Walking through the halls at the UN Climate Negotiations in Poznan earlier this month, you’d be forgiven for thinking you were at the heart of the struggle to defeat dangerous climate change. Top-level ministers from every government in the world met to forge a global agreement, the contents of which will decide how the latter half of this century plays out. But in truth, the real decisions are not made at the UN.

Woven through the endless meetings, lobbying sessions, cocktail parties and plenaries was a palpable sense that we will pass the critical 2 degrees tipping point which puts us into ‘dangerous’ levels of warming. Negotiators repeated ad nauseam the party line about how CO2 concentrations of 450 parts per million will stave off the worst impacts of climate change, whilst being briefed behind closed doors about exactly how out of date this target is. Corner negotiators with questions like these and they will often admit as much. It’s exasperating to watch, because we know that the time left to act is running out.

Is there an end to this? Not within the conference halls. Negotiators appear to have little freedom to negotiate freely. One NGO put it to me that up to 90% of their platform is pre-determined before they even step on the plane. With special interests, short-termist electoral cycles and near instantaneous judgement by stock market edict, it is easy to see why governments act in this way. Operating within such rigid parameters, they are essentially players in a game. The small slice of autonomy granted to negotiators offers precious little potential for a breakthrough, and is certainly not enough to secure a deal which takes the latest scientific discoveries seriously.

So, what do we need now? Firstly, to recognise that we are a long way from where we need to be and second, to understand that our power lies in the ability to make a just agreement possible. Negotiators are not principally champions of humanity or social justice. They’re playing a game, according to the rules they’re given. Their capacity to act is limited by what is politically acceptable.

Nonetheless, politicians as individuals want to act on this - nobody who has seen the true scale of this problem couldn’t. But at the moment, taking meaningful action necessitates defying the negotiating position set by domestic governments, which means losing your job. By Copenhagen next year, where the final treaty will be agreed, the playing field must look substantially different. In essence, the ground rules must be that taking strong action on climate change is the only way a treaty can be signed because the public will accept nothing less.

To drive this point home, just a few weeks ago Climate Change and Energy Secretary Ed Miliband called for a “popular mobilisation” to make it possible for the process to move forward, whilst Al Gore has said publicly that he “can’t understand why there aren’t rings of young people blocking bulldozers and preventing them from constructing coal-fired power plants.” We should think seriously about this call to action - it comes from a place of real desperation and an awareness of the limitations of a politics not yet built to deal with a problem like climate change.

Having watched the negotiations for two weeks, I can tell you that if the situation continues as it is currently, we will fail to halt runaway climate change. Poznan achieved astonishingly little but few were surprised. In the 48 weeks remaining before Copenhagen we must substantially alter the context of the debate to make it impossible not to act. Many more campaigns like those that forced through the Climate Act in the UK will be needed and on a far bigger scale. We should not underestimate the scale of this challenge, but I take considerable comfort in that the fact that we, not the politicians in Poznan, are the ones with the power of change at this moment. The next year is the most important in human history. It’s up to us to determine how it plays out.

Youth Representative Steals Show at Poznan Talks - Pacific Magazine - Dec. 12

We are the Leaders of Today - Sky News - Dec. 9

Climate Change - Young People take a stand at Poznan - Telegraph - Dec. 8

Saving the world, one UN radiator at a time - Independent - Dec. 7

Equity and justice: the only solutions - Grist - Dec. 7

Decisive action needed to tackle climate change - Times - Dec. 6 

Amy hopes to change climate of opinion - Buxton Advertiser - Dec. 4

City student has a voice in UN talks on saving planet - Derbyshire Evening Telegraph - Nov. 6

But all is not lost. We may be back in Blighty, scattered all over the UK and surrounded by the comforts of our individual homes, no longer living in each other’s pockets, but something amazing came out of this last three weeks. A group that is strong, informed, talented, formidable and ready for the sequel! 

Yup, we have plans afoot. Copenhagen needs mass mobilisation, and we are going to bring it! I am making a New Year’s resolution this year, to make 2009 the bestest year I have ever seen, to bring people together and build this movement. I asked everyone else on the delegation to make it too.

And as the clock strikes midnight on 31st December, what will your resolution be? Care to join us and build the biggest, boldest, most necessary movement our generation will ever see? Forget dieting, that can wait until 2010! 

Merry Christmas,

With hope for an amazing year,

Hanna x

‘Miliband and Stern are right behind you!’

