text being finalized with these disastrous loopholes by launching a campaign to alert negotiators to the irresponsibility and unacceptability of such a decision for young and future generations.

Danny (UKYCC) Hiding from the LULUCF Emissions Accountant

To begin the campaign on Tuesday morning, we greeted negotiators arriving for the day with a hide-and-seek game between youth dressed up as greenhouse gas emissions and inept emissions accountants unable to find them for lack of trying. The 12 of us dressed up as tonnes of greenhouse gases and hid behind trees and camoflauged themselves with twigs outside the conference center as negotiators arrived. Meanwhile, two fumbling accountants attempted half-heartedly to find and enter the hidden emissions into the books while engaging delegates to explain their inability to find the emissions, often in plain sight, given the problematic rules in the current text that make accounting voluntary.

Hannah (UKYCC), not very good at accounting for emissions

In the afternoon, we followed up with two more actions. First, we asked delegates to throw small balls, each labeled as a tonne of CO2, through a LULUCF loophole to “make them magically disappear”. Balls that made it through the loophole were met with boos. We, representing the youth and future generations, then had the burden of dealing with them, sometimes throwing them back with demands that every emission should be counted. Also in the afternoon, we hid small sheets of paper that said “Congratulations! You’ve just found one ton of hidden LULUCF emissions. Please bring it back to the 350.org/SustainUS booth so that it may be accounted for,” all around the conference center.

Delegates throw emissions through LULUCF loophole to be dealt with by young and future generations

On Wednesday, several youth carried a giant cardboard cut-out of a chainsaw through the Maritim Hotel, where the conference is taking place. With “LULUCF Logging Loopholes” written on it, the chainsaw represented a tool for deforestation without accountability for the emissions generated by it.

These logging loopholes in the negotiating text would allow developed countries to hide emissions so that they can pretend they are not there. But at the end of the day, these emissions from land use and forestry are still real greenhouse gases entering the atmosphere, and they need to be counted and reduced to help ensure a safe climate for today’s youth and for our children and grandchildren.

As part of our ongoing effort to help the environment, we have launched the “carbon credits” system. Every time you comment on a post on our blog we will give you 5 CARBON CREDITS.

Very soon we will open up our tree planting program, allowing you to exchange your credits to plant a tree or to participate in other meaningful actions.

So don’t wait any longer, CREATE AN ACCOUNT or LOG IN and start planting trees now!

This weekend I abandoned ship and took the train and bus home to Wales to try and recover from the month of hell that was coursework, mooting, work and everything law-related. The stability of my surroundings really made me think about what it is I am trying to achieve in this world, and it’s not just me who’s on the reflective path right now. I think almost the whole of the environmental movement are undergoing some self evaluation, even the UK Government is looking at the voting system!

Take me as an example, not even environmentally (for once), but I am studying law, solely to become an environmental lawyer, and there is no other way to do that except completing this degree. However my hellish month made me truly question what I was in it for. Why should I chase after the competitive and inevitably money-minded counterparts who I do my course with? Why should I feel inadequate next to their furtive information gathering and secret smiles on receiving their exam grades? (it is a bit like the UN) And the answer, after much thought (and some relief seeing as I have been working towards this for a while!) was that I want to be able to compete with them because then I know I am representing the environment in the best place possible. I need to be in the upper echelons if I want to create the change I am going to all this effort for. So it really should be worth the effort now, to make sure I get there. I do not however, condone work above everything else, and my bout of evaluation definitely clarified some small but very important priorities.

I am in this movement because I love life and the World that upholds it so much that I can’t bear to see it plundered and destroyed. Without the love for the things that make up my life I lack the core of inspiration that is what I need to convince others of my vision for a green future, and also, the inspiration to keep me going despite setbacks and failures. For me, if I don’t make time for love, music, exploring, food and other pleasures in my life I soon lose the will to live, and in truth, I am contradicting the reasons that I advocate the things that I do!

The UK Youth Climate Coalition is undergoing restructuring having evaluated their effectiveness over the year and a half it has been in existence. The co-directors Emma and Casper are handing over the reigns to give a new direction and focus to the Coalition.

Closer to home the Welsh Youth Forum on Sustainable Development faced up to the reality of whether it really is affecting the lives of young people in Wales. We concluded in the negative, and all of a sudden we have instigated systemic and drastic changes to shake us all up!

350.org are in a period of questioning their next moves, with Copenhagen over and done with, they are questioning whether 350 still the number the world needs to shout about or should they direct their campaigning talents elsewhere?

