Wongderful Adventures in Hopenhagen

Reflections of Wongderful Adventures in Brokenhagen

2010-01-29T15:10:00.001-08:00

Chaos at COP15! (Photo courtesy of Farhad Pocha)

Ah, that's better. The 2009 Climate Change Science and Policy Field School Class at COP15. (Courtesy of Farhad)

Friday 29 January 2010

It's been over a month since the end of COP15 and our ANU course. I'm in New York City, staying with my host family from my high school exchange. It's been almost five years since that experience and I'm still reflecting on how that experience has affected me and shaped my subsequent experiences. Similarly, I am sure that my experiences at COP15 will continue to be a part of me and impact me in unforseen ways. I experienced so much during those brief two weeks.

ANU Course

I would not have been in Copenhagen at COP15 without ANU, Janette, Kiri, Shannon and the Climate Change Science and Policy Field School. It was the best ANU course I have ever taken. I feel like I can say that definitively because of all that I learnt in such a brief period of time. I only wish that more university courses were "hands on". Laura said on the day of our presentations, "I've learnt more in this two week course than I have in the past four years of my degree." If you substitute "two years" into the "four years" part, I would agree! I also really enjoyed my classmates' company. I loved the conversations we had about climate change and not climate change.

As an Asian Studies/Law student, most of my courses are very specific and examine aspects of the law and Asia. It was refreshing to take a science and policy course on climate change, an issue we have not covered in any of my other courses in my degree. As I'm in the United States at the moment, I have been catching up with old friends from my school I went to on exchange and meeting other young Americans. Many of them are at university taking general undergraduate degrees. Prior to taking ENVS3001, I thought their degrees very broad and somewhat of a waste of time. What is the point of doing general courses if you know what you want to study? After experiencing ENVS3001, I really understand the value of a general, undergraduate degree where you have the opportunity to take a variety of courses. It is good for the brain to be stretched in different directions through different areas of study. It is good for the student not to be locked into studying one, specific area, generally at the age of 18 or 19. It has been good for me to learn as much as I can about a variety of different issues surrounding climate change. It engages me with the world and allows me to approach my speciality, Asian Studies and Law, from other angles. For example, now I am interested in studying International Environmental Law. When I go on exchange to China, I would be interested in getting involved with the Chinese Youth Climate Coalition.

Taking the pre-requisite course, Climate Change Science and Policy was a solid introduction to some of the issues of climate change. It covered the science of climate change which I believe is an important foundation for people interested in climate change (which should be everyone!). It also gave us an introduction to some aspects of climate change policy. I know I will spend my whole life learning about climate change because it is such an enormous issue. (As an aside, I met a girl at COP15 who is taking a minor in climate change at her American university. I am surprised I have not heard of an undergraduate climate change major at any Australian university.) But taking this follow up course provided me with the opportunity to really get a crash course in climate change science and policy.

What I learnt

In the two weeks, I learnt about technology transfer from a student from ETH Zurich whom I met at the IARU day; I learnt about the Clean Development Mechanism from a girl from India who is involved with the implementation of CDM in her region; I learnt about the UNFCCC process from a French law student who specialises in international environmental law; I learnt about Australia's ETS, its strategy to divide the Liberal Party and its flaws from an Australian guy who is writing his thesis on it; I learnt about the Yasuni Initiative from a Dutch girl who is in Ecuador working on the project; I learnt about REDD and LULUCF from The Wilderness Society, Masters and PhD students, Indigenous people who have directly been affected by the programs. Getting involved in the International Youth Forest Working Group was the best thing I did at COP15. Not only did I learn so much about forests, Indigenous rights, REDD and LULUCF, I was also able to closely track the REDD negotiations at COP15. It provided me with an opportunity to see how NGOs lobby negotiators; I saw how a text can evolve; I saw how NGOs can get their text into the official text; I learnt that lobbying involves not only talking to delegates but also doing actions, dressing up in silly costumes, singing songs, standing in silence, using the media and encouraging as many people as possible to learn about the issue and lobby people they know.

I learnt about different countries' attitudes towards tackling climate change. I learnt about great Dutch recycling programs for all households. I learnt about the terrible Canadian tarsands. I learnt about how my friend from Zimbabwe does not know when the rain will come which affects his family's ability to grow crops. These are just a snapshot of the conversations I had about climate change policy with other young people at COP15.

I also learnt so much from the side events and workshops I attended at COP15. There were so many to choose from every single day. I also learnt from speeches I heard from university lecturers, UNICEF, UNITAR, international lawyers, scientists, activists, young people and some of the global leaders of climate change including Al Gore, Dr. Rajendra Pachauri (Chair of the IPCC), Ban Ki-Moon (UN Secretary General), Yvo De Boer (Executive Secretariat of the UNFCCC), Laurence Pollier (UNFCCC Secretariat for Youth at COP15) and other scientists, academics and policy makers from universities around the world.

I learnt about inspiring initiatives from every corner of the world ranging from: 350ppm campaigns, roadtrips through different countries with the aim of learning and engaging about climate change, the use of technology and the internet to link up broader civil society to COP15 and climate change movements, Global North fundraising for the Global South to come to COP15, the list goes on and on.

I learnt you can learn things from everyone and I learnt that the more people and experiences you engage with, the more you learn. For example, it was only through making friends with other young people at COP15 that I heard about the Penny Wong briefing five minutes prior to it beginning.

Perhaps most importantly I learnt that climate change is something that doesn't end at COP15. Climate change is something me, my friends, my generation and future generations will be dealing with for our lifetimes. The earlier more people start to learn about and engage with it, the better. Because the reality is that we will all have to learn about and engage with it throughout our lifetimes.

Official Negotiations and Outcome

The official negotiations were a joke. I was so embarrassed to be at a conference which wasted so many peoples' time and resources. Don't get me wrong, I got a lot out of COP15 and I'm sure many of the participants did. In fact, I would argue that one of the best things to come out of COP15 was the global climate change movement of civil society and the momentum COP15 gave it.

But in terms of the official negotiations, I was shocked at the way they worked. I was shocked at the stalling techniques that different countries (developed and developing) used. If you read a couple of the blog entries I wrote during the conference, you'll be able to see the particular examples I am talking about. I was shocked at Australia's negotiators and I was embarrassed to be an Australian at the conference. Going to COP15 has made me very interested in climate change and the global movement. Going to COP15 has also made me very disinterested in ever working for the Department of Climate Change.

I went into COP15 hearing that a legally binding deal would not come out of the conference. I spent the whole conference hoping that would not be the case. But indeed, a very, very weak deal came out of COP15. It is "politically binding" which means countries can commit to voluntary targets. They are supposed to announce their commitments by February 1 so I will be interested to see what happens with that. I was unimpressed at China and the US. Both of them knew they would be instrumental in getting a strong deal at COP15 and used it to their advantage to manipulate the situation in favour of themselves. The commentaries say REDD was the "feel good" story of COP15 because there was an improvement in the REDD text. I don't think it is acceptable for negotiators and heads of state to hide behind something like REDD which is really just one, small aspect of tackling climate change. All in all, the official negotiations and outcome were very disappointing.

Blog

I was secretly delighted when I saw the assessment for this course. I have kept a diary since we had to keep a "Year 1 holiday journal" in 1995 for school. I would have kept a diary regardless of whether or not I was being assessed on it. I like writing during something intense like COP15 so I can gather my thoughts throughout the conference. I like writing so that after the fact I can go back and read about how I was feeling and what I experience from my perspective. I also like the idea that one day, in twenty or thirty years, I will be able to look back on an experience with a biased clarity! Even re-reading my blog has been revealing. For example, you can see the emotional rollercoaster of COP15 and how tired, jubilant, disheartened, enthusiastic, excited, shocked, overwhelmed I was during COP15, reflected in my blog entries.

Since I have never kept a blog before, I was apprehensive but decided the blog format would be the best format for my digital diary and would provide me with the opportunity to learn a new set of skills. And learn a new set of skills I did! I learnt how to upload videos onto Youtube, use Google's Picasa, use blogger.com and use Google search to teach it all to me! I'm really happy I decided to use a blog rather than just a Word document which is something I can already do. Who knows, maybe I'll keep this blog for future Wongderful adventures!

Report

This reflection sounds really corny but I have never enjoyed writing a paper as much as the paper I am currently writing. It was been really difficult as I am still travelling and have been lugging around a backpack worth of materials from COP15 for my report. It has also been difficult to find time to write the report as I've been staying with different friends and family and there's always something to distract me. But once I sit down to write, I enjoy being able to write about first hand experiences. I enjoy not having to constantly refer to academic literature. I enjoy being able to tie in different aspects of COP15 into my report – side events, workshops, activities, negotiation sessions, etc.

The most enjoyable aspect of the report has been the opportunity for me to interview people for it. I started doing interviews informally at the Conference of the Youth (COY) before COP15 even started. I continued chatting to people about my topic, Youth Participation, throughout COP15. I made some contacts including the UNFCCC Secretariat for Youth at COP15, Seb who was the primary driver of YOUNGO receiving youth constituency for the first time at COP15 and Aiden who was the one paid employee of YOUNGO, YOUNGO's community catalyst. Post COP15, I have been in frequent contact with these three people and I have also emailed and skyped with several other people who are heavily involved in the international youth climate movement (IYCM). I have been so touched at how much time people have given me. Some people have literally given me hours and hours of their time.

I've been learning a lot for my report but I have also been learning about the history and nature of the IYCM. The more I learn, the more I realise how enormous it is. The more I learn, the more I realise how many different ways you can get involved. One aspect of my report is about capacity building, particularly for the Global South. One element of this is collecting documents from different youth networks about the basics of climate change, the history of the IYCM, the structure of YOUNGO, etc. Aiden was telling me how much difficulty he has been having collecting the documents to put into a quasi database. Something I am quite interested in doing after this report is uploading the data I have collected for this report onto the IYCM website or google group or wikiportal.

Overall, I feel overwhelmed by my report. The topic is so much bigger than I initially thought. It is ironic I was concerned that focussing on "youth" would be too limiting! There is a lot of information out there, just so long as you know where to look! It isn't the places we are taught to research in - it isn't in the usual places like online databases, academic journals and libraries. Rather, it is through word of mouth, emailing, following up the emails, skyping and connecting people who have been involved in the movement for much longer than I have! I feel like I could write a thesis on the topic I have chosen. I actually would be interested in doing further research on the topic if the opportunity presented itself.

Conclusion

As I said at the beginning of this post, I experienced so much that I am still processing it all and know I will process it for many months to come. I should probably write another reflection post in six months or so.

What now? I want to get involved at a local level, maybe through the ANU Environmental Collective. I am interested in doing an ANUGreen Internship. Things are constantly changing and developing in climate change and I would like to keep learning about it all. I'm excited!

COP15 By Numbers

2010-01-19T20:38:00.001-08:00

This was taken from Scanorama – the Scandinavian Airlines Magazine 12/01: Editor in Chief Per Olsson. Special Advertising Supplement COP15: Editor Jorgen Hog. I read it on the plane from Copenhagen to Paris. I think it provides a good overview of COP15.

