The AYCC believes that the Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme as it stood was deeply flawed, locking in big-polluting practices without achieving the emissions reductions that we need.

However, the Government must take leadership on climate change now, and not put off serious climate policy.

Young Australians are still deeply concerned about the impacts that climate change will have on our future and the future of people everywhere. If we don’t act now, there will be even more serious ramifications for ecosystems and populations already feeling the impacts of global climate change.

The AYCC supports putting a price on carbon, and we support the proposal by Professor Garnaut for an interim 2-year carbon levy, in order to move climate policy in the right direction.

With the CPRS shelved for the mean time, all political parties must work together to address climate change right now – including introducing a carbon price and significant energy efficiency measures. 2010 is a Federal Election year, and all political parties must turn their attention to solving the climate crisis, or they risk losing large numbers of votes from younger generations, many of whom are first-time voters.

Young people are ready to get to work on the new clean energy economy – our leaders need to get to work as well. AYCC is organizing a national Climate Reality Week starting May 2nd where hundreds of events will make the call for climate action loud and clear to the public.

From Monday 3rd May until Monday 10th May, young Australians have the chance to educate their communities about climate science and win great prizes – a $2000 voucher for Intrepid travel, $500 cash, tickets to see The Cat Empire, tickets to Woodford Folk Festival, and book vouchers.

The Competition

We’re launching a competition called ‘Reality Check’ to fight back against misinformation about climate change. We’ll give  great prizes for young people who:

• display our slogan “The Climate is Changing: We Can’t Escape Reality” in the craziest, most creative way to the most number of people, and/or
• spread our climate mythbusting fact sheet to the most number of people and/or
• show our animated video to the most number of people.
  

You can be as innovative and crazy as you want!  The competition is open for any Australian between the ages of 12 and 29 years old. There are 2 categories – school groups and non-school groups.

Click here to enter

The AYCC is also doing a speaking tour of the country during Climate Reality Week – 3rd til 10th May.  Want a speaker to come to your school, uni or community group? Email sophie.trevitt@youthclimatecoalition.org and let us know.

Got question?  Check out our FAQs and Terms and Conditions.

Thanks to these generous organisations for providing the prizes:

From Monday 3rd May until Monday 10th May, young Australians have the chance to educate their communities about climate science and win great prizes – a $2000 voucher for Intrepid travel, $500 cash, tickets to see The Cat Empire, tickets to Woodford Folk Festival, and book vouchers.

The Competition

We’re launching a competition called ‘Reality Check’ to fight back against misinformation about climate change. We’ll give great prizes for young people who:

• display our slogan “The Climate is Changing: We Can’t Escape Reality” in the craziest, most creative way to the most number of people, and/or
• spread our climate mythbusting fact sheet to the most number of people
• show our animated video to the most number of people.

You can be as innovative and crazy as you want! The competition is open for any Australian between the ages of 12 and 29 years old. There are 2 categories – school groups and non-school groups.

Click here to enter

The AYCC is also doing a speaking tour of the country during Climate Reality Week – 3rd til 10th May. Want a speaker to come to your school, uni or community group? Email sophie.trevitt@youthclimatecoalition.org and let us know.

Got question? Check out our FAQs and Terms and Conditions.

Thanks to these generous organisations for providing the prizes:

A failed agreement will have devastating implications for rural Australians. Climate change will bring extreme weather events, changed rainfall patterns and disturb the natural systems that industries such as agriculture and tourism heavily rely on.

The climate debate in rural and regional areas such as the Albury/Wodonga region is holding Australia back from committing to unified, serious action on a problem that will obliterate famer’s livelihoods and Australia’s economy.

It seems incredibly ambiguous to me that the National Party, who represent Australian farmers, are blocking strong action on climate change when the problem will have catastrophic consequences for farmers and rural Australians across our nation.

Over the past week, I’ve been speaking to our neighbours in the Pacific Island region who are having their crops destroyed from groundwater salinity caused by rising sea levels. These people lose more than income. They lose their culture, their reputation in society and their homes.

Back in Australia, our own properties and forests are being incinerated by fires that are becoming more intense and regular as global temperatures increase. We only have to look at the fires that have devastated our local region to recognise this.

The devastating drought that south-eastern Australia has experienced for the past ten years is being enhanced by changing rainfall patterns, a decreasing snow season in the Alps and extreme heat weather events. The evidence of this is found in the Murray Darling basin, which is in a state of environmental catastrophe that is likely to be irreversible.

