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Brooke Welty at the Saturday climate change demonstration

by Brooke Welty ’11 and Doreen Stabinsky, COA faculty member
originally published in the Bangor Daily News

Negotiators and ministers from every country in the world are here in Copenhagen trying to form a global agreement to solve the climate crisis. Each of them is asking one question: What will President Barack Obama say when he arrives on Thursday?

We are here too, as part of a 13-student delegation from the College of the Atlantic on Mount Desert Island, and, since it is our president in the spotlight, we’re asking that same question.

The climate crisis is more urgent today than ever before. We have seen delegates here from island states like Tuvalu and the Maldives, and from African nations like Kenya, desperately plead for a treaty that will save their countries from the human suffering that is already taking place due to sea level rise, droughts, floods and crop failure.

For those of you back in Maine who think these problems won’t affect you, think again. Sea level rise due to melting Arctic ice is a grave risk to the northeastern United States. All of coastal Maine is on the front lines for serious flooding if the world fails to contain the climate crisis.

In order to prevent these catastrophes, leaders must leave Copenhagen at the end of the week having crafted a treaty that is fair, ambitious and legally binding. It should ensure that emissions peak in 2015 and decrease as rapidly as possible toward zero after that.

To achieve this, developed nations must commit to cutting their emissions by at least 40 percent by 2020, using 1990 as a baseline. They should create a special funding mechanism to protect tropical forests. And the U.S. and other developed nations should create a fund of at least $140 billion annually to help poorer countries develop renewable energy, end deforestation and adapt to the impacts of climate changes that are already inevitable.

None of this will happen without U.S. leadership. We have contributed more global warming pollution than any other country historically. We drive the world’s economy. Most importantly, we have the capital and human resources to create and export the energy revolution that will repower the world with clean electricity.

Sadly, President Obama has not yet met that call to leadership. He has acted more like a standard politician than as a leader worthy of the Nobel Prize he just won.

The Obama administration has called the carbon reduction targets and financial commitments that the U.S. must make “politically impossible.” Instead, Mr. Obama has offered minuscule pollution reduction targets, meager funds and a push for a mere “political agreement” in Copenhagen that kicks the can further down the road as the planet burns, instead of a legally binding treaty.

To be fair, the president has had to contend with an intransigent Congress, a well-financed fossil fuel industry opposed to action of any kind and a legacy of denial and foot-dragging from the previous administration.

The president’s negotiating team in Copenhagen has tried to remind the media of these obstacles. U.S. lead negotiator Todd Stern has consistently laid the blame for U.S. foot-dragging at the door of the administration’s favorite scapegoat — the U.S. Senate — claiming an inability to act without congressional approval.

It’s disingenuous to present the president of the United States as powerless to act. The recent Environmental Protection Agency finding that greenhouse gases are pollutants that endanger human health gives Mr. Obama the ability to regulate carbon emissions, and that is just one example of how he can act without waiting for the Senate.

This type of true leadership may not be politically easy for the president. But they don’t give away Nobel Prizes for easy tasks.

In his inaugural speech, Mr. Obama called for “a recognition on the part of every American that we have duties to ourselves, our nation and the world; duties that we do not grudgingly accept, but rather seize gladly, firm in the knowledge that there is nothing so satisfying to the spirit, so defining of our character than giving our all to a difficult task.”

So far, the president has not “seized gladly” our duties to the world. He has not even grudgingly accepted them.

As Americans, we hope that changes when Mr. Obama arrives in Copenhagen. We do not want to have to look the delegates from Tuvalu in the eye and tell them that inaction by our country sealed the fate of catastrophe in theirs.

By J. Taj Schottland

The youth have been broadcasting a couple core messages here in Copenhagen. I’d like to catch you up on what those messages have been and what they mean.