Bella Center – 76 000 square metres (including four newly-built pavilions providing an extra 10 000 square metres)
IT – 2400 PCs and 700km of cables
Security – Approximately 6000 of Denmark's 11 000 police will be involved with the COP
Food and Drink – 100 000 meals, 11 restaurants, 65% of all food served is organic
Accommodation – 'Stay for Free' Programme run by the New Life Copenhagen Organisation (www.houseing.cop15.dk and www.newlifecopenhagen.com)
Transport – 150 limousines for official VIP transport, 150 minivans to escort VIP convos; free public transport for other delegates
No gift policy – even minister to minster gifts have been banned – 11 Climate Scholarships for fully financed two year Master's degree in various climate and energy sciences at Danish universities

YOUNGO at COP15 Wraps Up

2010-01-19T20:28:00.001-08:00

Sunday 20 December 2009

We had the YOUNGO Wrap-Up event today. It was a half-day event held where the Conference of the Youth was held. We reflected on the youth movement from Poznan until now; the past two weeks; the role of YOUNGO; YOUNGO's shared vision; the influence of YOUNGO in decision making and negotiations; improvements and suggestions for COP16; what we are going to do riding on the momentum of COP15; what we are going to do back at home.

YOUNGO group debrief session at the place where it all began with COY!

Some really interesting things came out of the small group discussions. The Youth Forest WG seemed to get really positive responses from all who were members – Maya said it was the best thing she did and Swati said for the first three days of COP15 she was feeling really lost until she found YFWG. Bruno said all policy groups should aim to be like YFWG but lamented that that would require multiple "Gemmas" who knew the policy, were creative, could mobilise youth and were passionate about what we were doing.

We spoke about developing mentoring roles for the next COP because one of the problems of youth movements is that they are very mobile. We spoke about building up more partnerships between the Global North and Global South – like Britain/Kenya; Australia/Pacific Islands. There was mention of India/Maldives; US/Caribbean. There were ideas about going home and having a film screening and Q&A about our experiences at COP15; using all sorts of festivals to spread the message of climate change like "Love the climate" on Valentine's Day.

After the small group discussions, we came together to hear from Lina about the focal points, we sang about world peace (sometimes YOUNGO sounds corny on paper but it always seems to work at the time) and then had a free vegetarian buffet which was delicious. During the buffet I looked around the room and saw about 50 people sitting around, sharing lunch. I had met several of the group at Conference of the Youth and others throughout the two weeks inside the Bella Centre. There were others that I hadn't yet met. But I couldn't believe how empowered everyone was to be at the wrap-up event after everything we had experienced and the sleepless nights many had had working on youth policy, actions, logistics, events and other unexpected things that popped up from the COP.

And we're all still here, alive and eating!

We had a great conversation at our table with Paul Ferris, Ron from Malaysia, Bruno, Anna from Sweden and me about the youth movement and such things. I've written notes which I think I'll use in my final report. Paul mentioned I should post my final report on the unfccc_youth google group but I said I intimidated. He said I should just put a disclaimer on it and even if it is rubbish, it'll be more of a reflection than most other people.

Kirk from New Zealand and I walked home together and I went to meet Shaun and Meg who were at a Christmas service at Marie Kirche near Central Station.

My second church service in two weeks - and I'm not even religious. Sitting through a service conducted entirely in another language is particularly conducive to naval gazing!

Quotes:

Meg:

"So you get an Australian Military Medal after four years. La-aa-me"

"Bloody random .... goddamn random"

"Since getting married, you learn to not care what people think. I don't really give a shit anymore."

"Then the bitch chief said to pretty officer ..."

Shaun: "Maybe you should write a blog for yourself ... I don't know if Janette needs to know about the scary guy, us not knowing how to use the washing machines, almost running off without paying ..."

Possible research topics for next time:

Nuclear (is it being talked about?; anti campaigns; etc.)
Fossil of the Day plus reactions
Supreme Master Vegan and other outside campaigns, impacting on the inside
Following the media back home and what they choose to focus on
Women and gender
Children and babies
Girl Guides/Scot movement – linked into something bigger
Blockage and strategies used in negotiations (eg. Saudi Arabia)
Unexpected issues that arise during the conference eg. Lockout in Week 2 – impact it has on NGOs, civil society – stifling of voices and debate

Protect Indigenous Rights. Watch Avatar.

2010-01-19T20:16:00.001-08:00

Saturday 19 December 2009

I think I ran myself into the ground over the past two weeks. I woke up feeling not so good and spent the day sleeping a cold off. We went to see Avatar this evening. Avatar was surprising pertinent to COP15. Meg came along which facilitated particularly interesting discussion since Meg's topic was about Indigenous people.

Avatar the movie provides insightful commentary on the struggle of Indigenous people to have their rights to the forests recognised. Sounds like something else I've been learning about!

Avatar is about a planet which humans want to mine however there are Indigenous people who live in the forests. Some of the issues raised in the film related to issues raised during the COP15 about Indigenous peoples' rights, whether there should be a Declaration of the Mother Earth (like Bolivia suggested), reasons to protect the world's forests, how greed seems to corrupt developed societies. It made me think about how Indigenous people have lived off the land and the forests for hundreds of thousands of years and now we want to pay them to do so because they need to sell their forests for monetary gain. It made me think about how agriculture requires non-forest land. It made me think about how most developed countries have cut down almost all their forests and now expect developing countries to save their forests in order to sequester carbon and help curb global emissions. Oh the inequality!

Reflections at the Laundromat Cafe

2010-01-19T20:13:00.001-08:00

Friday 18 December 2009

We all slowly tumbled out of bed this morning feeling the effects of last night! Our bombshell of a room slowly improved as we began to pack up. We said our goodbyes and Shaun and I headed to the Laundromat Cafe to do some much needed laundry.

It became an all day ordeal when we got there – the place was mainly cafe with four washing machines and two dryers. I think it was much more expensive to do the laundry here than it would have been down the street but the vibe was great and we had lunch and hot chocolates while waiting. It's quite a creative business venture and if the youth hostels in Canberra didn't have laundries attached to them, I'd be tempted to set up a Laundromat Cafe back home!

We lugged our luggage back to the bus stop. While we waited for the bus, a scary guy started talking to us. I never know how to handle it when people who are intimidating start harassing you. On the one hand, they clearly want you to engage and we couldn't really walk away, but at the same time, once we started engaging, he got right up into our faces and told us that climate change was up to God, Allah or whoever we believe in and we were wasting our time in Copenhagen. This really has been two weeks of a plethora of opinions on how to (or not) take action on climate change!

We got on our bus and finally got to our hotel where we dumped our stuff and went to have dinner with Phoebe, Bella, Meg, Jasmin, her boyfriend Mark, Simon and Marcus. A week previous, we had trekked halfway around Kongens Nortov to try to find "Cantina Workshop" only for it to be completely packed when we got there. We had been meaning to go back since but hadn't gotten around to it. The meal was pretty great – very authentic Asian fusion.

Phoebe, Shaun, Jasmine and I were reflecting on life changing experiences and whether this had been one. I agreed with Phoebe when she said it was too early to tell and she would have to reflect in 6 months on it. We spoke about how some life changing experiences come from the most unexpected places like random, part time jobs or meeting a particular person. But without a doubt, I have learnt so much over the past 10 days.

In her thank you speech on behalf of all of us to Janette, Laura said she learnt more in this 10 day course than all her other 20 courses at university combined. I'd have to somewhat echo this sentiment. I have never met so many young people from so many different countries. But not only were they from so many different countries, they were from such diverse backgrounds within their own countries.

I've learnt more about forests and LULUCF and REDD than I ever thought I would know. I've learnt about CDM and some of the challenges faced by low lying islands. I've learnt that I never want to be an Australian negotiator. I've learnt that there are many ways you can go out into the world and do good. I've learnt that we can each make a little difference, even if it is just dressing up as an elf and singing Christmas carols. I've learnt about the power of a mass movement like the youth movement. I've learnt I have so much to learn. I've learnt about the complexities of climate change and how much more I have got to learn!

Class Presentations

2010-01-19T20:02:00.001-08:00

Thursday 17 December 2009

This morning we set off to the University of Copenhagen to do our class presentations. It took a while to get there as the Metro was snowed in so we had to change metros a couple of times. Tom and a couple of others got really into the snowball fights! Poor Bella seemed miserable because she had a cold and we were out amongst the elements for a while!

You can take the protestors out of the Bella Centre but you can't take the protestors away from the Bella Centre!

Freezing on the metro platform!

We made it to the University of Copenhagen campus in Freidrisberg. There were a couple of students and a professor from the University of Copenhagen who sat in and listened to a couple of the presentations.

I was really excited to hear about everyone's different projects. I'd heard about what a couple of people were doing when speaking to them over the past week or so (and Bella, Jasmin, Meg and me had spoken at the end of most days about what we saw and experienced) but I hadn't heard about everyone's projects.

Climate change is such an enormous issue and you could study it for your whole life and still not know everything. As a result, everyone had very different topics which were all fascinating in their own way. I was surprised that there were three themes which quite a number of people focussed on: climate justice; NGOs; Reducing Emissions through Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD). Although, upon reflection, these were three areas that were very prominent through the COP. The most vulnerable countries had quite a presence at the COP, there were so many NGOs that they got locked out of the COP in the second week and REDD was the "feel good" story of the COP.

I liked that the presentations were somewhat grouped together based on categories. As a result, we were able to hear about the complexity of each issue. For example, Laura, Luke and Shaun were all exploring different aspects of climate justice. Meg is looking at Indigenous rights (but not really REDD) whereas Rob is looking at Indigenous perspectives and REDD. Fern and Karen are both examining REDD while Phoebe and Alexei are looking at Environmental NGOs whose focus seemed to be REDD at this conference.

I really enjoyed hearing about topics I had no idea about. I had never heard of geoengineering prior to Anita's presentation. Likewise, I found Erik's topic on renewables and Farhad's topic on international aviation completely new. There were a couple of topics I wish I could have done! For example, Michael's topic on 350 – he looked at the 350 movement, the science behind 350, the effect of 350 (or lack thereof) on oceans, etc. I though Marcus gave an great speech and his topic had quite a bit of overlap with what I had originally set out to explore so it was interesting to hear about what might have been my project!

Nevertheless, after hearing all the presentations, I was still happy with my choice of topic. Everyone approached the course with very different goals – some really wanted to learn about the science, others wanted to connect with NGOs, others still wanted to learn about the negotiating process. I really wanted to connect with other youth from around the world. My topic was very conducive to achieving this goal.

Overall, I thought listening to the presentations was one of the most engaging aspects of the two weeks. It may sound odd because we have experienced so many amazing things. But reflection is really important and both listening to the other presentations and giving my presentation were very conducive to reflecting on the crazy two weeks. The sandwiches we had from the student run "Greenhouse Cafe" were also the best sandwiches I had ever had in my life.

Lunch break during the presentations. The University of Copenhagen generously hosted us.

Crazy Will goes stir crazy! I've enjoyed chatting to Will. He's become much more than just an adversary who always asks the hard questions to our guest lecturers in class. He was explaining to me the Greens policy of no compromise the other day. I've always been perplexed at why the Greens don't work with Labor for a stronger ETS but Will said that's not the point of the Greens. If they compromised, they wouldn't be the Greens anymore. They would become the Labor Party.

After the presentations, a group of us headed to the Hard Rock Cafe for drinks. I had a lovely chat with Laura and Anita, two people I hadn't really gotten to know previously. Erik was telling me about his Masters and his work. One thing I've really enjoyed about this course are the variety of people I've had the opportunity to engage with. I've never taken a course with such a diverse group of people from different backgrounds.

After the presentations, Karen gave us a great piece of advice to those of us who have never had a full time job. She said to do what we enjoy because you never know where that will lead you. It's something you hear quite frequently but hearing it from someone who has experienced it and someone I respect is much more meaningful.