Furthermore, the short sighted mindset of some rural Australians illustrates a stark contradiction. It is one thing to disagree with appropriate and necessary action on climate change, but it becomes outright hypocrisy to turn around, highlight extreme weather that contributes to the drought and demand assistance from our federal government. The best way to solve a problem is to deal with the cause, rather than spending millions of tax payer’s money on dealing with the effects.

As a young person who has had the widely informative experience of seeing dry land salinity caused by poor land managing, a dying water system due to over extraction and the loss of biodiversity from land clearing, it is disheartening to know that many farmers in rural Australia disregard my future. I’d have hoped that leaving a legacy of environmental and economic destruction, due to self interest and greed would be unacceptable for most Australians.

It’s time to ensure social, economic and environmental stability for future generations of people who will live in Australia. The major political parties in Australia are halting a transition to sustainable industries that reflect the decency and compassion that many Australians value in society. They represent greed, corporatisation and self interest through putting the lives of millions of Australians at risk through their disregard and inaction.

If we are ever to deal with the climate and environmental crisis that Australia faces, we need to show unity, compassion and concern for those who are facing the adverse effects of climate change in rural Australia and set ambitious targets for action.

Sam Millar, 18, is one of 21 young Australians that comprise the Australian Youth Delegation currently at the UN Climate Change Summit in Copenhagen.

Ultimately, climate change is an issue of human rights. It is about whether we value human civilisation enough to ensure a viable future for ourselves – co-existing peacefully in our natural environments and with our fellow species. It is about whether we want to survive and whether we want the same quality of life for our children as, not only we enjoyed, but also as is their fundamental right as a human being.

Thankfully, this message is gaining increasing prominence in the climate change discourse. And it is poignantly symbolised in the incredible strength shown by a small group of people worldwide – the Climate Justice Fasters – who have put their bodies on the line over the past 42 days, to show their commitment to protecting humanity. Through their sacrifice, these remarkable people highlight that climate change is already worsening the lives of people worldwide, particularly those in developing countries, who are least capable of responding to its impacts.

Already, children, mothers, fathers, brothers and sisters are suffering under the dirty hand of climate change. And the majority of these people are those least responsible for the mess. These are individuals who live simply yet who increasingly struggle to simply live.

On Thursday the 17^th, people worldwide will engage in an act of solidarity for our fellow brothers and sisters. In foregoing food for one day, albeit a minor sacrifice, we seek to send a message of hope, strength and faith in our future. We seek to highlight the generosity of this marvelous planet and the kindness of her people. We seek to show world leaders that failure to address climate change serves to undo the momentous achievements of humankind during our short history on this earth. It sends a message of despair to future generations and it will cast us in the history books as a species who didn’t care enough to secure a magnificent, let alone viable, future.

Through our fasting, we seek to convey a simple message to all people – a message of equity and human rights. And we seek to echo Gandhi’s words, that the:

“earth provides enough for every [person’s] need, but not every [person’s] greed.”

Together we, the people of the world, the mothers and fathers, the children and grandparents, the leaders and workers – can solve this mess. Together…with kindness….we can do this.”

We’re definitely on his radar now and he can’t ignore our message! And then this afternoon, as we were told NGOs had to leave the conference centre, youth from around the world staged an amazing sit-in for 8 hours straight, in a sign that we would not leave until world leaders signed a fair, ambitious and binding treaty. The sit-in had representatives from over ten countries – including Kenya, UK, Denmark, Turkey, Canada and more than I can remember! We were visited by many prominent people who offered their support and thanks. Check it out here.

Now it’s Thursday and we’re all fasting today in solidarity with Climate Justice Fast. On Friday many big organizations in Australia – including GetUp, ACF, WWF and the trade unions, have joined forces to organize a big vigil at Federation Square in Melbourne at 1pm – to show that we’re united in our call for a fair, ambitious and binding climate treaty. Please come along and tell all your friends to as well. Keep following us on Facebook and Twitter for more and more updates in these crucial last 72 hours of negotiations!

Ramya

Young people speak the truth. They are the moral voice the world needs to hear, and that world leaders need to listen to. I first met Anna Keenan at the Conference of Youth in Copenhagen last week. Anna is one of the two young Australians who have been fasting for 42 days now as part of the global Climate Justice Fast, an international hunger strike calling for strong, just action on the climate crisis.

