Cooling Our Futures: Copenhagen 9th-18th December 2009
From 9th -18th December 2009 Forty-two young people from across continental Europe participated in 'Cooling Our Futures', a youth climate meeting held around the UNFCCC COP15 climate conference in Copenhagen, 9-18 December 2009. The idea for this meeting developed through discussions with youth in the EYFA network who were active on climate issues and concerned by the lack of effective action being taken to tackle climate change, and especially the lack of attention paid to the issue's social and political dimensions, such as that those most responsible for climate change are not the same people as those most vulnerable to its effects. These young people were keen to engage with the international negotiations and draw attention to the 'climate justice' issues involved.
On December 7th, 2009 world leaders came to Copenhagen for the 15th UN Climate Conference (COP15). Many environmental groups and social movements were also in Copenhagen, urging leaders to sign an agreement that could tackle the threat of catastrophic climate change. 'Cooling Our Futures' aimed to be part of this process, encouraging European youth to practice active citizenship on climate change and climate justice issues, and providing the knowledge, skills and platform for them to do so. International participants from across Europe were invited to attend, with a special focus on Eastern and South-Eastern European countries where there are less opportunities for civic participation on environmental issues.
The programme for the meeting included a range of lectures, for example 'Agro-fuels: feeding cars instead of people?' and 'EU Climate Policy & Joint Implementation in Eastern Europe'; workshops such as 'Consensus decision-making and facilitation'; group discussions on topics like 'Different forms of protest: what works?' and excursions to the Bella Centre and to join the mass public demonstrations on the streets of Copenhagen.
This project was undertaken with the help of:
European Commission - European Youth Foundation
Alert Jongeren Fonds
European Commission - Youth in Actio Programme