But I digress – we went to some amazing steak house for the last supper before everyone dispersed around the globe. Anita and Kiri made a "Most likely list" (some of the ones I remember were):

Luke: Mr Tough guy

Shaun: Most likely to go to bed wearing his registration tag

Isabela: Most Bogan

Michael: Most unexpected hippie

Meg: Most likely to marry Desmond Tutu

Sarah: Most likely to find Nemo

Tom: Most Koala

Steph, Jo, Molly: Most under the radar

Jahla: Most awake

Michelle: Most asleep

Most likely to make Erik to sleep on the floor: Shannon, Grant, Farhad

Alexei: Man of the people

Sue-Lin/Phoebe: Most likely to get arrested

Joel: Mr Photographer

We headed out to karaoke after dinner and danced and sang into the night. I fell asleep on the metro home after two hectic weeks!

A Day on the Outside

2010-01-19T19:44:00.001-08:00

Wednesday 17 December 2009

I slept in this morning knowing that I wouldn't have a pass to get in! Jasmine and I woke up to the police outside our window, engaged in a crazy chase of protesters. The police were kicking people and running after them. There were helicopters and bus-like police vehicles speeding around. There were sirens galore. At breakfast, all the television screens were covering footage of our hotel – unfortunately it was in Danish so I couldn't understand. One man generously translated for us although it was very generic because I don't think even the news stations knew what was going on!

Today was the big day for protestors, particularly as many of the NGOs were locked out and thus perhaps had more time on their hands.

We heard Brendan Mackey and Jennie Gould from the ANU speak. We are very fortunate to hear from leading experts in their fields! Jennie Gould told me not to have four kids – "any more than two is irresponsible". After the session, I asked Brendan about the role of youth and he was insightful – he said young people can get away with more – they can be more radical and out there and still be part of the dialogue because that is what young people do. I thought that was a really valid point.

I went back upstairs, fussed around and went over to Fields to buy a phone and eat lunch. Back at the hotel lobby, Alexei and I tried unsuccessfully to do some preparation for our presentations tomorrow. Instead, we were tracking the bloggers inside the conference who were reporting that Friends of the Earth had been barred from COP15 and as a result, all NGOs had been barred from COP15. The other NGOs were angry at Friends of the Earth (or at least there was cyber anger!). We listened to Hugo Chavaz's speech/rant on the live stream and heard that my favourite person Connie Hedegaard was resigning. We had previously heard whispers so it was not that surprising. It was also enlightening comparing what the Australian news was reporting on back home and what we perceived was going on here.

One of the posters on the wall at Klimaforum. Klimaforum is the People's Forum during COP15. By the time I went, it had turned into an ad hoc NGO nesting ground since the NGOs had now been officially kicked out of COP15. I could feel the roots of the environmental movement around me. It was less sheek and more gritty than the Bella Centre!

I went into town to the Klimaforum to hear an event about the youth movement in the US Midwest. I interviewed Jesse Tolkan who is one of the leaders of the US youth climate change movement. The side event was run by the Will Steger Foundation which is an organisation which promotes climate change action. A group of young people from the US Midwest form a delegation which goes to COPs. The young people explained why the Midwest is the "purple" region of the US and therefore how crucial it is to be an effective at lobbying Midwestern politicians. Similar to Australia, they are a coal reliant area so it was interesting to hear and compare their opinions on coal mining.

I met up with Phoebe, Alexei, Fern, Will and a new friend from Venezuela and we went to Kebabish for dinner. We went back to the hotel and celebrated Earth Hour in the lobby. I had the opportunity to speak to Rob and Erik for the first time. Everyone has so much knowledge and stories about COP (amongst other things!) to share! We finally decided we had better do some work and turned out attention to writing our presentation slides!

Sue-Lin’s successful secondary-pass sojourn

2010-01-19T18:47:00.001-08:00

Tuesday 15 December 2009

This morning I sprung out of bed at 7.45 when Jasmine informed me I was on the 8-12 shift for the rotating passes. I assumed I hadn't been allocated one because I wasn't listed on the original email. However, not one to miss an opportunity to get into the Bella Centre, I raced downstairs, grabbed roll and a pass, vaguely arranged that I would hand my pass to Marcus and got to the Bella Centre.

It was madness trying to get in. I saw Siri and a couple of my other Swedish friends and I stood in line next to a journalist turned NGO who told me not to get into journalism because "journalism doesn't know where it is going". He said newspapers are a dying industry, particularly in smaller towns and internet is the way it is going. However, he went onto say that even sites like the Huffington Post only have 8 full time employers and everyone else is either voluntary or freelance. It took us about an hour to get into the centre – although the registration line for passes went for literally miles.

The NGOs, etc. seemed to have realised the potential for advertising their products and walked up and down the lines advertising side events, projects, handing out brochures, etc. Although I didn't see it, I heard they were handing out museli bars, etc. after learning from the experience of Monday.

I was cold but time passes much more quickly when you have someone to speak to.

I got inside, popped into an event on children and the role they play in negotiations called "Child-centred climate change adaptation" run by Plan International. I didn't stay for very long as I wanted to do the action of the day but got a couple of pamphlets that look helpful for my assignment.

We did the REDD-it REDD-it protest although Prince Charles didn't appear, as we had hoped. Prince Charles works closely with rainforests and he was arriving today so we thought if we did an action targeted at him, we would at least receive some press. That was an understatement. We sang our little hearts out from 10-11am and I have never seen so much press cover us. I think it was a combination of more press arriving for the second week , us being in a prime location (the walkway between the documents centre and main eating section) and the first day of passes meaning there were less NGOs and thus less for the press to cover.

Prince Charles, this one is for you. The frogs go "REDD-it, REDD-it" and you'll save the forests.

It was exciting because I got interviewed by a Canadian interviewer – I now wish I had gotten her card so I could look up the documentary. It was the first interview I had done as part of the Youth Forest Working Group – she told me I sung the "loudest" so they picked me. It definitely wasn't because I sung the most in tune! The interview definitely tested my knowledge on REDD but it was really satisfying speaking, albeit briefly on the topic, because it proved (at least to myself!) that I had learnt even a little! I spoke about the need for us to protect forests because sequestration is just as important as emissions reductions; protecting forest by having strong safeguards; the problematic definition of forests including plantations; protecting indigenous rights.

It was very overwhelming when we finished the protest because Luke, Alexei, Shaun and I thought we only had one more hour in the Bella Centre – forever! So we didn't really know how to make the most of it – we ended up going to a contact group which never started. We headed to Hans Christen Andersen for the AWG-KP which took ages to begin.

I come from the land down under! And I also very embarassingly come from the land of Steve Fielding.

Phoebe looks on with delight as we prepare to ambush Steve Fielding. Shaun and Luke are in the background listening to our Senator with horror.

I tried to contact Marcus to figure out where to meet him. He very generously wrote back saying the lines were really long and I might as well stay in and make the most of it. I will always be grateful to him for that because I got to see some incredible things following this news!

We looked through the side-program only to see some incredibly high calibre events on with US Governors, Canadian Premiers, other subnational leaders. We decided we would try to see Arnold Schwarzenegger, Al Gore, Ban Ki Moon and Wangari Maathai and try to get into the Opening Ceremony.

Tickets were needed for Al Gore and Arnie and since we hadn't thought we would be inside for their events, we hadn't lined up in the morning. (Also, I hadn't properly read the Daily Program – rookie error. ) Luckily, we got into the Arnie event – the tickets were pink and I had a pink cloak room ticket which I just waved at security who seemed fine with it. Shaun came in in the mad rush – I must admit security has been a bit of a joke in this sense! Very lucky for us though!

We sat next to a journalist who started her own website "The Lone Reporter" who gave us a run down of what it is like being Media at the conference. Check out http://lonereporter.com. She said we should have just walked into the Press Conference room in the first week because they were being much stricter in the second week. I would love to come to the COP as media!

Arnold Schwarzenegger said he would be back!

Arnie spoke a lot about doing things at a sub-national level. He said he would never have just waited for the national government to act. He spoke about the power of the scientists, the local government, the individuals and the activists. He said no matter what, this COP was not a failure because it has brought the focus onto climate change. I thought it was saccharine sweet. Also, I think it is soft when you talk about the success of "bringing the focus onto climate change". I mean, countries are going under water, people are dying and yet no meaningful agreement still makes for a successful conference. Please. He even ended with his trademark "I'll be back".

Wangari Maathai Nobel Peace Prize Winner, Ban Ki Moon UN Secretary General, Achim Steiner UN Under-Secretary General and Executive Director of the United Nations Environment Program on stage for the UN Messenger of Peace Ceremony.

We stayed in the vicinity to see Nobel Peace Prize laureate Wangari Maathai become a UN Messenger of Peace. There were brief speeches from Ban Ki Moon, Wangari and the other (famous) guy. There were some q&a although the moderator was very firm to say that the questions could only pertain to Wangari Maathia becoming a Messenger of Peace. It quickly became about the COP and whether a meaningful agreement could be met. Some guy from Brazil did a massive plug for his NGO which related to forests which I guess has a strong link to Wangari. He even was bold enough to offer the UN SG a pamphlet which one of his assistants took. I was appalled by his audacity and his lack of respect for everyone else's time.

There was a question to Wangari about what message you would give to the world's youth. My pen was poised. I was ready. And then she didn't really answer the question. I wanted to ask Ban Ki-Moon a similar question but I didn't have the guts to. Instead, some guy in front of me asked an obscure question about how Korean youth can become world leaders. I was so angry because it seemed like a wasted opportunity, particularly when Ban Ki-Moon replied about the world's youth becoming world leaders which led to a very generic, open answer.

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon presents Wangari Maathai with her UN Messenger of Peace Certificate.

We made our way to the Al Gore event which had an enormous queue. We almost gave up – I even went to check my email – only to hear that one of the lines was for people without tickets.

Whenever we had a minute or so to kill, we'd head to one of the enormous computer sections of COP15. You could always find a computer.

We patiently stood in line and our perseverance paid off. We got in and even got reasonably good seats. I was pretty inspired. I would say he was one of the most memorable speakers from the COP – and I had the opportunity to hear some unforgettable stories from inspirational speakers (as clichéd as that sounds!) He spoke about the importance of the next three days and the need for a meaningful outcome. He announced that we cannot allow COP15 to be Doha. He compared climate change to tackling the problem of the ozone layer (although I would have to disagree with his analogy. I think climate change is far more complicated.) There was less candyfloss in his speech than in Arnie's speech.

Al Gore tells us more inconvenient truths.

We were getting pretty cocky and thought we'd be able to push our way into the Welcome session which was the event of the ceremony. The Danish PM, Prince Charles, Connie Hedergaard, Yvo de Boer, Ban Ki-Moon and Wangari Mathai all spoke. I was really surprised that every single one of them spoke well and added something new to the ceremony. I LOVE Connie Hedergaard – I think she has been doing such a brilliant job. The only person I didn't really enjoy was Prince Charles – not only did he speak for a really long time, I thought he was the least legitimate (although that may just be because he was the least prominent at the COP).

We watched the whole ceremony on screen and made friends with the security guard who wouldn't let us in in the first place. He spoke about how his son had gone on exchange to Perth. Shaun and Luke and I grabbed dinner. Luke was someone Shaun had met at the Al Gore event the day before. He came with a US college although he goes to UTS. He said he managed to get accredited by them but was doing his own thing. I was pretty impressed at his tenacity.

After dinner we went into the Plenary session in Tycho Brahe. It was my first time in there. I was a little disappointed it was the first time I had gone in, particularly as it was so cool and surreal to be in there, listening to the negotiations with the multiple translations on the headphones. There were so many countries and observers – you could feel the buzz of the place. The session ended with the President saying it would move to another room – he was very funny because he said he didn't exactly know where the room was, except that it would be on the screens outside.

Shaun and me inside Tycho Brahe which is the enormous plenary. Oh to one day work here!