Meeting her in person was a profoundly emotional experience. More than her physical frailty, what struck me was her strength of spirit and courage. She talked about the urgency of climate action – the need to send a powerful message to our leaders of the importance and moral consequences of their decisions on climate change. And the time for courage is now. For me, the Global Day of Fasting is about showing this. Thursday, 17th December is our opportunity to step things up. It is the day when thousands of people from around the world will show solidarity with the millions that will suffer from the worst effects of climate change – hunger, disease and conflict. It is the day when we will send a strong signal to our world leaders that we are united and ready to overcome these global challenges together. Throughout history, powerful political movements have used fasting as a way of effecting change. Now more than ever, we need change. We need governments around the world, including Australia, to show true leadership because survival is not negotiable. Justice is not negotiable.

Lucy

About ten days ago I arrived in Denmark to take part in the UN climate change conference. Like thousands of other young people from all over the world, I have travelled to Copenhagen to ensure our message is not lost within the complexities of the political negotiations. Our message is straightforward: the survival of current and future generations is not negotiable. World leaders have a moral obligation to reach a fair and ambitious global deal. As a young Australian representing Australian youth, I want our government to lead rather than hold back the momentum for a strong global deal. I want our government to contribute substance rather than words, recognize that suffering and injustice can be avoided if it is met with political will rather than political self-interest. Most of all I want our government to understand that this is an issue of morality. This is a message that is already understood by millions of people all over the world, including many Australians who have already signed petitions, lobbied, marched or written letters. It is a message that was understood by a group of people who have been fasting for over forty days in order to illustrate both the magnitude of the problem and the moral simplicity of the solution. On Thursday the 17th of December, as the long-term fasters enter their forty-second day without food, I will join in a global day of fasting. One day without food is a tiny sacrifice, but thousands of people fasting across the world will send a powerful moral message to our leaders – and it is a moral message that they need to hear.

• No legally binding treaty with the possibility that negotiations will be pushed even further into the future.
• A watered down legally binding treaty with loopholes and ways for countries such as Australia to cheat their way through emissions accounting.

These negotiations have the ability to turn into another photo opportunity, where the heads of states come together, talk for 60 hours, look as if they are doing something on climate change, but fail to create an agreement that will be successful in managing greenhouse gas emissions from around the world.

Yesterday evening, the Danish Prime Minister, Lars Lokke Rasmussen delivered an inspirational speech to some of the leaders of the world. He talked about the fate of millions and the devastating effect that climate change is having on natural systems that we depend on.

This moment gave me a profound sense of urgency for serious, unified action. As negotiators sit in the rooms of the conference centre and discuss the nitty gritty details of a treaty, drought is enhanced by changing rainfall patterns in south-eastern Australia, the snowline of Mt Kilimanjaro recedes and the destruction of the world’s forests releases more carbon in the atmosphere.

Last night I met a well known rock band from Papua New Guinea who are here to perform two songs this evening inside the Bella Centre. I found it odd that they would come all this way, just to perform one 10 minute gig. Upon talking to the lead guitarist, my curiosity was dispelled through his message that his people and their livelihoods are at extreme risk from rising sea levels. It’s not just their land and possessions that they lose. They lose their reputation is society, their culture and the people that are close to them. A song was the best way for them to convey their message.

I was reminded of the critical importance of the conference and the need to illustrate our stories and our messages to world governments. This had me thinking of the people in my local community who have been impacted by climate change. In the aftermath of the Victorian bushfires that took the lives of two people in my local region, I assisted a local farmer with reconstructing fences that he’d lost. The loss of a something so simple, but so critical to his livelihood was devastating and the prospect of having to reconstruct was an overwhelming effort, particularly for this farmer who runs the farm on his own. Furthermore the knowledge that what has been reconstructed could be destroyed in following fire seasons is difficult to comprehend.

In the next few days, everyone around the world needs be pushing for a strong, fair agreement without the loopholes that rich nations look to as a way of fulfilling their targets, but not correctly account for their contribution.

Send a message to our Kevin Rudd who will play a key role in the next few days.

http://salsa.wiredforchange.com/o/5594/p/dia/action/public/?action_KEY=492

Creating change in the Australian government will create change in other nation’s governments and could snowball throughout the entire conference. All we need is ambition, responsibility and justice!

Both are can be found here in ample supply: from the domination of the developing country bloc by China and India, to the elephant in the room that is the United States’ refusal to sign on to the Kyoto Protocol that has necessitated a whole track of negotiations to get them on board in some other way, these talks are also the expression of other rivalries and divisions that have very little to do with climate change.

That said, these talks have everything to do with climate change – they’re supposed to stop them!

So the power exercised here is pretty important. The government representatives clearly hold most of the power – this is hardly news – but power also arises in new and surprising ways, which is why it’s worthwhile for us youth delegates to be here.

