I'm approaching the end of my first week as a youth delegate at the UN Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen. I could write pages and pages about my time here, but I've decided to simply post a few pictures and some highlights.
One of the many gathering spaces within the Bella Center. This place is HUGE. In addition to the meeting rooms, there are restaurants, educational displays, media rooms and even a Danish furniture store.
This is a (poor) photo of the inside of one of the plenary halls, where delegates express their opinions on draft texts, etc. Most of these sessions are about posturing, with the nuts and bolts negotiating taking place behind closed doors. The drafts that emerge from these private meetings are subject to discussion in the larger, open plenary sessions.
The US Government has a Center within the conference venue where officials give talks to the public. This is Under Secretary of State for Democracy and Global Affairs Maria Otero. There have also been briefings by EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson, Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar and Secretary of Commerce Gary Locke. I actually also had the opportunity to meet with Secretary Locke in a small group setting involving the Secretary, six members of the US youth delegation and six members of the Chinese youth delegation. We've been collaborating a fair amount with the Chinese youth, something that has been extremely interesting and exciting. We come from very different backgrounds and have conflicting views on certain things, but the chance for dialogue has been fantastic. We are planning a joint press conference for Monday, and there are rumors about a possible sit down with youth from both delegations and President Wen Jibao of China and Obama himself, when they arrive.
Many NGOs conduct "actions"within the Bella Center advocating for certain causes. These guys dressed up as aliens asking to be taken to "your climate leader" to appeal for leadership on climate change issues.
These folks are advocating for wealthy countries to shoulder the load on emissions reductions as their industrialization and current consumption patterns account for the vast majority of current green house gases in the atmosphere.
A bunch of US youth delegates with EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson. Can you spot me?
An anti-tar sands action organized by the US and Canadian Youth, along with indigenous people from the affected areas.
COP president Connie Hedegaard leading a plenary session.
This is from a protest at an Americans for Prosperity event that I attended, although I'm not in this picture. AFP is a "tea-party" type organization that doesn't believe in man-made global warming. They held this event at the Copenhagen Marriott and were broadcasting it back to the U.S. when a bunch of US youth in the audience stood up and began calling for clean energy and climate change mitigation. The event has gotten way more press than we expected, mainly because the scheduled speaker, a British climate change denier named Lord Monckton, called us "Hitler Youth" during and after the protest. Here's the video. There's also been articles in The Guardian (UK) and on Huffington Post.
That's all for now, but I'll hopefully be able to post more regularly now that I have my bearings. It's really difficult to describe the craziness that is occurring as 15,000 delegates, staff, press and NGO observers pack this place with survival of millions on the line.
Daniel
P.S. Check out the Sierra Student Coalition blog at http://sscinternational.org/ In particular, read my "First Week Awards" post =).
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