My favorite youth message comes in the form of a question. “How old will you be in 2050?” The youth have posed this question repeatedly to anyone who will listen, especially the media and high-level negotiating officials. The question has even permeated the depths of the UNFCCC bureaucratic process, as was evident when Michael Zammit Cutajar, who chairs talks on long-term action, walked into our youth briefing wearing a bright blue t-shirt with this slogan printed on it. But what is this question meant to accomplish? It is meant raise awareness that COP 15 negotiators, and the politicians they represent, won’t be around in 2050 to witness the climate disaster they helped sow. But the youth of today will be there. We will pay a dear price for the current inactions of world governments. For this reason we need significant emission reduction targets for the near future, not just distant 2050 targets.

Richard van Kampen (left), Noah Hodgetts (center) and Taj Schottland (right) at December 12 demonstration in Copenhagen.

I’d also like to interpret this question in another way. Yes it is true, the negotiators can’t be held accountable in 2050, but there will be people who can and will be held accountable. That’s us. Yep, the youth at COP 15 will be held responsible for what happens. The future generations will look back and judge us. They will know there were thousands of us here. They will know we had the capability of making real change. But will they look back and see that we stepped up and flexed our muscles? Or will they see we did a half-hearted job? We have to pull out all the stops and do whatever is necessary to make our voice heard. The stakes are too high for failure, and the youth are the best chance—perhaps the only chance—for bringing about a good outcome in Copenhagen.

Our second slogan is “survival is not negotiable.” People often loose sight that we are negotiating our survival. When countries negotiate finance, technology transfer and other policy “wonky” subjects, what they are actually negotiating is our survival. Is that really something we are willing compromise on? It’s as simple as that. Countries have lost sight of the big picture. Everyone has the right to life, as recognized by simple moral imperatives and by countless international human rights declarations and treaties. We understand that climate change, if left unchecked, will cause innumerable human deaths. We must stop bickering, stop negotiating our survival, and address the issue as if our lives depended on it. Because they do.

By Brooke Welty

Found in the Copenhagen metro terminal on Forum Street.

I’d guess that most of you who are reading this blog are not in Copenhagen right now.  At this point no one knows exactly what will come of this conference that is seen to be a monumental point in human history.  A group of global youth came up with a list of 10 steps and tips (in no particular order) that can be used at home regardless of the outcome here.

1. Educate others Talk to people about the issue and motivate them to act.
2. Local Schools Get involved in local schools, educate today’s children to motivate them to take action, let them know about the issues, but also teach them how to create solutions.
3. Speak with your local government (if feasible) about positive steps to be taken regarding energy production, efficiency, supporting local farms etc.
4. Take individual action do what you can personally to address the problem.
5. Create an open space Talking about these issues is very important; by talking we can answer questions we may have, motivate people to join a group or take action; above all, we need to foster relationships to strengthen communities.
6. Start or join a climate action group If individual action can make an impact, a group of motivated individuals, working with other groups of motivated individuals can change the world.
7. Local Issues When discussing climate change, it is important to relate the global issue to a local problem; drought, sea-level rise, forest fires, agricultural impacts etc.
8. Use everyday language Don’t use wonky language that only a few can understand, phrase your thoughts in the everyday vernacular.
9. Media Be sure to involve the media in whatever you do, this can help to pressure a target or simply to motivate more people to join the movement
10. Empower People Motivate people to want to act, make sure people feel that they have the power to create effective change … because we do.

By Brooke Welty and Oliver Bruce

Emerging into the Bella Center main lobby, it’s hard not to be impressed with the organizational prowess of the Danish government. The entire lobby is decked out in trees, cafes, and information booths with big projected videos of clean energy technologies. It’s great to see that the place in which the next generation climate agreement will be negotiated is already a world leader in the transition toward a clean energy economy.

We’re excited to be here and to see what the next two weeks will bring. A month ago, we were worried that this conference would be a dud – that all that would result would be a set of weak decisons.
Being here though, and hearing the news in the last few days that only continues to get more positive, we’re cautiously optimistic that this moment will be remembered in history by future generations as the time that we made serious commitments to creating a more resilient and peaceful planet.