We went to Karen Blixen to watch the other negotiations but they were delayed for such a long time that we ended up going home. It was unexpectedly one of the coolest days I had inside the COP. There wasn't much that had related specifically to my topic but I saw enough high-level speakers to last me a decade and I heard some inspirational stuff.

Capacity Building and the ultimate question: What is youth?

2010-01-19T15:48:00.001-08:00

Monday 14 December 2009

This EU Pavillion poster is one of my favourite quotes from COP15. .

The line to get into the conference this morning clearly marked the start of the second week! There were lines stretching pass the end of the Metro station because many of the conference participants came just for the second week of negotiations. Later in the day I bumped into one of the girls from Yale who had had her backpack stolen from her which had had pass in it. She said she queued for 7 hours in the snow to re-register. She said there were pregnant women who had to stand for that length as well. I heard that some people queued for 11 hours – there were no toilets, food or drink. This approach does not sound very Danish and is appalling!

I went to the YOUNGO Spokescouncil meeting from 8-9am which was jammed pack full of young people (and not so young people). One of the girl guides stopped the meeting and said to an older man standing at the edge of the room "Sorry, but are you youth?" to which the facilitator responded "No no, youth is self-defined in YOUNGO."

All the youth, young and old, at YOUNGO Spokescouncil this morning.

Anyway, the way Spokescouncil works is that each working group and affinity group sends one representative to the daily Spokescouncil meeting which is the decision making body of YOUNGO. Everyone else can attend but cannot speak nor vote.

Paul Ferris moderates YOUNGO Spokescouncil, making announcements about meetings throughout the day.

There has been some controversy over the governance structure of Spokescouncil – some people I spoke to think it isn't representative enough and there should be consensus based decisions rather than votes. However, I think I'm at the more moderate end of the "youth" spectrum and I believe Spokescouncil is the better model of the two, particularly considering the size of YOUNGO.

Paul, one of the main facilitators, said he felt that Spokescouncil was merely there to ram decisions through, since we only have the room for one hour each morning and there is usually a substantial list of decisions required to be discussed and made.

Caroline Howe speaks about the ways the YOUNGO bottomlining team remain accountable.

Another handy thing about going to Spokescouncil is that the daily youth calendar is distributed. It is an in-depth timetable published at 7.30am each morning which lists all the youth events and actions, as well as relevant side events, etc. One of the best side events I've been to was one which I found out about from the Youth Calendar – Capacity Building for NGOs and Civil Society.

Many of the working groups meet after Spokescouncil – the communications WG met briefly because there was a press conference being held that evening. The Policy WG also met – I guess it's easiest since everyone is in the same place so early in the day.

This was one of the actions of today. Laura and I stood in a long line of youth stretching across the Bella Centre. We stood in silence for half an hour indicating that we stood with the Least Developed Countries on climate change.

Molly, Bella, Michael, Steph, Jo and other young people stand in solidarity with developing countries.

One of the other protests today which we ran across. Something of note is that it is not permitted to cover your face in a protest action so lucky these bears had not been caught out yet! When we did protests with the koala suit, "koala" would usually walk around with his face ajar lest a security guard stumbled across us!

Another action of today. A group of musically inclined protestors gathered in one of the main walk ways to sing about the spirit of Christmas and climate change.

I headed off to the EU Pavilion which had an event about capacity building. One of the panellists from the UNFCCC Secretariat pulled out at the last minute – I think there were some plenaries which were going on. Lucky for me and my project, Laurence Pollier, Secretariat for Youth, was the replacement. She spoke about the youth constituency gaining status for the first time and discussed Article 6 of the UNFCCCC Convention which refers to promoting public participation. Another of the panellists, Jeremy Wates, Secretary to the Aarhus Convention, was speaking about the Aarhus Convention which is a treaty on procedural environmental rights. It is founded on three pillars: access to information, public participation and access to justice. We also heard from Mr. Achim Halpaap, Associate Director of the Environment – UNITAR who spoke on training and capacity development. It was interesting that he noted civil society is probably more important than any other topic when it comes to capacity building.

I left half-way through the side event (much to my despair – I was like a kid in a lolly store again – too much to see and do!) because there was a High Level Youth Briefing with Dr. Rajendra which was alright – he spoke about the power of youth stating "I believe firmly if there is any section of society who can bring about change it is the youth" but I keep hearing high level speakers talk about the "power" of youth so I am a little cynical – it's more refreshing when someone says something slightly more insightful about youth. I guess it's difficult because everyone wants to be supportive of the youth movement – if we, as young, naive idealists give up, there isn't much hope for anyone else!

Dr. Rajendra imparts wisdom onto the youth at a High-level Youth Briefing organised by the UNFCCC.

I agreed when he said that COP15 isn't the be all and end all. The role of youth extends beyond the end of COP15 and youth can influence post COP in a number of ways: nation state level; proliferating knowledge to the rest of the world, particularly the sceptics and ignorant; after COP15, there will still be much to do, particularly if there is no legally binding conclusion.

I raced back to the capacity building side event because I had heard such quality level speakers prior to me leaving however, by the time I got there, they had moved to the second part of the event which was country specific regarding implementation and capacity development.

I left before the end - you have to be very strategic about your comings and goings in order to maximise on the amount of free food. The EU Pavilion is particularly strong in providing sandwiches, cakes, nibbles, drinks, fruit. I heard that there is someone who tweets about all the free food at any one time – he prides himself on covering the whole COP and ensures "reliable tip offs". You get all sorts at COP!

The Canadian Youth Delegation take time out of their lunch to do an action. And sometimes actions do speak louder than words!

I bumped into Paul and Anna who were also all about the free food. We had "lunch" together and spoke about what we had been up to, specifically pertaining to YOUNGO. Anna spoke about the difficulties of being a non-native English speaker involved in YOUNGO, as the conversation moves very quickly and it is sometimes difficult to keep up. Paul questioned whether spending days developing policy is really the best use of YOUNGO's time. Rather, he argued, the strongest element of YOUNGO is our ability to stage mass actions and therefore deliver strong, simple, clear messages. That having been said, some youth come to COP to get involved with policy and should not be prevented from doing this. I also mentioned the joy I have working with the Youth Forest Working Group, lobbying negotiators on specific policy.

Janette had organised a meeting for us with an Australian negotiator, Kristin Tilley. The opportunities for us to speak with the movers and shakers in Australian climate change policy has been outstanding. She had the gift of the gab and managed to speak around all our questions! Laura asked a very pertinent question about why Australia stalled the talks this morning firstly by suggesting a room swap and secondly by suspending the negotiations until the G77 + China figure themselves out. She responded by saying that stalling is very different to procedure and sometimes procedure is very important. How ironic. I read the newspapers and Penny Wong was quoted as saying "This is not the time to play procedural games" in regards to the G77 walk out (see http://www.news.com.au/breaking-news/developing-nations-walk-out-of-climate-talks/story-e6frfku0-1225810384368)

Michael asked a question about why Australia isn't talking about ppm, let alone 350 ppm. Kristin responded by saying talking about ppm is too technical and emissions reductions and temperature decrease are easier to understand. To that I would respond: firstly, the 350 campaign has been one of the most effective climate change campaigns of all time proving people are smart enough to understand it and secondly, you can still achieve the effects of 350ppm through emissions reductions and temperature decreases. The only problem is, Australia isn't!

Hearing Kristin speak really turned me off ever becoming an Australian negotiator. From what she was saying to us, it seemed as if she had to convince herself that she really believed in what she was saying even though she didn't answer any of our questions. I personally would be so embarrassed if I ended up in a job like that. I should probably be more tolerant and remember that everyone has different definitions of how to go out into the world and do good. And I guess some people don't worry about that at all.

The Australian negotiator, Kristin Tilley, fields our questions.

A baby-sized protest as we waited for everyone to gather for our daily Youth Forest Working Group meeting. Negotiators were walking into closed plenaries as we stood there. Our action wasn't the funniest though. One of the other youth had stuffed a balloon under her top giving her the appearance that she was pregnant. She approached delegates voicing her concerns for her children. It was gold!

We had a great forests youth meeting in the NGO cafe space. I'm so happy I've gotten involved in the Youth Forest Working Group – it's been really rewarding and I've learnt so much about REDD and the way the negotiation process works.

The Youth Forest Working Group has its daily meeting.

I attended the Youth Press Conference at Astrid at 2030. There were a range of speakers but I wasn't very inspired. I am really getting frustrated at everyone being nice and fluffy about the role of youth. Although the Swedish girl, Hanna Mia Brekken said something very insightful. She had been speaking to a journalist in the Media Centre who looked at her and said "They are negotiating about your future, they are negotiating about you, without you. You must be devastated."

The speakers at the YOUNGO Press Conference.

Severn Suzuki, who spoke in 1992, had a video message for us which was very special. I cried a little watching her speech from 1992. She told us it was an "intergenerational crime" and the one thing that is inspiring in representing the youth.

All the way back in 1992, the youth movement was growing and strong. (Courtesy of Speedyboh)

After the Press Conference there was a brief YOUNGO Evaluation. It was very intense. I could feel the tension in the air. The idea was to have a debrief session of the first week about what went right, what went wrong, and how to improve for Week 2. I think it's a really good idea. I'm very impressed at the progressive nature of the youth movement. I guess I shouldn't be surprised considering it is the youth who are sometimes the most progressive group in society.

Seb led the debrief and was very firm that the bottom liners and other YOUNGOs couldn't defend the criticism that came up during the debrief. Rather, it was a time to reflect and get things off your chest without being attacked for doing so.

Seb started out facilitating discussion but it soon became clear that nobody was really willing to just start talking. Instead, we used the space as a "thermometer" so to speak. If you felt strongly positive about something, you went to the far right of the room. If you felt strongly negative about something, you went to the far left of the room. Everyone else stood in between. A couple of people spoke on each of the four issues:

Inclusiveness (Global south/global north): I was surprised that people felt very strongly that YOUNGO was not inclusive and was dominated by the Global North. From my experience in the Youth Forest WG, that was not the case – we had an almost equal spread and activity from the Global North and South. I spoke on this. I also shared my experience of knowing absolutely nobody (except Lauren, Beth and Emily) and rocking up by myself to the Conference of the Youth. I spoke about what a positive experience I had had and how friendly everyone was – I learn more and more with every experience that only if you put yourself out there can you experience some truly special things. (In fact, on my walking tour today in Paris I met this American girl who said her friend had been delayed in Ireland. I said it's great travelling by yourself sometimes. She said she liked having a "security blanket" of friends. I hope she was referring to it being somewhat safer travelling with friends and not it being "easier" travelling with friends!) One youth from the Global South spoke about the lack of global south even in the room, as an indication of the lack of participation.
Linguistics – the second issue was the use of English to conduct all YOUNGO activities. People were (again, surprisingly – although I think this is because I am particularly ignorant on this issue) very outspoken that meetings should be conducted in more languages, emails should be multi-lingual and the google group should be translated. As a native English speaker, I take it foregranted but I do think it is difficult to translate every, single post online – there are 10s each day. Furthermore, what language would you choose to translate it into. Also, Seb did point out that there was google translate on each page. Another issue which arose was nobody was using the "C sign" (explain more) for clarification during Spokescouncil, etc. Caroline spoke about how she sometimes couldn't understand what was going on, even as a native speaker. She said she knew people got lost because they would come up afterwards to ask. We spoke about developing more of a culture where clarification through hand signals was common.
Gender – this wasn't really an issue as girls and boys were mostly equal. A point was even made that sometimes there were more girls.
Strategy – this was a big one. It was about governance structure, policy v. Action. It could have gone on all night but we wrapped it up.

