December 11th, 2009 |
Published in
COP15 | 1 comment
After our arrival day yesterday, we are proceeding to action: Today is “our” day.
There are so many events running at the same time, its almost too much to handle. We decide to go for Session on intergenerational Equity hosted by the European Youth Forum (YFJ) , supposing that it would be full of young Change Makers. And it was.
The panel proclaimed, that we have only one choice: wield power. My mind started racing by this comment. “How?” I couldn’t stop myself from asking it aloud. As a response it got, that I should go into politics – with the European Greens, if possible. Hm. I’m not sure if I will take that advice. Eventuall I would rather propose to start a global alliance of student organizations working towards Sustainable Development.
…and as a closing statement we also learned, that “Weak men are dangerous. We wish for strong men, able to accept strong women’s leadership.” Pretty smart.
The evening was filled with the YOUNGO reception. Rapping, dancing and chanting for/against climate change. Our special guest Ivo the Boer, Master of resistance to climate change, came to visit. He spoke warm hearted words of encouragement for youth activities and took the time to speak to quite a bunch of youngsters, even one we all know very well…
Still, the large quantity of events leaves you with the bitter feeling that the big decisions are taken elsewhere.
Let’s take the spirit of the young voices we heard today and keep the hopes up, folks.
One last message for today:
…at least :)
Love,
Fabienne
December 11th, 2009 |
Published in
COP15 | No comments
Welcome to HOPEnhagen.
Stepping out of the airplane we found ourselves surrounded by advertisments centered around one topic: climate change. It seems like every single product sold in whole Copenhagen turned into a green one. Mobile phones, cars…everything. Welcome to HOPEnhagen, the place to be.
Despite the lack of sleep during the last nights, that were busy with preperation, we landed here full of engery and totally excited to be part of the decision taken these days – a decision, that will shape the future of mankind.
The COP15 bus was already waiting outside the arrival hall, ready to take us to Bella Center. With our 6 pieces of luggage full of inspiring promo-material we struggled our way to the security check and had to stand in line to get our foto badges. Once inside we saw a totally different world in front of us. A cloakroom with the size of a trainstation, hundreds of infostands, posters, ads, media labs, TV screens with kind messages to the “Leaders of the World”. Overwhelming.
.
.
What a start.
We decided to sit down to let this atmosphere settle the Austrian way: drinking coffe (of course FairTrade out of future friendly cups). This was the beginning. It is true. This is COP15 and we are there to make a change. Wow!
The vibe caught us and we followed the impulse to run around, just like all the others - checking out the program schedule, watching a the plenary session, trying to find our way through this. While the energy started to flow, we found that some people were really lost in this spectacle. What a start.
Let’s see what is to come.
Excitedly,
Fabienne
December 11th, 2009 |
Published in
About Us, COP15 | No comments
The world is facing serious challenges. Poverty, diseases and the depletion of important resources are just a few out of many. On top of everything else stands one that will probably impact humankind more than anything else we have seen so far: climate change. To tackle the issues of global warming is the target of COP15 (the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen).
What is COP15 and why is it so important?
Many call it the most important meeting in history since the ending of World War II. It will have life-changing effects on 6.8 billion people, their way of living and survival. It has the potential of saving the world as we know it… but can the global leaders act? Or will they stick to talk instead of action? Will Barack Obama (USA), Jose Manuel Barroso (EC), Wen Jiabao (China), Angela Merkel (Germany), Nicolas Sarkozy (France), Silvio Berlusconi (Italy), Mahmoud Ahmadinejad (Iran), Nikolaus Berlakovich (Austria) and more than 160 other heads of governments commit to a treaty that will help to save millions (or even billions) of people?
Once thing is for sure… this 15th meeting of the Conference of the Parties (COP) under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) is the biggest event on this topic that the world has seen so far. One and a half decades after the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro people seem to have realized the dramatic impact that climate change already has – and will have even more over the coming years. People therefore call for a fair climate agreement (see the Seal the Deal website) that will commit to cutting greenhouse emissions (especially CO2) considerably until 2020, establish a framework that will bolster the climate resilience of vulnerable countries and protect lives and livelihoods. In hope for justice and a prosper future 20-30.000 people will try to attend the meetings and side events that are taking place from 07 to 18 December. Ten-thousands of people are additionally expected to come for the hundreds of side events an d conferences taking place at same time (for example Klimaforum09, the global civil society counterpart of the official UN conference in the Bella Center).
What is INEX doing there?
We are following our mission of identifying, inspiring, educating & empowering change makers.
“We are committing to find 25 change making organizations to leverage our impact on society and a sustainable common future.”
By identifying these stakeholders and inspiring them to engage themselves in concrete actions (and joint projects, such as study abroad programs and other ESD projects), we will all learn on the way – and empower duplication of our efforts.
Follow us on this blog to find out how this idea evolves, what we find out on the way and how successful we are in accomplishing this plan…
