Today is the day!  COP15, otherwise known as the 15th Conference of the Parties or the International Climate Negotiations, begins today.  The world is perched on the edge of one of the most important sets of negotiations to take place, perhaps ever, for our future on this planet.

By 2050, the world will be a very different place if we as a global human family fail to take action on climate change.   It will affect our ability to grow food, access fresh drinking water, threaten our national security, and literally change the face of the planet (ice caps, anyone?)  The science is clear.  We must take serious action to curb greenhouse gas pollution.

The negotiations will close in two weeks, on December 18th.  Until then, young people from across the globe will be working like mad to bear witness to what takes place here at these negotiations.  The 1000+ international youth here at the negotiations are working to demand a fair, adequate, and leagally binding treaty.  You can follow the action at sustainus.org, climatecountdown.org, itsgettinghotinhere.org, and at powershift09.org.

Credit: Australian Youth Climate Coalition

International youth are here to ask one compelling question of the negotiators and the world: “How old will you be in 2050?”  For the global youth here at this conference, the answer is that we’ll be in our 60s, as old as some of the people here doing the negotiating.

With this question, youth will be working to deliver one simple message: “Survival is not negotiable.”  Our future is not negotiable.  The survival of the Maldives and Bangladesh—which will be completely and mostly underwater, respectively—is not negotiable.   Essentially, we’ll be here to look world leaders in the eyes and demand a livable future on this planet. We have no more time to wait.

With the anniversary of President Obama’s historic election last week and the number of days before negotiations begin in Copenhagen getting ever smaller, now is a more important time than ever to be calling on President Obama for leadership on the climate crisis.

Climate Countdown is part of the larger “It’s Game Time, Obama” campaign– signing the Climate Countdown Petition is a simple action that you can take to let President Obama and the world know that it’s game time!  As of Nov. 10th, over 28,000 actions have been taken.

Game on!

Washington, DC – Last Saturday, the 350 October 24th International Day of Climate Action brought out over 500 DC residents to rally at Meridian Hill, known to DC locals as Malcolm X park.  Marchers held posters with the number 350 representing the maximum level of carbon dioxide that has been deemed safe for the environment to avoid catastrophic climate change by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.  A free concert was held at the park by a number of bands including Backyard Band and Godisheus, as well as numerous speakers including Ambassador Friis Arne Petersen from the Danish Embassy.  The event was held just over a month before the COP15 climate summit that is taking place this December in Copenhagen, Denmark.

After the rally, a green solar bus led marchers and cyclists down 16th street to the White House as they braved the torrential down pour chanting “Rain or shine, now’s the time, we got 350 on our minds!” and “Obama! Help protect our Mama!”  As the marchers rallied at Lafayette Park in front of the White House, they formed a mass circle of hope vigil for a safe and healthy environment.  The 350 International Day of Action was celebrated in over 180 countries with over 5200 events to bring world wide attention to the number 350.

The Washington D.C. event was sponsored by organizations advocating for strong domestic climate action in time for the COP15 climate summit.  The Hip Hop Caucus and the Chesapeake Climate Action Network organized the marchers Read the rest of this entry »

Yesterday, apart from going to a planning meeting for 350 October 24th Day of Action event in Berlin and preparing this post for Blog Action Day 2009, I also bought my ticket to Copenhagen. This has been a long time coming, as I’ve been considering the dual implications of my travel to COP-15 on climate change and on my pocketbook.

Image credit: http://www.magic-mural-factory.com/

Knowing that flying accounts for 2-3% of global CO2 emissions, I’ve been rather anti-flying in recent years. To get to Germany, of course, I had no other choice (smuggling myself onto a freight boat or getting up to Alaska and then taking the trans-Siberian train across two continents weren’t really feasible… and molecular transport does not yet exist). Once I got here and had a bit of vacation time, though, I reverted to my anti-flying ways and I decided not to fly to visit a friend in Bosnia, but to carpool to Poland for a short trip instead. Carpooling with a guy who was going to drive from Berlin to Krakow no matter what was fine: I was just cutting out a share of his emissions.

Last week, in planning my trip up to Copenhagen for COP-15, I wanted to undertake some more serious analysis of my travel options since there seemed to be no easy answer regarding the best way to get to COP.

Here’s the dilemma: Read the rest of this entry »

On Friday, I did something I’ve never done before.  I attended a meeting at my senator’s office.

Now, this is by no means a regular activity for me.  I’m a scientist and mathematician and would much rather be discussing enzymatic pathways or solving difficult integrals than discussing politics.  Yet when it comes to the issue of climate change, science has its limitations.  It can help solve immediate problems but without stronger climate policy, better science will not be economically viable to produce the positive changes our future generations depend upon.

It took about a month and a half to schedule the meeting.  I tried to contact both Jeff Bingaman and Tom Udall, the senators from New Mexico (my home state).   Jeff Bingaman never responded, but I immediately heard back from Tom Udall via a form letter.  I decided to call Tom Udall’s office to schedule a meeting, and his office staff referred me back to the online request.  After explaining that I had already taken those measures to no avail, they apologized for the run around I had received and scheduled me to meet with the senator.

I can’t tell you how excited I was about the meeting!!  (Ok, in actuality, I was really quite nervous about the meeting and probably would have cancelled if I had not had such great support from other members of the delegation).
Unfortunately, the senator had to cancel at the last minute and I was rescheduled to meet with a member of his staff.  Read the rest of this entry »

Today is Blog Action Day, and what a day it is to talk about climate change across the globe!