I had a great chat with Job van den Assem, who was a founder of Young Friends of the Earth Europe. This has been one of the best things about researching youth participation in the UNFCCC process. I have met and spoken to some young people who are so engaged and involved in the movement. It has made me want to get more involved. He argued YOUNGO's weakness lies in defining ourselves and our identity purely as youth because what is youth? It is so many different things. He also argued we should work outside the system more than inside the system and focus on capacity building.

I slowly meandered to the cloak room and on my way out, bumped into Luke and Michelle who were waiting for Alexei and others. I hung out with them and we spoke about our days.

Dean from the Youth Forests Working Group came out and hung out with us for ages. It was awesome talking to him – he's a Canadian who is originally from Portugal (or some small islands there) and thus speaks Portuguese. He is 28 – I was surprised and has spent some time working in Brazil. I think he wants to be a diplomat/Prime Minister of Canada. He was talking about one day, when I am Prime Minister of Australia and he is Prime Minister of Canada, there will be a meaningful agreement reached on climate change, and none of this rubbish which is currently produced from our two countries.

He finally left and Luke and I went searching for Michelle who had disappeared about an hour earlier, in search of Alexei. We spied them in the main cafeteria section cutting out REDD-it, REDD-it signs for the action for tomorrow. Fern and Phoebe left, while Alexei stayed on to do a second shift and Michelle, Luke, Shaun and I helped out Gemma.

It was super late and I was getting tired but I felt like I should stay. It was eerily exciting being at the Bella Centre so late, knowing it was the beginning of a big week (big at least in the sense of the number of heads of state getting there!)

We finally got back to the hotel and I promptly fell asleep. I haven't seen my roomies in what feels like days!

Bright Green Desmond Tutu

2010-01-19T14:23:00.001-08:00

Sunday 13 December 2009

After a big night, I woke up just in time to hear Ian Fry speak. He is both Tuvalu's lead negotiatior and an ANU professor. It was really interesting, hearing his perspective as an international negotiator. He was very generous with his time. He spoke about a wide range of things including an update of where things are at, G77 and China (he told a funny story about Tuvalu not being a part of the G77 although he was spokesperson for LULUCF!), believing in the process and being able to sway the course of negotiations a little. He was very funny, cracking jokes about how Tuvalu will bid for COP when it comes to the Asia-Pacific as Tuvalu has one hotel to host everyone! I would be so happy if I found a job as noble and purposeful as Ian's when I grow up.

The beautiful Church of Our Lady where the Sunday service was held and where Princess Mary and Prince Frederic got married!

We headed into town to see the chapel service at The Church of Our Lady, the Copenhagen Lutheran Cathedral. Meg was very funny – I thought she was going to kill me and Shaun for "making her late". She has a massive crush on Archbishop Desmond Tutu. While we were making her run late, she had a rant to us. "You two, you both don't appreciate Desmond Tutu! You were tiny cells when I owned his books." It was very funny.

Outside the church, there was this ice sculpture of a melting polar bear. There were similar sculptures around the city. I saw the iconic little mermaid as an ice sculpture outside COP15. It is a very powerful image, seeing the water dripping down and the pool of water at the bottom of the sculpture.
Shaun and I were interviewed by a film crew as we queued to get into the church. I don't think they got the response they wanted - when they asked us why we believe religion is needed to find a climate change solution – Shaun and I said we were interfaith!

The cathedral was full so we sat behind a column at the top. There were three symbols of climate change which were carried in the procession: glacier stones from Greenland, dried up maize from Africa, bleached chorals from the Pacific Ocean. We heard some amazing singers and there were hymns and prayers as well.

So we didn't have the best seats but we still really enjoyed it. It was more radio show, less tv experience! This is an unconventional photo of the Church on the Rock Choir who sang "By God's Grace" in Zulu.

At 3pm, church bells throughout Scandinavia and Central Europe rang out 350 times, referring to 350ppm which is the maximum acceptable level of CO2 emissions, according to the UN.

We sat near a couple from England who had cycled all the way to Copenhagen to show their commitment to seeing a meaningful outcome in Copenhagen.

The friendly English couple who really displayed commitment to the climate change cause!

I left the service early to go to Bright Green which is an expo displaying world solutions (see below for an Obama style description!)

Bright Green (From Scanorama advertisement)

"Dear Barack Obama,

If you can dream it, we can make it.

Bright Green is the largest parallel-event under UN's Climate Change Conference (COP15). 160 international companies have come together in Copenhagen to show the world solutions to the climate change challenge. If you are engaged in the challenge, we can show you the innovative solutions to a carbon neutral economy."

Outlandish, a Danish hip hop band, performed before Stephen Chu and Dr. Rajendra spoke at Bright Green.

I heard Stephen Chu, the Energy Secretary for the Obama Administration and Dr. Rajendra Kumar Pachauri, the Chair of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, speak at Bright Green. Stephen Chu was very knowledgeable but not the most inspiring speaker, starting his presentation out with "So I guess I'll start my presentation now". America seems to be doing a lot of things in renewable energies. Pity they aren't doing more about setting a price on carbon or leading a global agreement.

Stephen Chu with a slide about how to achieve our energy goals.

Dr. Raj was pretty great and spoke about the role of the people to compel change in this historic time.

I met two American youth delegates who are in Germany learning about renewables. On the Metro home, Jasmine and I bumped into a couple of Americans who are here from Florida promoting green jobs. We were comparing and contrasting Australia and US' stance on the creation of green jobs and the debate that is opened up by it.

I came back, cleaned my room and came downstairs to write in my journal.

Messy room!

I'm feeling a bit frazzled about how I'm going to approach this next week.

I think my plan is to go to the Spokescouncil tomorrow morning, interview Aiden, lina, Wilson, Sadhie, Seb, go check out the youth talk and then go to the IARU thing.

I'll just take it day by day – I feel like I've met lots of people and done some cool things – I'm just not exactly sure how I'm going to combine it all into a report. I think the main thing is to interview people and get more of a feel of the structure of YOUNGO.

Penguins + Polar bears + Deniers + Activists + Much, much more = 100 000 people protest!

2010-01-19T13:01:00.001-08:00

Saturday 12 December 2009

Saturday started out really early with Phoebe, Fern and me heading over the Bella Centre at 8am to protest in the NGO Protesting Area 1. Gemma, being the amazing person she is, organised for the youth to do a forest choir for all the negotiators who were walking in. We dressed up as elves and as we were getting ready, Penny Wong and her advisers (I assume) walked by and it looked like they were laughing at us!

Belting out a Christmas tune on a Saturday morning never felt so good!

Bruno, one of the English boys in the group, dressed up as our koala and we sang from 8-9am. We got a lot of people stopping by for photos and a couple of delegates who took our youth declarations which was good!

At 9, we decided to be an (unauthorised!) wandering choir and headed over the main hall to sing again. We got great photos in front of the globe with us pointing at Australia and Bruno practically passed out from heat exhaustion.

The AP came, as did the Algeria news which was great in terms of media.

Gemma and Fern say hi! We used the Global Witness Stall as our base where we kept our clothes, bags, koala heads, etc.

I had a bit of a feed from free side event food and then Fern and I headed into town for the big protest.

Santa's elves off for some spirited protesting!

Oh what a beautiful (and polluted) morning, oh what a beautiful (and polluted) day, I have a wonderful feeling, everyone's going to a protest

We met up with a Danish Rainforest Group and it was lovely having some Danes show us around town as we walked down Stroget to get to the protests.

Ready to march!

The rally was enormous! There were people from everywhere it seemed. There was climate change deniers; Greenpeace handing out free, enormous placards, media, dancers, Aussies singing "Come on Aussie come on, come on". We were a group of elves and a parrot.

Dancing in the protest streets! There was a wonderful vibe amongst all the protestors. Everyone was in a friendly mood! This was particularly cool because the music was being run through solar panelled power, on a bicycle!

One group which was very prominent throughout the whole conference was the "Save the world, become a vegetarian" group. In theory, it is a really great campaign but their constant, unchanging presence and harassment at the metro station led to people switching off in the end.

Come on Rudd, come on, come on! Aussies in Copenhagen protest against Australia's weak stance on climate change.

There were many Indigenous groups marching together at the protest as well as non-Indigenous people who were carrying Indigenous peoples' flags.

Media much? There was media everywhere! From global newspapers to lone reporters and bloggers, the media presence at the protest was very strong.

The deniers strike again! It's not global warming guys. It's climate change.

Face off! Believer v. denier. I wonder who will win?

It seemed that everyone was trying to outdo each other in magnitude. I must admit though, that is the biggest snowman I've ever seen!

I was so exhausted so I headed home before the protest started walking to the Bella centre and I had a nap. Woke up and went to meet Linh and Linh. Had a great night, aside from the fact my wallet and phone were stolen!

With Linh and Linh, my two Danish friends I met in my gap year to China. We went to Hopenhagen to check out the bicycle powered Christmas tree!

And the night continues! It was Danish through and through with Danish drinking games and Danish pear cider - yum!

Yale, the G77 + China and Penny Wong

2010-01-19T12:08:00.001-08:00

Friday 11 December 2009

After a crazy day yesterday, I woke up this morning still feeling exhausted but aiming to get to the daily YOUNGO Spokescouncil meeting. However, I was too slow off the mark and our ANU meeting was late so I didn't get out of the hotel until around 9am. Steph and I headed over to the Bella Centre only for Steph to find that she had left her pass behind!

I went in (it was a crazy push through security and then in the cloak room line – there really is merit in getting there early!) and tried to find the YOUNGO policy meeting. I couldn't. I later found out that it wasn't on. I got a daily program and went to the computers to check some emails, etc.

I found out via email that there was a Youth Forest Working Group action on REDD at 11am outside the SBSTA drafting negotiations. I bumped into Phoebe who was also going and we headed over. About 5 other young people were dressed up as elves and we formed part of the choir which sang "14 Days of UN Negotiations" to the tune of the 12 Days of Christmas. I'm beginning to notice the same faces from the "grown up" NGOs who show up to all the REDD negotiations to lobby the actual delegates!

A security guard came up and said we had to leave because we were making too much noise. I thought Gemma might suggest we sing even louder just to be hostile but in fact, she just told us to be perfectly silent and be there.

Christmas is all around us - even at COP15!

We left after the door closed and went down towards the computer sections to have a bit of a debrief. Phoebe, Fern and I had to run off to the Yale/ANU lunch.

We met some cool people from Yale who are doing amazing things. They were explaining to us that their class broke into 6 "pods" focussing on different aspects of the COP – Ecuador (because the head of the negotiating team was an alumna of Yale and had emailed Yale to ask for help with media, logistics, etc.); tracking the Chinese negotiations (they have a blog called www.greenleapforward.org); REDD. I spoke to George who is part of the China team who was talking about how they had been prepping on China for the past semester and now have been following the Tuvalu/China schism, meeting the China delegation (and the Chinese youth); sneaking into the Media section (apparently if you sign in as Yale its fine).

Tom, Luke, Marcus, Bella and our Yale friends listen as we discuss our different projects. It was sometimes hard to find a spance to have a meeting so you would frequently see delegations or groups meeting in open spaces like this one!

Janette, Shaun and I had a conversation about the negotiations and climate justice. We were asking Janette about what she thinks of the international negotiators and she was talking about how she has been offered jobs with the DCC but philosophically can't accept the offers. She said she knows people who drop out from the DCC because they don't want to tow the government line. We were talking about how incredible it is that some countries feel "entitled" to exceptions (US, Canada, Australia, etc.) and how it might be the solution to completely swipe out KP and start again with 350 ppm as the final outcome (and working around solutions which achieve this). Apparently Norway, Germany, some of the other Scandanvian countries are quite open to the idea of them taking up the responsibility of developed nations (similar to how Scandavia, Germany went into Southern Africa to help with their agricultural developments).

