Participant Reflections on Cooling Our Futures
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. A full 'Reflections' booklet was produced in the aftermath of the meeting which includes participant reflections, information about the groups involved and the funders who supported us, and descriptions of all the projects planned for future collaboration within this youth network for climate justice. To request a copy of the 'Cooling Our Futures: Reflections' booklet simply send an email with your name, group (if you have one), number of copies required and a postal address - to cop15 [at] eyfa.org.
Below are some thoughts of the youth participants after the meeting.
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My experiences in Copenhagen and with Cooling Our Futures taught me a lot about 'climate justice' and what it means. Where I am from this is not a term people are familiar with and it can be difficult to talk to people about climate change and what it might mean for the world and the people in it. It was exciting and inspiring to be in Copenhagen with so many people motivated not only to fight to stop climate change, but to do this in a just and fair way.
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I think what happened inside the COP15 at the Bella Center was something the whole world should be ashamed of. Real people are already suffering from climate change, in real countries, and they are not the people who are responsible for what is happening, and they cannot stop it. The leaders do not seem to understand the urgency of the problem. But with some optimism, I hope that by the time the COP16 happens next year in Mexico, the global movement against climate change has grown so much, that the leaders cannot ignore us. I hope that the global people’s movement flows out into the streets and pushes governments into action. I think we have started to build this movement in Copenhagen and now we must all go back to our homes and work to become stronger.
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I do not think youth are being taken seriously enough on the issue of climate change. Youth are the main victims of climate change in the future and yet our voices are not really heard in these negotiations. But meeting so many engaged youth in Copenhagen was inspiring and I want to start a youth movement on climate change in my own country now!
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I really enjoyed myself in Copenhagen because I met with a lot of people who are deeply concerned for the future of our planet, I learned a lot in workshops and discussions, and I really felt inspired by so many together marching on December 12th. However, the results of the negotiation are negatively affecting the personal happiness I felt. The world can't afford to wait for more and more talking, without results!
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It was very exiting to be able to go into the Bella Centre, where the actual negotiations were happening. But when we got in there I realised that there is almost no opportunity for people to speak with the government negotiators, that really it's just another meeting space for campaigner to meet with each other and speak to the media. This was the most interesting thing I learned on this project. All of the real campaigning needs to be done in our own countries, before the big summit events happen, because when they are in the negotiating meetings there isn't time for them to hear real people's opinions anymore.