These are only 3 examples of many, but they are indicative of the vacuum that threatened to exist before Copenhagen, and has not become somewhat of a reality in Britain. Because although a lot of spirits are renewed by the collective efforts Copenhagen inspired, many campaigns were due to end by December 2009. So now what?

This is where you stop, take stock and have a breather to afford yourself more clarity.

Things get stagnant, volunteers and inspiration starts to flag, and without noticing it, you’re just not at the cutting edge where you want to be.

Some of the most important aspects of evaluation include governance structures-is your rep’s/board members/directors/partners/advisory board too impenetrable?! Are you actually doing the things that you say you/your organisation says its doing? How do you know? Do you get feedback from your target audience on your campaigns and methods of communicating messages? If not, maybe you should, because you’ll probably be surprised what hooked them.

I recently caught the biographical drama about Mo Mowlam on TV; having never really known anything about her, I was profoundly moved by Mo’s contribution to the negotiation of peace in Ireland. Her methods unorthodox, and all the while battling with cancer, she battled vile and degrading men, played them at their game and better, and won the nations hearts with her personality and capacity for honesty and modesty. (Not least calling Blair ‘babe’?! When I’m in that position I know I’ve made it.) When the wig that she had to wear got too hot or itchy, she’d whip it off-wherever she was.

One of my favourite quotes is: “If you haven’t been kissed by Mo in Northern Ireland, you must have been running hard in the opposite direction.” Admittedly however, it has been said that she confused her popularity with the public with her political popularity, which waned towards the end of her post in N.Ireland. She was offered posts by Blair that basically were a way to get her out of the way (Mayor of London anyone?), and although no one can guess what the cancer did to her way of thinking and life, if she just had had the capacity to stop and take stock, reassess her successes and failures, and then work on both, her political career could possibly have continued until her death in 2005…who knows.

So what’s in store to reassess for?

2010 is an important year.

Not in the same way that 2009-the year of Copenhagen was said to be, but in a much more tangible sense.

Copenhagen has marked the line that gives us a boundary on which to work on to achieve a global effort to battle climate change-in whatever form that takes, UN or no UN. Copenhagen was seen as this pie-in-the-sky summit that everyone was outwardly pinning all our hopes on so as to try and create a political reality out of a vision, despite being inwardly sceptical of any deal being achieved.

The world’s biggest ever summit of world leaders produced an accord that takes with it countries responsible for 80% of the world’s emissions, compared to the Kyoto Protocol which only has the potential to regulate 30% of global emissions. Significant amounts of money were laid on the table for adaptation and mitigation in developing countries- $30 billion USD between 2010 and 2012. But a lot of this money has been redirected from existing aid budgets! (Yes, inc. Gordon Brown) And nothing legal was in any sense produced, whilst removing the date for a legally binding deal in 2010!

Despite the good and the bad of the accord it has to be acknowledged that this accord was negotiated by a select group called the ‘friends of the chair’. Amounting to a sum total of 24 countries out of the 194 party to the UNFCCC which are supposed to be PART OF THE PROCESS! This move caused an absolute uproar the next morning, as the Danish Government chairing the negotiations brought the accord ‘out of the sky’. Countries like Tuvalu, Bolivia and some other vocal developing countries who hadn’t been involved were outraged that after all these collective negotiations, all the hard work and all-nighters had culminated in a document they were meant to sign that they had had no input into whatsoever.

Surely this is diplomatic suicide on the part of the Danish Government hosting the talks? In consensus (which the UN uses) convening a meeting with the most powerful countries in the room, which form a minority should not be able to drown out the numbers of those left out. Very undemocratically however, currently that is the direction on the UNFCCC. Which is why a lot of people are saying the sheer numbers of countries involved means that an agreement could never feasibly be reached…I understand their view, the anger, hurt and determination on every side was tangible in the plenary halls of Copenhagen, calls for better transparency frequently rang out and disrupted negotiations. The calls were met with impatience from the PM of Denmark who just wanted to ‘get on with the job’. Obviously he will never have a career in diplomacy because he should have realised that countries will not cooperate and participate in negotiations is they do not feel heard or if they disapprove of the process. Trust is the essence of willing participation. Without some serious mediation and ‘team-building’ (I’m not even joking!) I really don’t foresee an ambitious and legally binding deal that includes every country, coming out of Mexico (COP16).