As of today, we have 52 days until the international climate negotiations begin in Copenhagen. These negotiations are one of the single most important events that will happen this year. These negotiations will set the tone for the future- the future of young people across the globe.

Today’s youth will live to see the effects of climate change, and we will struggle to deal with its consequences. Our future is on the line.

NOW is the time to act– young people know this with an urgency unique to our generation. We have 52 days to make sure our elected leaders know and act on this urgency.

The most important action you can take this Blog Action Day is to call your senate offices and schedule a meeting with them on the importance of bold, binding and just climate action this year, in the US and in Copenhagen this December.

It’s time to make our Senators feel the urgency. It’s time to demand action for our future! Join us to make our call for action louder, bigger, and even harder to ignore.

That’s right… 62 days left before the international climate negotiations begin in Copenhagen.  Here are a few things you can do this week to build our grassroots push for bold and just climate action this year:

1. Write a letter to the editor about the importance of Copehnagen.
2. Sign the Climate Countdown petition to pressure President Obama to step up and lead on climate.
3. Register to attend a regional Power Shift summit in your area.  Power in numbers!

More to come on actions you can take right now to build the call for strong climate action this year.  Join the campaign to get more involved!

P.S. Please pardon our dust as we re-structure the website… contact Rachel (rachel.butler (at) sustainus.org) with formatting problems or broken links.  Thanks!

The city of Atlanta joined 4 other greater metro area locations including, Boston, Denver, Los Angeles, and Phoenix on Sept. 26, 2009 to gather a broadly diverse group of everyday citizens and participated in the first simultaneous global citizen consultation. The topic was global climate change policy, and the citizens sent a clear message to political leaders: It is time to act for a bold and just climate policy!

In contrast with recent U.S. public opinion polls indicating somewhat diminished popular concern with climate change, 74% of the 341 U.S. participants who participated in the day’s events are “very concerned” about global warming, and a striking 90% find it urgent to reach an agreement at the December 2009 UN COP15 climate summit. 71% of U.S. participants want nations that fail to meet their obligations under a new agreement to be penalized severely or significantly, and 69% believe the price of fossil fuels should be increased.

The Student’s Organizing for Sustainability group at Georgia Tech finished their week of climate action events with this seminar in coordination with The Center for Ethics and Technology, that generated unique and vitally useful information because, unlike opinion poll respondents, participants received balanced expert briefing materials in advance (based on the UN’s 4th assessment report.), and spent an entire day learning together in neutrally facilitated deliberations prior to voting on policy recommendations.

Around the world, the participants were everyday people selected to represent general demographic tendencies in their nation or region in terms of age, gender, education, occupation, urban versus countryside, and ethnicity or race. Climate experts and representatives from organized stakeholder groups involved with global warming were excluded. A report with further analysis of results from the 38 nations will be delivered to government policymakers on November 19, 2009. For further information on the day’s events, please visit World Wide Views project. If you’re interested to get involved on the call to demand a bold and just climate policy in time for COP-15, contact Rachel (rachel.butler at sustainus.org) with SustainUS’s Climate Countdown campaign.

On September 26, 2009, World Wide Views on Global Warming (WWViews) will launch the first-ever, globe-encompassing democratic deliberation in world history. WWViews will allow citizens all over the world to define and communicate their positions on issues central to the UN Climate Change negotiations (COP15), which take place in Copenhagen in December 2009. The main objective of WWViews is to give a broad sample of citizens from across the Earth the opportunity to influence global climate policy. An overarching purpose is to set a groundbreaking precedent by demonstrating that political decision-making processes on a global scale benefit when everyday people participate.

Everyone will live with the consequences of climate change and COP15. But no one –including COP15 delegates or the media – has had a way to know the coherently informed and considered views of everyday people worldwide. This information is vital in order for COP15 to be able to adopt timely, appropriate measures to advance the global common good. WWViews will generate social knowledge for which there is an urgent demand and no other source of supply. WWViews is one of the most ambitious, innovative and consequential projects that will take place in conjunction with COP15.

The Project

WWViews is structured as a global alliance of individuals and institutions, including government agencies, NGOs and universities. Plans are in place for 46 deliberations in 39 nations, including China, Russia, Brazil, India, Bangladesh, the U.S. (5 sites), and key European nations, as well as a robust sample of other states from every continent (e.g., 8 African nations).

During a single day (Sept. 26), two months prior to the COP15 climate summit, WWViews partners will host national deliberations. The Center for Ethics and Technology, and Students Organizing for Sustainability organizing a number of Climate week actions at Georgia Tech will host roughly 100 ordinary people, chosen to represent the city’s demographic diversity, who will gather to engage in a structured dialogue. Around 4,500 citizens from across the globe will address an identical set of questions. Participants will vote on questions, and propose and prioritize action recommendations, within four thematic areas: Climate change and its consequences, Long-term goal and urgency of a new climate deal, Dealing with greenhouse gas emissions, and The economy of technology and adaptation. WWViews will share and publicize the results from the deliberations immediately via the World Wide Web, building excitement, drama and media interest throughout the day. Check back soon for an update about the event.

We’re building pressure on President Obama to take the lead on climate change. Sign this petition to call on the president for stronger action on climate change!

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