Shaun and I went to do some digital diary work (I did some YOUNGO research online) and I bumped into David Noble, the founder of Mass Dialogues, who then bumped into the biggest guy in China of solar energy. David was talking about the evolution of youth since Montreal and how there were about 150 youth at Nairobi, 200 at Bali, 500 at Poznan (which was already too big!) and now 2000 at COP15. (Later in the day, I was talking to Beth who is with THMUN and said her experience earlier this year was so much better because she felt like a part of something in new york? At the sustainability convention because there were only about 60/70 youth there and the delegates were more willing to talk to them). He said the 2000 young people was both a good and bad thing.

I bumped into Beth at the EU Pavillion who said that Penny Wong was meeting with the Australian youth at 5pm. I got a text message from the youth network about a G77 + China briefing at 4pm and after just missing the youth freeze action, Siri and I went to the briefing. The Sudanese delegate was the official spokesperson for the G77. He was calm, measured and received a standing ovation. I was enthralled by his speech and took extensive notes!

Siri, holding up her sign calling for stronger cuts in greenhouse gas emissions to ensure the temperature does not rise about 1.5 degrees, in the G77+China briefing. I'm so glad I met her at the Conference of the Youth!

The Penny Wong briefing was revealing. She was such a politician in how she answered some of her questions. For example, Braidon, one of the the two Indigenous Australians who were part of the AYCC delegation, spoke about how important it was to the Indigenous Caucus that the UN Declaration of the Indigenous Person was included in the final REDD text. Wong responded by asking Braidon exactly what words he wanted in the text. From my perspective, it appeared he did not have a response to that but he handled the question well and told her he would find out and get back to her.

Wong generously started out by stating that "some of our discussions in schools are better than our discussions in Parliament" and spoke of how young people hold politicians to account and remind them of why they do it. She watched the Tony Abbott advertisement the AYCC had made with a bemused look. She was also very frank, describing the COP15 process by proclaiming "This is not a shopping list. This is a negotiation." She was realistic, stating "Britain can spend money on flood mitigation. Bangladesh cannot." Finally, she made it clear that meaningful environmental outcomes cannot be achieved by the Kyoto Protocol. She ended her briefing by saying "We need actions by non Kyoto Protocol countries."

Meeting in the Australian Delegation Office (where we went for the Australian briefing earlier in the week) with the Australian Youth Climate Coalition and Penny Wong.

I was surprised the youth weren't more radical/demanding but I think it was part of their strategy to softly tread.

Group photo with Penny Wong, Australia's Minister for Climate Change. If you look long and hard, you may indeed see me on the far left.

Phoebe and I (its nice that I now have someone to hang out with!) went to the Youth Forest Meeting where we spoke about our action planned for 8am tomorrow morning (!) (must go to bed asap its now 12.20am!) and an update on the REDD negotiations which were supposed to be going through the night tonight because it might be that REDD is what the heads of state hold up to be the outcome of the conference.

After the meeting, we watched out of the corner of our eyes as Gemma "bumped into" the DRC negotiator on REDD to try to convince her to agree that the Congo would not allow the conversion of forests to plantations to be funded by REDD. Brendan Mackey and one of the other women from the Wilderness Society also "bumped into" her!

We went out to dinner in the city and got horribly lost trying to find a restaurant from the Lonely Planet Guide! It was so crowded although the waitress was really nice and tried to fit us in. We'll go back. Instead we had Mexican. Mexican in Denmark. Yum.

Young and Future Generations Day (aka YuFuGe)

2010-01-19T11:46:00.001-08:00

It's Youth and Future Generations Day today!

Thursday 10 December 2009

Today was a turning point for me in a number of ways. Firstly, I have changed the focus of my topic yet again (although I am quite certain I will now stick with what I have chosen). Secondly, I have been inspired completely and totally by the international youth climate change movement (I had been previously but today provided a structure in which I could appreciate it even more). Finally, I now know that my interest in climate change will continue after COP15. This is because today I sat through Youth and Future Generations Day Side Events from 9am-6pm straight. I heard from young people and the young at heart about youth projects and educational programs available for youth. The potential is endless.

Youth and Future Generations Day (YuFuGe) celebrates the role of youth in the UNFCCC process, particularly as this is the first time youth have an official constituency within the UNFCCC.

The panellists of the Role of Education Side Event.

The first event I attended was "The role of education in relation to the climate crisis" which was run by Service Civil International, Energy Crossroads, the Yale Student Environmental Coalition and Sebastien Duyck. Seb spoke on how YuFuGe Day is 14 hours of continuous youth activities. This is the first year the youth constituency have an official day at COP. He spoke of the journey over the past five years for constituency status, the capability young people have to join the negotiations and the empowerment of young people. We also heard from Laurence Pollier who is the UNFCCC Secretariat for Young People, Fathimath Ghina from UNESCO Paris, Stephanie Hodge who is an Education Specialist for UNICEF, Khadidiatou Diop, a climate ambassador for UNICEF from Senegal, Michael Plesner who is the President of Energy Crossroads and Firoent Boarkik who is the former President of Students for Sustainable Development which is a French Network. I have a lot of notes which I am sure I will use for my research report. One thing that really touched me was a Bolivian Girl Guide's question. She stood up and spoke about how she is listening to all the educational programs the UN is developing for young people but what should she do when she goes back to Bolivia and is faced with a lack of resources to education people on climate change? The panel responded there are many ways to share climate change knowledge including sharing personal experiences, using the local environment as a classroom and lobbying the local government. The question seemed more poignant than the answer.

Playing my little bit! I was the designated microphone runner for the first YuFuGe event.

The second event was "Youth, forest protection and survival: why forest protection and education is essential." This was run by SustainUS but had several panellists from the Youth Forest Working Group! Gemma Tillack spoke about forests and REDD. Juan Carlos spoke about Indigenous peoples' rights. Lavinia Warners spoke about the Yasuni Initiative in Ecuador. Rebecca David spoke about Youth Forestry Initiatives such as eco trails and skits, the Chipko Movement and the Kids for Tiger Projects. Once again, I felt so inferior when compared to the young people on the panel who knew so much about their area of interest and were also so engaged in ensuring an outcome they believed in. I am envious that they are so passionate about something and can combine their academic pursuits with activism. There is something about forests which really draws me in. It may be that from when I was little, forests have made me feel like part of something bigger than me. Being out in the forest reminds me that I am very insignificant in the grand scheme of things.

Gemma answered a question about how much of an impact the youth have in international negotiations. She spoke about how we underestimate the ability we have to change the text on the negotiation floor and the youth are crucial in talking to delegates. For example, the youth can help resolve miscommunications between delegations which arise from the language barrier.

The third event was "Intergenerational Inquiry on Climate Solutions calls Yvo de Boer, youth and negotiators to testify." Mr. De Boer, the UNFCCC Executive Secretary, spoke very frankly about his thoughts on the negotiations. He proclaimed youth add a "different flavour, at the very least, make it less boring." He reminded us to "keep it up and keep up the pressure." I was so surprised he spoke so openly. It was refreshing, particularly as I am becoming increasingly sceptical about the official delegations and negotiators.

Ruchie, from India, spoke about her story as a young person from India. She ended her speech by saying "Trust your youth, trust your governments" to which Mr. De Boer said "You worried me a little bit at the end. I think you are being a little careless with trust ... and still this process needs to earn my trust." Wow.

We also heard from the Director General of the Latin American Climate Coalition, Mr. Mohamed Asslam who is the Environment Minister of the Maldives and youth from Australia and South Africa. Emily Davies, an Australian youth and my friend from college presented the Youth Declaration of the youth constituency. Later I was speaking to her about it and she said many people in YOUNGO believe this sort of thing is a waste of time because it is words not actions. It would be hard to put so much work into something like that only for people to say you are wasting your time.

There was an interesting aside where it was noted there is a difference between being a meaningful contributor compared to being a parallel actor on their own. Something very pertinent for the youth constituency to consider.

The fourth event was "Intergenerational equity" which discussed the principle of intergenerational equity in the framework of climate change. Tracey Bach, an academic, spoke from a legal perspective; Margrete Auken, a member of the European Parliament, spoke about her life as a politician with the Greens. The president of AIESEC, an international students organisation spoke about youth organisations and Michaela and Don who are the official Dutch Youth Representatives to the UN spoke on their experiences and observations of youth delegates.

Tracey Brach speaks about intergenerational equity from a legal perspective.

This may have been my favourite event of the day which is a big call considering I learnt more in this one day than I did from all the other side events I attended combined. The reason I pick this as one of my favourite events is because of the legal perspective and also something Margrete said. She told us to "go into politics. If you don't, the other corrupt ones will."

UNFCCC Executive Secretary Yvo de Boer with some over zealous, star struck students. (Perhaps me) You know you are surrounded by young climate activists when they choose to mob someone like Mr. de Boer rather than say, a rock star.

After this exhausting and stimulating day, we headed into town for the YOUNGO celebration party.

Caroline Howe, one of the members of the YOUNGO bottomlining team, marks the first year of YOUNGO constituency status at the YOUNGO party.

We heard from different youth groups who performed, chatted amongst ourselves and heard from Mr. De Boer. I met a couple of people from the New Zealand Youth Delegation and hung out with Mina, Ella Bella and Phoebe.

Phoebe, Mina, Ella Bella, me and friends at the YOUNGO party.

Circus Time!

2010-01-19T09:34:00.001-08:00

Circus Time!

Wednesday 9 December 2009

It isn't often you have class over breakfast!

We started the day out with an ANU breakfast briefing where Janette went through some housekeeping and COP15 procedures. We also got business cards and beanies! I was feeling a bit confused and overwhelmed so it was useful talking to Janette to clarify whether I could approach my topic in a multifaceted way. I'm interested in looking at NGO impacts on REDD negotiations and Janette said it was fine if I spoke to and connected with the NGOs and International Youth Forest Group. She said I could even get involved in the activism as long as I acknowledged that I was approaching the topic from a subjective rather than objective perspective. With that approach, I headed off the COP!

I would describe the inside of COP as the Royal Sydney Easter Show minus the animals, rides and showbags. There are similar booths to the Easter Show and side events which go on simultaneously. There is a buzz in the air and people always seem to be rushing from one thing to another. There are big spaces for eating and converging. Each country and constituency has its delegation office at the back of the conference area. There are numerous plenaries (like the one in the movie "The Interpreter") where you can listen to simultaneous translations. It is a very cool place.

This is one of the main thoroughfares where people meet and eat.

Australia negotiates. There are big televisions screens all over the Bella Centre and there are frequently groups of people huddled around watching the proceedings inside the plenaries.

It's not just men in suits who come to the COP!

The first thing I did was find a Daily Program so I could figure out what I wanted to do over the course of the day. The Daily Program is the holy text of COP which is printed every morning and contains the goings on of that day. Obviously, things still change so you have to keep an eye on the television screens around the conference and if you can, go online to check the latest updates.

I was still a bit confused so I made a list of all the elements of COP15 which could potentially be a part of my major report.

Thoughts:

YOUNGOs

Youth Forest Working Group

REDD/LULUCF

Side Events

Youth in the Text Working Group

Indonesia; Brazil; Congo

ECA; Rainforest Alliance

I checked out a REDD event at the Bellona Centre. It was really good because there was a panel of 5 experts from very different backgrounds.

Samuel Nnah from Cameroon who moderated the event

Kenn Mondiai from Papua New Guinea who spoke the experience of Papua New Guinea with REDD. He spoke about issues of poor governance and corruption, mentioning the nickname given to people in Papua New Guinea who have links with the government – carbon cowboys.