Has the failure of Copenhagen, as the pinnacle of possibility, indicated the need for a change in tactics and process akin to that of UKYCC and WYFSD? Is the lumbering body of the UN capable of accommodating such change? (I would think not having experienced their inabilities and shortfalls so far, but that’s only an observation!)

So where are you at? Bored?

Start by voting to change British Politics: www.power2010.org.uk

Continue by getting involved in the British campaigning discourse: www.38degrees.org.uk is hosting discussions and a consultation on where they campaign next….

If you are interested in attending future UNFCCC negotiations yourself, to support under represented countries, get in touch with us via www.unfairplay.info

Filed under: Actions, COP 15, Environment, Lifestyle, My side of life, Politics, UN Climate Change Negotiations

Image Source: PicasaWeb

Ever since we heard about the destruction of the Ady Gil and Sea Shepherd’s attempts to take legal action against Japan, they seemed to have slipped out of the news. Well, that isn’t entirely so.

Last Friday (January 15, 2010), they decided to take legal action one step further. The Ady Gil is basically from New Zealand and apparently, under the New Zealand Crimes Act of 1961, a citizen holds the power to serve an arrest warrant for any suspected crime that carries a penalty of more than 8 years imprisonment. Captain Pete Bethune decided to take the law into his own hands by attempting to serve the Japanese captain a warrant, in accordance with the terms that fall under the Act.

For anyone who may be behind in the Sea Shepherd/Whale Wars news, earlier this month, one of the Japanese ships deliberately changed course and plowed right into (possibly even on top of) the Ady Gil. The bow of the ship was destroyed, the ship has sunk to the ocean depths, and at least one Ady Gil crew member was injured. The whalers (especially the ship to blame, Shonan Maru No. 2) are taking absolutely no responsibility for the incident, and Sea Shepherd has been trying to take legal action against them, including filing piracy charges through the Dutch government.

Obviously, the Japanese aren’t going to let any of the Sea Shepherd crew sail right up to them, especially for the purpose of handing over a warrant. So, Bob Barker (the latest addition to the fleet) surprised, chased and engaged the Shonan Maru No. 2. This lasted for 4 hours and all the while the Shonan Maru No. 2 kept running away. Could this possibly be because they know they are in the wrong and don’t want to get caught or deal with their problem?

One other thing I should mention about this little game of cat and mouse (or whale and fish), a smaller boat was also used to sneak up on the Japanese ship. Bob Barker was simply used so the Sea Shepherd crew could order the Japanese to stop and submit to arrest for the crime of attempted murder on the Ady Gil crew. Needless to say, the Japanese never stopped; however, resorting to running away (again) also cost them precious time and speed.

Oh, and we even get to put another black mark on the Japanese whaling record. During the chase and attempt to issue the warrant of arrest, there was absolutely nothing being done by the Sea Shepherd crew. They weren’t throwing “stink bombs”, they weren’t trailing ropes or trying to cause any form of sabotage, harm or other interference with the Shonan Maru No. 2. I can’t speak of such things when it comes to Japan. As usual, they resorted to the use of LRADs (Long Range Acoustic Devices, several high-pressure water cannons, and evasive maneuvers. It is also said that some of the Shonan Maru No. 2 crew were wearing cylinders on their backs attached to [unidentified] hand-held devices resembling weapons.

Well, whalers of Japan, you certainly seem to be on a roll this time. Let’s see, you are hunting whales in a protected sanctuary. You chased the Sea Shepherd crew through French territorial waters without seeking or getting any permission from the French. You intentionally destroyed a ship and injured a crew member. And you are evading the law and legal process. Oh, and how many of the whales will you be taking that are an endangered species this time?

At this point, we can only hope that Sea Shepherd will be able to put a stop to the slaughter and the Japanese whalers will be brought to justice. It is unclear how much backing or help Sea Shepherd will receive from any government at this point, but they certainly have the support of the people and that’s what really matters.

By Heidi Marshall

Test action

I found this video at the Dance for the Climate website. Essentially, you get a bunch of people together, coordinate a dance, and film it.

Check out the video with 12,000 Belgians asking us to GET MOVING.

I spent months helping prepare policy briefs on adaptation, plan how the SustainUS communications team would interface with policy and actions, and set up a framework for the international youth communications and media production teams to work within at COP. My personal (unaffiliated) involvement in yesterday’s unapproved sit-in inside the Bella Center was a transition into a new activist life outside of the COP-15 conference center.

