At the beginning of year 12, the thought of being at the UN Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen never crossed my mind. Being thrown in the deep end of VCE and HSC was a new, exciting and sometimes overwhelming experience. Learning acronyms and terms like SACs, ENTER, ATAR, VTAC, UAC and Study Scores had both my and my parent’s minds boggled as to how we would survive the year.

It’s now three weeks after saying goodbye to SACs, classrooms and VCE exams and I find myself at the UN Climate Change Conference, walking alongside negotiators, media personnel and hundreds of determined and energetic youth.  Just like I grappled with understanding the structures and acronyms  of Year 12, I find myself grappling with acronyms such as UNFCCC (United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change), REDD (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation in Developing Countries), Annex 1 and LULUCF (Land Use, Land Use Change and Forestry).

Despite these terms and the seriousness that fills the air inside the conference centre, there are still moments to digest the alien structures and mountains of information that is thrown towards a first-timer to these negotiations. Regardless of the pleas from small island nations in the pacific who are losing their land to the effects of climate change, industrialised nations such as Australia, China, Norway, Canada and the US struggle to commit to significant emissions reductions targets, with the overall targets of these nations adding up to less that 15%, when they need to be between 25 and 40 percent to even give us a 50/50 chance of avoiding 2 degrees of warming. Furthermore, countries like Australia are failing to commit to a suitable forest protection and management framework that fairly accounts for emissions from the destruction of the world’s forests, (Deforestation counts for approximately a quarter of carbon in the atmosphere) and ensures indigenous people’s rights.

However, the expectations of the young people here are high- they will not be satisfied unless an agreement is reached that significantly reduces industrialised countries emissions and begins a decline in concentration of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere.

Despite the high level security that forces me to strip off half my clothing and rattle through my belongings each morning, youth have a certified place at these negotiations and we have been quick to make our presence felt.  Yesterday, over 150 youth sung and danced the “It’s hot in here” flash dance as negotiators walked past. Today we will be standing out amongst the suits and formal wear of the negotiators by dressing in our PJ’s to form a “bed-in” against climate change- an action made famous by John Lennon who was assassinated 29 years ago today.

With the heads of state arriving next week, we are building expectation and perspectives that we hope will gain us a strong, legally binding deal.

Copenhagen is proving to be a place of example with wind turbines showing that renewable energies are possible and messages of hope in the form of “Hopenhagen” displayed throughout the city. Being at this conference in a movement of international youth is both inspiring and empowering.

Although thoughts of spending schoolies on a sunny beach cross my mind as I brave the chilly winter air, it is evident that the consequences of a failed agreement may be too high to turn away from.