Vicky Tauli-Corpuz from Phillipines who is the Director General of the UN Permanent Forum for Indigenous People who updated us on the SBSTA text. She ended her speech asking everyone to help ensure that the words of the Universal Declaration of the Indigenous Person are included in the final REDD text.

Roger Mulhuba from the Democratic Republic of Congo spoke about the experience of the DRC with two fast track REDD programs and the DRC's participation of the World Bank's Forest Pathway.

Bard Lahn from Norway who was really informative speaking on how safeguards in the text will not ensure effectiveness. Rather, we need to ensure there is implementation of the safeguards on the ground. He even had a slide show!

The Bellona Centre event's speakers.

After the REDD event, I headed back to the NGO side events to listen to "Lessons Learnt from the 350.org Campaign". It turns out there wasn't any formal group event but I spoke to Abe Woo from Malaysia who coordinated the South East Asian 350.org campaigns on 24 October.

Afterwards I went to the EU LULUCF event which was mind numbingly boring. I realised that I'm not interested in the scientific aspects of LULUCF. Thank goodness David Dumareck was there and asked if either Bella, Molly or me wanted to go to the Australian brief. I volunteered straight away and we found ourselves in a long, long line to get into the Australian Delegation office.

We got in finally – there were heaps of people there. We all introduced ourselves. There were lots of lawyers from the big law firms like Clayton Utz and Baker & McKenzie. ANU was also well represented. It was fascinating (or "gobsmacking" as David said!) to see how the questions were fielded. There were questions on MRV (measurements, reporting and verification); a question about whether the Universal Declaration of the Indigenous Person would be included in the final outcome. There was a vague reply that "we'll take that on board and see what we can do"; there was a question on whether what "sequestration" refers to - whether it refers to geological or biological sequestration which received a response "We've all got our own agenda's to push" which I guess is true.

A bird's eye map of the Hall where the Australian Delegation Office is located.

Inside the Australian Briefing.

Fern and I went to have lunch. The meals here are surprisingly cheap, good and 60% organic! We spoke about being law students and how great it would be to go into law in relation to climate change. Fern mentioned a Melbourne law firm which is "Lawyers for Forests" that she would be interested in working in when she finished next year. She was helpful in telling me which environmental law courses to do and which not to do!

On our way to the REDD negotiations, one of the head delegates of an African delegation stopped us and spoke about how she had been a youth activist in 1985 and now she was part of an official delegation. She said we should keep fighting and one day we will be the ones negotiating. It was one of the special moments of COP15.

After lunch I ducked to Hall C because I had received a text message about an hour before hand that everyone should meet outside Hall C at 2.45pm to prep. It turns out that the SBSTA negotiators were about to go into negotiate the methodology of REDD. We were doing a "REDD alert Whoop Whoop" campaign outside the room. I felt like I was back doing student elections and harassing the passers-by. I quickly found my groove and realised the delegations were more receptive to you when you said something about the youth voice wanting to be heard. There was a guy who was making a movie about the REDD process in negotiations and several people were taking photos.

The first Youth Forest protest of the conference. One of my friends from India, Swati, is being interviewed by the film crew about her opinion of REDD and the negotiations.

We were buzzing from the activity and made our way over to the Plenary where there were big protests with people shouting "Tuvalu, Tuvalu" regarding a motion Tuvalu had proposed to suspend the COP because they were unhappy with all the informal negotiations. I bumped into my Swedish friends from COY who had been meeting with the Algeria delegation and were planning a North/South action for Sunday which I'll hopefully join in on.

The big Tuvalu and other Small Island States protest outside the plenary. The protest was so loud you could hear it from the other end of the Bella Centre.

I wasn't able to get into the Plenary session because they weren't letting NGOs in (I think it was after the very loud and successful Tuvalu protests!) so I went to one of the numerous computer hubs to type up the list of side events I wanted to attend in case the secondary pass system is introduced. I bumped into George from Zimbabwe who was waiting before going to meet the official Zimbabwean delegation to lobby for them to support 350ppm (I later saw him and he said he hadn't even needed to lobby them – they readily agreed!)

George and me inside the Bella Centre.

At 5.45pm I went back to meet up with the Forest WG for us to lobby the delegates going into LCA for REDD discussions on the scope. We decided to take a different approach and sing, to change tact from this morning. It was a bit awkward at first but after a while, although some of us had only just met each other, we were all singing together and harmonising and rapping out some of our messages to protect Indigenous rights and forests.

Security ended up coming out and very politely informing us that the delegates inside couldn't properly hear the negotiations and could we please move a bit down the corridor. We decided to draw it to a close and have our daily meeting where we prepped for our side event tomorrow.

Mr. Security Guard politely interferes with our plans!

Gemma Tillack is the de facto leader of the Youth Forest Working Group. She is from Tasmania and works for The Wilderness Society. She is very impressive and was answering all these questions about the day's negotiations and strategies NGOs take with negotiations.

"Chatting" to the negotiators just before they go into the REDD negotiations.

After that, I grabbed dinner and went back to the room. Meg and I had a chat about the day's happenings and her project on Indigenous people and mine. Bella came in after the Peatlands talk. We were discussing how interlinked everything was – peatlands, REDD, Indigenous people. I said it would be great if after this course, we drew a venn diagram or something of how everything fits together.

Learning with the IARU

2010-01-19T08:31:00.001-08:00

Tuesday 8 December 2009

Today I headed off from Sleep-In Heaven to meet ANU at the Cabinn Metro. We are living in a very convenient location, just one metro stop away from the Bella Centre where COP15 is being held. We jumped back onto the Metro to Forum (which was where I had come from!) and went to the life science campus of the University of Copenhagen.

Once we got there we participated in a student workshop with students from University of Copenhagen, University of Tokyo, National University of Singapore and University of Vienna. I felt a little inadequate as a lot of the other students were Masters and PhD students. It also made me feel grateful that ANU gives undergraduates the opportunity to study climate change science and policy. It seems like we are forerunners in this respect. Even the Americans I met earlier this week who study at Ithaca said it was rare that climate change courses were offered at American universities.

My group collaborating over initial proposals.

We came up with a couple of ideas for low carbon projects within our small group of five from NUS, University of Tokyo and ANU. The University of Tokyo students were really prepared and came with their ideas all typed up. One of the projects proposed was charging a voluntary carbon tax to individuals and the other one was converting all police cars to electric cars. We made up another collaborative proposal:

Low Carbon Universities: Promoting low carbon universities around the world.

Targets students: good because students are an engaged, curious group in society and will be around in 2050 to deal with the blowouts of climate change. Targeting this group will encourage a culture of sustainability to be passed down to the next generation
Global level: collaborative website for all universities to upload campus specific projects and discoveries; campus "green" rank (similar to the Times Higher Education Supplement Rank in the Good Universities Guide) because we believe students take into account sustainability levels on campus when choosing universities to attend/go on exchange to; student workshops like today because we had so much fun and learnt a lot!
Campus wide level: campus sustainability index which standardises criteria of carbon emissions for on campus events which are run (Yale possibly already has one); targeting "food, fibre, shelter" projects on campus – composting of food from cafeterias, colleges/halls, having second hand clothes markets in Union Court once a weeks, having swap and shops between students, developing Green Building Regulations for strong insulation rules for buildings, engaging in developing workplace sustainability methods
Exporting feasible, effective on campus ideas to the wider community – eg. Schools, neighbourhoods. For example, introducing urban composting in neighbourhoods; local and state government regulation of green building initiatives, etc.
We want sustainable living to become second nature and not something crazy hippies with dreadlocks do. Targeting universities students is one effective way to do this.

Surprisingly, our proposal won "most feasible" category of proposals. I was lucky enough to be chosen from our group to present the project to the afternoon workshop which had leading climate scientists, professors and lecturers (as well as the Japanese Ambassador to Denmark!) in the audience which was both nerve-racking and thrilling!

We had a great lunch where we mixed more with the Tokyo and Copenhagen students and professors and headed over to the afternoon workshop where we heard an array of experts speak on sustainable living and low carbon cities. Many of us enjoyed the irony of all the plastic drink bottles filled with water and soft drink that were on offer at lunch.

I was particularly interested in the case studies of Canberra, Tokyo and Copenhagen in the talk "Towards Low Carbon Cities" and "Food Flows and Ecosystems" which was also on this in relation to the international linkages of food and how difficult it is to eat locally. We heard about e-waste and the lack of regulation surrounding it internationally and how it could possibly be integrated into CDMs for developing countries.

Afterwards we had an amazing dinner of tapas and wine! We headed out to see the bike powered Christmas tree but got sidetracked by a bar.

I'm really excited about getting to know the group of ANU students better. They seem really lovely. Meg showed us all the pictures of her wedding in our room which made me want to get married. Who to? I do not know.

Quotes:

"Why so early if Obama's not coming?" (Meg as she drifts off to sleep and we are talking about waking up early to register)

"Look, your digital diary must be as boring as shit if you're quoting me." (Meg one minute later)

Registration, exploration

2010-01-19T08:01:00.001-08:00

Monday, 7 December 2009

Last night I met two Americans from Ithaca University who were in my dorm. They mentioned they were heading over to register early today because they heard the number of badges was going to be limited at COP15.

This morning I woke up and headed over with them. However, when we got there we realised what their friend had told them (that rego opened at 9am) wasn't actually true and rego only opened at 12. Patrick and I went back to Sleep-In-Heaven because he had left his wallet in the room. We then went back to the harbour to check out the Greenpeace ship although once we got there, we realised it wasn't opened today.

Patrick talked my ear off about his life story – how he started out pre-med, then his best friend died and he re-evaluated and decided to study health admin, only to get kicked out in his final semester for helping a friend cheat because her mum was sick and she wasn't studying enough. Now he has just finished an undergrad degree at Ithaca and is applying for grad school at Duke, Columbia and Yale for Environmental Management and Sustainability (or something like that ...) Anyway, it was interesting to hear his convoluted path and how sometimes something really bad can actually be a blessing in disguise – like him getting kicked out of school because now he has found something he is really passionate about.

We got back to COP15 only to find the line super long for registration. Patrick, being bold, asked someone at the front if we could jump in line because he had been there early but just forgotten his wallet. I was so embarrassed at how forward he was but they let us in the line (later I met up with Ella Bella who said she stood in line for 4 hours outside in the cold!) so it didn't take as long as it could have!

A map of COP15. Oh the places to see!

Once we got inside and registered, we ate a great, cheap lunch. We got our hands on a side events program and wandered around. The place is huge and I've never seen so many computers in my life!

I bumped into Alex Raf, a guy who went to Burgmann College with me. He is now working for an NGO on climate justice. He seemed to know a lot about it and was talking about the inequity of climate change and how developed countries have already used 60% of the atmosphere and the rest should be left for the developing world/the developing world should get reimbursed for it .... I'll ask him more later.

Fossil of the Day, Fossil of the Day, who is bad, who is worse?

I saw the Fossil of the Day awards. Fossil of the Day is an institution at COP. At the end of each day, Climate Action Network, presents "Fossil of the Day" awards to the countries which have been particularly obstructive in the negotiations that day. My friend from COY, Siri, was representing Sweden which was awesome (good for Siri, not so good for Sweden!) I went to the Youth Forest Working Group and I am more certain that I want to track them and the REDD/LULUCF developments.