In the end, we held our sit-in for nine hours. At around 2am, we walked away voluntarily (in some senses of the word), because the UNFCCC Secretariat and the security guards communicated an ultimatum to us: if they had to physically remove us, all 300 NGO observers (reduced from 7,000 allowed in on Tuesday and Wednesday) would be banned from entry. Three hundred is a paltry sum compared to the total number of accredited NGO observers (around 20,000), but it is far better than zero.

We were concerned about the silencing of civil society voices, and considered being arrested to show this concern. However, we agreed that to silence our voices further would hurt, not help the chances for a fair, ambitious, and legally binding deal. We were holding our sit-in to share this ask, signed by over 12 million people now, with negotiators and press in the Bella Center. We were therefore not willing to further reduce the already small chances for success in achieving this real deal in Copenhagen by allowing the UNFCCC to use our sit-in as an excuse to shut out civil society completely.

Our procession out of the Bella Center was bittersweet, mostly bitter. The sit-in had been a great success in some ways: gaining tons of media attention, engendering more smiles and thumbs up than we’d seen in the last 10 days in the Bella Center combined, and giving all of us an uplifting feeling as we realized we were not only supporting something we believed in but were also concurrently supported by millions of people including friends in the youth climate movement back in the US, official country delegates, and of course John Kerry. But as we left, we knew our impact inside the Bella Center was over, and with stalled negotiations over unacceptable texts, it felt like we hadn’t achieved enough.

But today was a new day. I woke up rejuvenated after five and a half ours of sleep (I’ve been averaging around six hours/night – better than I’d expected). This movement is still growing. Although we’re closer to tripping over climate tipping points with each delay of a binding, science-based treaty, this movement is going to continue. With added urgency to mitigate climate change and added need to help affected communities adapt to changes we can no longer avoid, the undercurrent I’m feeling among (my mostly new) friends here is that it is time to bring this movement to a new level. International Youth Climate Movement version 2.0.

Today, I fasted in solidarity with three Climate Justice Fasters who are now on day 42 (!!!) of a water-only fast. This cleanse is also a symbolic clearing of my system as I prepare for a new kind of involvement in an improved movement.

Tomorrow, I will continue (that is, unless I chicken out) down this path of a symbolic restart by shaving my head with a group of other activists in front of the Bella Center. Other things shaving my head could possibly end up symbolizing include: the ugly negotiating process, the bad decisions made by negotiators, or the catastrophic changes that unabated climate change could bring about. Those are risks I’m willing to take, though, because if the shave does turn out horribly, it will be, as the Climate Justice Fast was explained to me, a form of penance for being a part of the problem and not effective enough as part of the solution til now. At the same time, though, my shaved head will provide a promise of new growth – personally, in the movement, and for the world – to help us rise up above the challenges we have created for ourselves.

Life goes on and we will not let it pass us by. We won’t just sit and wait for a fair, ambitious, and legally binding deal. We will make it happen.

Posted in Actions, COP 15, Environment, UN Climate Change Negotiations, Videos

At one point, someone came by and said “thank you for all that you’re doing” and I looked up and it was Senator John Kerry. I reached out my hand and said “thank YOU!” and he continued down the rest of the line of us shaking everyone’s hand.

Later, we saw Dessima Williams, the Chair of AOSIS from Grenada. She told us that in 1998 she took part in an 8-day sit-in at the Commission on Social Development to call for reductions in military spending right here in the Bella Center!

I’ll sign out for now – check It’s Getting Hot in Here for live-blogging from our awesome support crew sitting at the tables behind us!

Most of the SustainUS delegation are currently inside the Bella Center, where the UN climate change negotiations, COP-15, have been taking place despite increasing limits on civil society involvement at the talks.

Outside, the Reclaim Power march reportedly has 5,000 or so marchers headed towards the Bella Center. Accredited NGOs Friends of the Earth, AVAAZ, and TckTckTck have had their accreditation suspended and were removed from the Bella Center. This may be related to a peaceful demonstration that was carried out in the Bella Center yesterday without the approval of the UNFCCC Secretariat, but the details are unclear.

Meanwhile, some folks leaving the Bella Center reportedly have been arrested pre-emptively in case they are planing to join the Reclaim Power protest. And there’s rumor that the Youth Convergence space, a workspace for accredited youth outside of the Bella Center, has been visited/raided/??? by the Danish Police. What!?

I don’t know what is going on, but this is all ridiculous.