Young and Future Generations Day

Today was a very exciting day at the conference because it was Young and Future Generations Day. This was a perfect day for youth to make themselves known at the conference. So with YOUNGO, SustainUS, WAGGS, and other NGO's we had the opportunity to participate in actions to get the negotiators attention.

The first action of the day involved the t-shirts we got that show various profiles of youth on the front and a quote from COP15 on the back that says, "You have been negotiating all my life, You cannot tell me you need more time." With our shirts on we lined the entryway from the buses into the Cancunmesse in silence with our hands behind out backs as all the negotiators passed by. It was amazing to hear all the words of encouragement from people who walked by us. Many people took pictures and videos; some media members interviewed various youth standing in the line.

The second action of the day was performing the climate dance. It was performed at both the Cancumesse and the Moon Palace. We did the dance multiple times near the negotiator lunch area. The dance was full of energy and once again we got a lot of attention.

The final action of the day was definitely the most effective. In Cancunmesse, one of the conference centers,  there is a row of youth booths where we created a "carbon market". At the carbon market we got people's attention by yelling "we're selling out future!" Within the market we "sold" various items of the environment which represent our future. Some of the items being "sold" at the market were bits of ozone which "guaranteed no holes", the last of the melting glaciers, trees, ocean, air and more. As the people walked past us we made them hear us by asking, "How much do you think our future is worth?" We definitely got the biggest reaction and most attention from this action.  I think in total these actions really made people see that youth are here and we care.

One session today was an Intergenerational Inquiry on Climate Change where we heard different youth perspectives on the way that youth are participating in finding solutions to climate change. Specifically, the focus was on Article 6 of the UNFCCC Convention which addresses the issue of climate change education as well as public awareness. This session was full of energy right off the bat. The opening speaker  was a man from Jamaica who showed a music video on climate change that was created by Jamaican youth, in which one of the lines was, “see the signs they all reveal that global climate change is real.” During the song all the speakers stood up and starting dancing, as well as the majority of the audience.

The second speaker was a girl named Hillary Boehman from Australia. She spoke about how even after the disappointment of COP15 youth still have faith in COP16. She expressed how youth are hoping for an effective post 2012 agreement. Australia has participated in Powershift events in which a massive amount of youth participated in actions that support efficient energy solutions. Her point was just to say that youth are capable of big things and are willing to do whatever they can to get solutions.

The final speaker at the session was the Executive Secretary of theUNFCCC, Christiana Figueres from Costa Rica. She told us that climate change is the most complex challenge that humanity has ever faced and that nothing has been so big since the industrial revolution. She explained that because this problem involves everyone we have to create a structured plan with consensus among all governments and this is very difficult to accomplish. She pointed out that youth have the advantage of technology; we are masters of social networking and therefore we should not let national boundaries hold us back. She ended by saying that climate change isn't our future, it is now, and the time to act is now. At the end of her speech she got very emotional and it was very easy to see how passionate she is about this. It was a great experience to see and hear her speak.