First though, the governments. On last Wednesday morning we met with Louise Hand (Aussie Ambassador for Climate Change) for half an hour to let her know what we’re doing and hear her views on the talks so far.

It’s great that she is so keen to engage with young people – and she is a thoroughly professional and personable negotiator; I’ve grown to like her a great deal over the year – but she has been handed a set of policies that are difficult to justify.

When asked why Australia doesn’t aim for global pollution to be reduced to a level that might actually avoid dangerous climate change, she has to respond with an explanation of why a genuine solution to the problem is politically unlikely in Saudi Arabia and the United States.

When asked if Australia is willing to accept the refugees who will watch their Pacific island homes slowly drown in the event that the world doesn’t act fast enough – if the world acts along the lines Australia proposes, in fact – she can’t answer with a yes or a no.

It makes sense for a negotiator to hold some cards close – but the reality is, if you want to reference the science and economics of climate change, all of which points towards genuine action now, you can’t then propose the kind of policies being pushed by our negotiators here.

Hence the occasional non-answers in our conversations with Ambassador Hand. I really do like Louise – and as a genuinely decent person, her grasp of the soft power of likeability grants Australia more sway here than its economic or military situation might suggest to a classical political analyst.

It’s not just the Ambassadors that hold the influence here, though.

Their mandates stem entirely from the instructions sent daily from Canberra, Beijing, Washington, D.C. – so anything that changes the political debate changes them.

Hence our power here (such as it is).

Over the last week, one of the biggest media stories online in Australia has been the Westpac ad comparing interest rate rises to the price of banana smoothies in the wake of Cyclone Larry.

Five hours of intense editing and a quick voiceover change later, we released a video from right here in Copenhagen that called out Tony Abbott’s inaccurate statements on climate change.

A day later, it was across the entire Fairfax Online network, top story on The Age Video News site, and the highest-rated Twitter story from SBS of the day.

It’s been seen by thousands of voters, Minister Penny Wong, and – by now – the Liberal policymakers on climate issues.

A little push in the right direction has a big effect here, especially on the little details that make up a good agreement – the kind of thing that doesn’t capture the public consciousness without a good dose of humour, but would make a massive difference to the effectiveness of the Copenhagen agreement.

So here we are, a little soft power and a massive viral media story later.

The negotiating texts still include all the ingredients that are vital to a good deal here – but they also have all the parts of an ineffective and backward treaty. Either could result from these talks.

Keep an eye on our negotiating team, through the media and this little blog – because the soft power of the voter is the biggest power of all.

You can find the AYCC’s spoof of the Westpac banana smoothie video here.

It was the highest rating video on Fairfax online – bigger than Tiger Woods!

In the UN, one would hope that the beautiful idea of democracy would take pride of place.

But, while each state is given a chance to speak and vote on an equal footing, it is crushing to see how the unjust distribution of national resources has so much impact over the ability of states to influence the process.

Consider Australia’s place in these negotiations. Rudd is going to Copenhagen with a delegation of 114 people, and Australia’s delegation office inside the Bella Centre is one of the largest. Having more people in these negotiations does help Australia: with heaps of events and sessions taking place at any time, our negotiating power is increased by being more involved in everything taken place. Similarly, a member of Rudd’s entourage tasked solely with arranging phones or hairdryers for other members frees up their time.

On the other hand, we have states like Zimbabwe. I bumped into two party delegates in the exhibit hall on Friday, and offered them a free badge promoting “1.5°C to Stay Alive”. After they expressed their gratitude, we had a short talk. They asked me where they could exchange money within the Centre, so that they could get – and here one looked at the other, slightly unsure – SIM starter packs. I helped them as best as I could.

I discussed this later with other youth delegates. One had a similar story. Another had found herself paying for somebody else’s meal after ending up in line behind a delegate who couldn’t afford his food.

This made me realise how unquestioningly I myself had accepted this state of affairs. With Australia sending over 100 people to these negotiations, can we keep pretending that their outcome is truly democratic? That each state has an equal say in the decisions that are made? Or is it time to admit that even here money is power, and that even here the interests of a powerful minority can set the policy agenda?

The African Union is asking developed countries to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions by at least 40% on 1990 levels by 2020. Similar targets have also been called for by the Alliance of Small Island States. Unfortunately, it is unlikely that these targets – the only ones which guarantee survival for all nations – will be agreed to at these negotiations. Even more unfortunately, this isn’t because these targets are unscientific, or because they are unachievable, but rather because they are being called for by nations that simply lack the resources to make their voices heard.