Check out: http://www.fossiloftheday.com/

I'm thinking of researching a topic along the lines of:

"The impact that NGOS (specifically the Youth Forest Working Group and ECA) have on LULUCF and REDD negotiations during COP15"

I was buggered, hopped on a bus to the Opening Ceremony at the Town Hall where I had a whole bunch of sandwiches (Copenhagen may in fact be a very conducive environment for a backpacker's budget! - I've been able to limit my eating budget to free food/hot dogs/danishes/fruit) and bumped into a couple of friends from COY. I met Josh who was telling me how he got into the American climate change movement after living at Punta Mona in Costa Rica for a month. Punta Mona is a completely self sustaining farm which is off the grid. Apparently anyone can go and live there for a month or more at a time. I want to go one day!

Copenhagen's beautiful town hall where the COP15 Opening Ceremony reception was held. My photo does not do the building and its architecture justice!

I headed back to the hostel after that and I'm now going to bed. Must get some sleep before a hectic two weeks!

And the Conference of the Youth continues!

2010-01-19T07:42:00.001-08:00

Conference of the Youth Group Photo! (Courtesy of Helena Evoxic)

Sunday, 6 December 2009

Today was the second day of the COY. There were two really informative workshops in the morning on LULUCF and REDD which I attended. I found out about the youth forest movement which has strong links with the Ecosystems Coalition and advocates for fair and effective REDD and LULUCF regulations.

We had a big group photo at lunch time and then a regional breakout session where all the Aussies and Kiwis met and spoke about the respective organisations from the Antipodeans. There was also discussion of collaborating on policy and lobbying, particularly as our two governments carefully follow each others' climate change developments.

We then split up into working groups. I felt a bit awkward as I'm not really involved in the activism side of the conference but I went along to the Youth Forest Working Group as they seemed organised and I am interested in what they are lobbying for and I believe in what they are lobbying for – forest management to be included in a LULUCF deal; full, prior, informed consent of Indigenous people for REDD.

In the closing session we heard from the International CEO of Greenpeace who was a student activist during apartheid and fled into exile as a consequence of his activism. He was very passionate and inspirational (although he did seem to quote every cliché in the book – from the Creo saying "Only when the last tree has been cut down and the last river has been poisoned and the last fish caught, will we realise that money cannot be eaten" to Martin Luther King and Gandhi!).

The COY was rewarding because I got a very brief look into the huge youth movement across the world. I realised that it wasn't just crazy, environmentalist hippies who were interested in climate change but young people like me and my friends who realise that we are the ones who are going to be around in 2050, and not all the politicians who are choosing to commit to 2050 targets which means they won't be accountable since they'll be dead.

Some young people have been to negotiations since Nairobi, others have been fasting since Barcelona and even others have never been involved in international negotiations but have been active at home for years. It makes me feel bad that I know so little and have done so little.

All together now – youth, youth, youth!

2010-01-19T07:34:00.001-08:00

Saturday 5 December 2009

Wow – they say that you only grow when you go out of your comfort zone.

That couldn't have been more true today. Waking up at 7am in pitch blackness and walking across to the Conference of the Youth venue, I was filled with trepidation, concerned the day would be a useless talkfest for young people from the global north.

I couldn't have been more wrong. The first day of the two day Conference of the Youth (COY) was filled with young people engaging in the climate change negotiation process. The annual COY has been running for the past five years, convening the weekend before the COP. Anyone who considers themselves "youth" may participate. COY is a conference about meeting other young people interested in climate change. There are workshops on different aspects of climate change including the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM), Land Use, Land Use Change and Forestry (LULUCF), Reducing Emissions through Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD), the latest updates in climate science, how to maximise a day at COP, climate art, how to set up a youth coalition in your country and the list goes on. The workshops are run by other young people who are experienced in the field, whether through formal study or hands on experience. There are also break-out sessions where you brainstorm with other young people about national campaigns, your contribution to COP15 and other issues of climate change

I walked into the COY not knowing one single person but immediately, Ella Bella, a friendly South African girl who started "Miss Earth South Africa" with her sister, helped me find the exact venue of COY. We got chatting in the line for registration and she explained to me that "Miss Earth" is an NGO for young women to empower other young women in South Africa through outreach programs in schools. Her organisation has existed for the past 6 years and in the last two years has really gotten off the ground, parallel with the global climate change activism movement.

Check out http://www.missearthsa.co.za/

The COY was opened by a number of young people involved in YOUNGO – the international youth climate network. We heard from three young people who have been fasting for the past 30 days, drinking only water, their own personal journey of climate change activism. We did some meet and greet activities which were very necessary and useful considering there were over 300 people at the first day of the conference (although they are expecting 700 people tomorrow!)

We broke off into two workshop sessions and I felt like a little kid in a lolly shop – there were so many interesting workshops to choose from ranging from climate change impacts; the process of the UNFCCC; updates on climate science; youth at COP – YOUNGO; utilising a day at COP effectively; traditional media; new media; art and activism; carbon trading and CDM, REDD and forests.

I chose to attend the workshop on the process of the UNFCCC which was led by a very cute French guy, Seb, who has a background in International Environmental Law. The workshop was a very good overview of the UNFCCC, its instruments, bodies and institutions. It was helpful to see how everything fit together, particularly as we have learnt about all the acronyms and groups in Climate Change Science and Policy, but I sometimes forget how everything works together.

The second workshop I attended was on carbon trading and CDM. I was interested to learn more about CDM, particularly because it is so controversial. Unfortunately, the workshop wasn't very focussed and there were various levels of knowledge within the workshop – ranging from some people who didn't know what CDM stood for to others who wanted to know how NAMAs were going to play into the COP 15 negotiations. Nevertheless, the three facilitators were very knowlegable with one of the guys writing his Masters thesis on the topic, another one who had written a book on the flaws of the CDM and the third facilitator from the Global South, speaking on the CDM projects she had been involved with and the flaws of those projects. In the middle of the session, a girl from the Global South broke out in frustration at the ineffectiveness of CDM and how all she and her fellow country people wanted was for an effective, equitable outcome.

We had a great vegan lunch which was provided for us (very good considering the whole COY was completely free) and I met a whole bunch of different people.

I met George from Zimbabwe who is in South Africa, about to start his PhD in solar energy; a group of Australians and Pacific Islanders working on Project Survival Pacific; Emily from the Girl Guides; a girl from Brazil who works full time for "The Art of Hosting Meaningful Conversations"; youth delegations from around the world from countries as varied as Malawi, Vanautu; Maldives; the Carribean.

This was one of the (many!) mind maps we came up with throughout the course of the weekend. It was wonderful seeing how a diverse group of people could be united under the same umbrella goals.

My "open space" group in action!

After lunch we had "open spaces" where a group of us got together to talk about our goals of Cop15 and how to take advantage of failures and successes at the COP15. I met a couple of people from the Pacific Islands, as well as Brandon, one of the two Australian Indigenous youth. I met a girl, Lan, from Norway who was with Spire (Sprouts?) which is one of the big youth NGOs in Norway.

We had a breakout session which had a number of options including policy working groups, Climate Change Fast, Youth Declarations, Actions, Bottomlining, website, graphics. I went to Bottomlining to find out more about the governance of YOUNGO and to hear from the young people who have given up hundreds of hours of their time for the global youth climate change movement.

Afterwards we had the closing session where we heard from Anna Rose from Australia who spoke about her journey since Montreal and the setting up of the Australian Youth Climate Coalition and how it has grown from 5000 to 51 000. She spoke of Powershift in the US, Australia, Canada, UK, China and India. We also heard from an Australian/Indian and the problems faced engaging the global south and north, particularly to do with funding to COP15.

Afterwards, a couple of us new friends all went out to dinner together. I got to make friends with Siri, Lovisa, Solomon, Linh, Paul, Sadhie. The Swedes told us all about Sweden's great welfare state although how there is a shift to be more like the US, particularly with the new conservative government.

The COY today was more than I could have expected. Everyone was so friendly and eager to meet new people and find out about different activities and projects going on in different countries. It gave me great faith in young people and their role in climate change negotiations. I can't wait for tomorrow!

Musings and Rambles in the City of Copenhagen

2010-01-19T06:45:00.000-08:00

Thursday 3 December 2009

Angela Merkel's friendly face along with a variety of other climate change related advertisements greeted me at Copenhagen airport.

I arrived in Copenhagen today. Although the conference does not officially begin until December 7 and we don’t start our course until December 8, I wanted to arrive early to soak up the atmosphere of the city pre conference. I’m hoping to explore the city and attend a couple of the pre-COP15 events like the Conference of the Youth and Opening Ceremony of COP15.

Copenhagen is a beautiful city. Everything is very efficient. The airport had both a train and metro station taking people into the city, outer Copenhagen and other parts of Denmark. The train stations and metro stations are so much cleaner than any other city's I've ever been to. While the cost of living is expensive, it is possible to live on the cheap by shopping at supermarkets and 7/11s for food and living off hotdog stalls that seem to appear on every street corner! The city is buzzing and the locals are very friendly - perhaps because they know how many visitors they are going to receive! In fact, I heard that there is a website where Danes can volunteer to host COP15 participants and help out in that way.

Today I had the opportunity to walk around the city and check out all the amazing public spaces and exhibitions that were being held concurrently with COP15. I also enjoyed the free public transport, thanks to being a COP15 participant!

Even Copenhagen's postcard pretty harbour is into recycling!

The whole city has been swept up in climate change action! This is a photo taken at Kongens Nortov in a big, public square. This is a public exhibition of sculptures of globes. Residents from around Copenhagen have constructed artwork of their approach and interpretation of climate change.

A little more conversation, a little more preparation

2010-01-19T06:42:00.000-08:00

Friday 6 November 2009

Amidst the hustle and bustle of stuvac, the ANU Climate Change Science and Policy Field School took time out to spend a day at a preparation workshop for Copenhagen.

I arrived slightly apprehensive as I had only ever taken one other ENVS subject at the Fenner School – Climate Change Science and Policy – whereas most of the other people taking this course were Environmental Science or Interdisciplinary Studies students. However, my apprehension was unfounded when I remembered this is a particularly friendly faculty!

Janette gave us a brief overview of housekeeping and logistics in Copenhagen. She also introduced Kiri and Shannon as our tutors for the course. We then brainstormed themes for our research papers. We went around the room and everyone mentioned one or two topics they were interested in researching at the Conference of the Parties (COP15) in Copenhagen. Never would I have imagined we would have come up with so many diverse topics! There were topics ranging from human health to Business and Industry NGOs and everything in between! We then all tried to collaboratively figure out rough “groupings” of the topics so each of us would have two or three other people to support us at the conference – we could go to side events together, organise interviews together and discuss broader themes within our groups.

Initially, I was interested in tracking the “Big 2” – the US and China. My second idea was to research the role of NGOs at the conference. After seeing the six or so groupings, I decided I would rather go with the NGO idea. This was for a number of reasons. Firstly, I was overwhelmed by the whole concept of this course and thought tracking the US and China would be even more overwhelming! Secondly, I wanted to pick a topic which made the most of the opportunity of being at the conference. I figured I could research the role of US and China in climate change negotiations from Australia. Furthermore, as an Asian Studies major, I am already interested in China. I thought this would be a good opportunity to make the most of a field school environment and learn something completely new. Finally, there wasn’t really a group tracking the major players however the NGO group was the biggest one with around eight students to begin with.

After splitting up into our various groups, the big NGO group split into two again. One group was broad examining activism, inside versus outside the conference, Business, Industry and other NGOs. I was in the other group which was focused more on big, global NGOs like Greenpeace and WWF. I was with Alexis, Michelle and Phoebe. We all seemed to get along very well and had some lively discussion. Phoebe spoke briefly about the youth movement with the NGOs and the particular power they are perceived to hold because of the principle of intergenerational equity. I thought this was an interesting thesis.

It was very difficult just picking one topic! There were so many topics and groups I would have loved to have been a part of including human security and climate justice.