How amazing is it, that we are here!
NZYD Group Photo
It’s hard to know where to start! This weekend we had COY conference, which is the Conference of Youth. There were about 600 youth gathered from all corners of the globe, youth who, like us, were either attending Cop15 through an NGO (non governmental organization), or were sticking around for the next two weeks to become a part of the masses of protests, parallel conferences, displays and events that are happening around Copenhagen city in relation to climate change. The buzz of the city is amazing. Everywhere you walk, something environment-related can be seen, from the melting ice polar bear set up by the WWF, to the giant lit-up Christmas tree outside city hall powered by stationary bikes that passerby’s have a “play on”.
It is all a very interesting and confusing atmosphere. The COY conference was very useful in the fact that it gave some very hard and fast science of climate change, and policy of Cop, facts to follow. I found it particulary useful to touch up on topics I am not as much familiar about as some of the others in the group, ie, I attended workshops on Adaptation strategys, as well as Carbon Trading and Clean Development Mechanisms. And while these were both very useful, they also generated a feeling of disappointment in me. Disapointment in society and our way of life for these problems to arise in the first place. Disapointment with the pattern of negotiation process which has been seen at previous Cops and is likely to be seen here this year. Disapointment in our governments, as they are literally playing “God” with peoples lives, whole communitys and environments. As an Aussie Youth Delegation member very simply said, “It’s like seeing the developed countries hand over a bag of money saying, ‘sorry about the mitigation, here’s a little something for the adaptation’”.
On the other hand, the feeling of having an amazing global group unite on a shared passion is extremely inspiring. Talking to young people that have taken local environmental issues and really stuck in, determined to make a difference, lifts your heart and tells you that there is hope! It reminds you to stay positive even in the worst of times because there are so many caring people in the world. The climate change issue is not yours alone, the weight is shared on the shoulders of hundreds of thousands of volunteers worldwide, combining their voice to bring strength to Copenhagen 2009, and pressuring our world leaders to make a fair and effective deal to combat climate change.
The mix of emotions is sometimes difficult to deal with as, on a day-to-day basis, I will experience many ups and downs, which tires one quite easily. Hence the reason I will now leave this blog to be and rest my head to prepare myself for tomorrow, another promising day at the United Nations Climate Change Summit!