So Guppi and I headed off to schmooze and ask for a meeting. He was deep in conversation, and being a well brought-up young man, I simply spoke to his ‘people’ and did not interrupt. Having got some cards, we headed back to the team.

As soon as I’d sat down - there came a striding figure, coming straight to us! It was our favourite Minister Miliband! What a charming man he is, impressed with our work - and happy to pose for a photo. (Of course)….

But now… we are listening to sweet sweet music! On the massive screens there are pictures of ducks, swans and foxes. Playing and swimming happily to the tune of a live band.

Its hilarious! We have one day left and they are wasting half an hour listening to a ensemble of movie theme songs????? As youth we though it was only appropriate that we danced at the back of the hall. Its the most media attention we’ve had all week!

I am praying so hard that at the end Ban Ki Moon bursts from his chair and announces ‘Now you’ve seen these beautiful polish animals… Think of how they’re all going to be dead! Dead from climmmaatteee chaanngggee! Now get on with the bloody negotiations and do something useful’.

That’ll be the day.

Today, we’re all extremely excited and motivated by the prospect of having a really big impact. We’ve just launched a really bold 24-hour phone call campaign. From 12:00pm Wednesday to 12:00pm Thursday, we will join with hundreds of other young people from around Europe to urge thousands more to call their heads of state and demand strong, immediate climate action.

We were inspired by the action taken by Canadians at last year’s UN climate negotiations in Bali. When Canada was blocking negotiations, young people mobilised and, under eight hours later, thousands of Canadians back home shut down their government’s switchboard. Shortly after, Canada stopped blocking negotiations.

We feel we have to do as much as we can to push the EU, because if they don’t move first, nobody will.

Check out the video and get calling Gordon!

Being here has made me realise the urgency and scale of this problem. It’s brought things I knew to be true in the back of my mind to the front. Climate change is not a middle class issue, and it’s not about protecting a distant far off future. It’s affecting the poorest communities all over the world and it’s affecting them now. Undoubtedly the massive mobilisation and organisation of young people at this conference is having an impact on proceedings. But we didn’t come here just to be here. I worry that we’ll go home having not done enough.

Against the scale of this problem, individual action and lifestyle changes seem like small, insignificant solutions. But individual action is really important, not just in the knock on effect on the people around you, but also in proving to our governments that we want them to take a lead. From individuals, corporations and governments, we need more, now, please.

I’ve been trying to find a bit of time to sit on my own, put my head in order and write this blog for about a week. Now that I’ve finally written it, this uncharacteristically serious tone has emerged. Turns out it’s not all fun and games trying to save the planet.

Developments, well, backward developments, on the EU Climate and Energy Package have flooded my thoughts in last few days. Meetings have been postponed and discussions are going nowhere, and this is going to have serious implications on the strength of the package since President Sarkozy (who is currently holding the EU presidency) is keen to get it passed through by next week. But it is absolutely pointless passing a package that isn’t going to make progress on emission reductions in this crucial upcoming decade. The up to date science (quoted in Climate Safety Report) says that we need to reduce emissions by 10% in 2010 and reach peak fossil fuel use by 2012. There is no way we are going to get anywhere need this target if EU countries keep making excuses.

Currently the big losers in this game are Poland, and quite shockingly, Germany. Poland are complaining that because 95% of their power supply is generated through coal fired power stations, they should be exempt from stringent emission reduction targets. The way the new deal works is that countries are allowed to purchase emission permits and in order to assist the transition to low carbon power sectors, these permits have simply been handed out for free. This of course has meant that over the past few years there has been no progress in receiving energy from renewable sources.

Now, under increased pressure from industry lobbyists, Chancellor Merkel has crumbled. On Tuesday in Warsaw she meets Donald Tusk, Poland’s Prime Minister, to basically discuss coal. Coal! Coal is the biggest climate killer we can pollute our atmosphere with and both parties are actively pushing to keep at this. There is absolutely no way we can reach and suitable atmospheric CO2 concentration with this sort of attitude. We have less that 5 years to really start making a difference and decisions such as these are going to have massive implications on whether we get there or not.

The next week is the most crucial so far. I’ll be in Warsaw on Tuesday, along with hundreds of others hoping to bring Merkel back to her former climate champion status, and in turn give Tusk a push in the right direction. Tuesday’s meeting is going to affect the outcome of the EU package, and this will further have a knock on effect on the post-2012 deal.

Help us put pressure on the EU, public pressure works and we need that energy now more than ever. - http://www.timetolead.eu