Paris Agreement: We Can Work Together!

This summer I worked at the Will Steger Wilderness Center. I learned from stories and reading his book "Crossing Antarctica" that one of his main goals was to show the world that international cooperation can work, and seemingly impossible tasks can be made possible. In many ways, I think the new Paris agreement represents this idea: global cooperation. President Barack Obama said in his speech addressing the agreement, "this moment can be a turning point for the world." He goes on to say the world has ability and will to combat climate change, and that the green industry can benefit the future economy. If nothing else, similar to the Trans-Antarctic trip, this paris agreement shows that we can work together internationally to face something difficult, for the benefit for all people.

There is room for improvement, but I believe that this is a good start and I hope that the enthusiasm we got to witness and experience in Paris will carry over to future implementation of climate change policy and future public participation. The problem is by no means solved. We must remind ourselves of that to prepare for future action in the mitigation and adaptation to climate change.

Small Solutions for a Big Problem

One event I went to was on simply how to get youth involved. One of the key points each speaker made was that you need to start small, but think big.  There were six speakers, all what I would consider adults. They each took 8 minutes to explain what they have done, why it is effective, and how it helps solve issues associated with climate change to simple goals of living more sustainable. A few of the speakers were notable.

The first notable speaker was a man named Reinhardt, from South Africa. His goal was to promote the idea that cellular phones are valuable, and should be considered as resources. He had started a for-profit business which collects old phones from people around the world (but mainly from Europe), fixes them, and distributes them out to citizens in many countries around southern Africa. He repeated to the audience that it was a for-profit business, which he hopes will encourage fellow entrepreneurs in South Africa to see this as a viable business opportunity. One of the many goods that come out of this business is it removes children who work in the fields burning old phones and other electronics and into the business world, where they work in healthier conditions as well as make a livable wage. In these fields he told us children will work in order to help there families for less than 1 dollar a day. "The corruption", he told me in an interview after the panel, "is less in those running these organization, and more in the conditions these people live in. These groups running these burning fields have tried to provide safety equipment, but the kids will return the next day without them, because they were worth a little money and they would rather sell them. It is the reality that living for tomorrow is more important than health effects in the long term." Talking with Reinhardt was very inspiring, especially as a student who is often learning about the flaws of many business ventures, especially in natural resource management.

Kisulu was the other speaker I found inspiring. I feel as though Reinhardt's idea is simple, but perhaps more difficult to change perception of phones into a resource. Kisulu's idea is simple all around. His plan was to take local children from his village, and plant trees. He was a simply spoken man, but I do not know if this was because of his ability of language, or perhaps because of the culture he is a part of. Either way, he was making a documentary to show how teaching kids to plant trees, although simple, can help them become more aware of how humans can change the environment (both good and bad) and also as a political symbol for what Kisulu's village is going through as a result of climate change. I didn't interview him, as he was surrounded by "more professional" media than myself. An interesting side note, too, was that while many indigenous people are pushing for 1.5 degree limit, Kisulu is pushing ambitiously towards a limit of 1 degree.

Kisulu on a tree in Kenya

Expectation vs. Reality at COP21

On our first evening in Paris a classmate and I decided to go check out Notre Dame. We hopped onto the train and road to a stop we thought was closes to Notre Dame. We ended up having to walk for abut 10 minutes, as we were not yet familiar with the train system in Paris. On this walk we saw 10-15 police vans roll by, filled with armored riot officers. We sort of shrugged it off and continued our journey to Notre Dame. After we returned to our Hotel later that night, we were informed that there were riots on the other side of town. Riot police had been dispatched and were handling the "illegal protests" from environmentalist. These were environmentalist that seemed to be against COP21. I was surprised to hear this. I had thought that COP21 was something that everyone who believes climate change is a threat is on board with. After learning this and going through the rest of my week, I have come to some interesting incite between what I had initially expected with COP21 and the realities of it.

Riot Police breaking up protest on the first night of COP21

From my perspective, it seemed as if most people thought COP21 was a good thing and that it is the most effective way we will meet solutions to mitigate and adapt to climate change across the globe. There were many activists thought who didn't look at it this way. They might bring up the sponsors of COP21, a few of these being Air France, Volkswagen, and Evian. COP21 as an event was criticized by some, particularly these more extreme activists, by allowing companies responsible to climate change and environmental degradation to be major funders. People see this as greenwashing, and a way for large CO2 emitting companies to 'justify' there actions and change their public images. Think of Volkswagen, who was just caught manipulating the CO2 emissions from their vehicles. 

There were many concerns from French citizens. The fact the President disallowed marches, and activist gatherings people interpreted as unfair, especially in the light of how important public activism engagement is at the UNFCCC COPs. This concern was expressed by people through many forms of protests. One example was an art display put as fake advertisements around COP21, poking fun at big sponsor companies. There was also a demonstration on my last day in Paris, where over 200 people marched with stolen chairs from Banks funding non-environmentally friendly businesses and ones that don't seem to be actively trying to become more sustainable. It ended with performances, and people chanting in a crowd circling the stolen chairs. It was incredible to see and I felt I had a different understanding on COP21 and the different perspectives and goals among citizens concerned about a changing climate.

Youth for Divestment

For most of the events in the Climate Generation area I attended I scheduled for my action plan for the week. There was one event put on by 350.org which I sort of stumbled into. I am very glad I did.

The event was hit off with a speech by Bill Mckibbens, the Co-founder of 350.org and a pretty well known environmentalist. This was quickly apparent when he left the room cameras and people holding boom mics followed him out the door. He spoke about the success of 350.org, which is an organization dedicated to promoting and encouraging companies with large investments in CO2 emitting industries to divest from these companies. The president of the Rockafeller Brothers Fund spoke about there success in divesting all CO2 emmitting investments in 2014. He explained it was not only an ethical choice (the Rockafeller brothers made there money of CO2 emitting industries) but also a smart economical choice.

The 350.org event felt different then the events I had attended earlier in the week. Those seemed to be more awareness raising, discussing solutions, and addressing difficult problems. The 350 event felt more like a celebration. All speakers made different comments on the importance of divestment, but they also all recognized that large companies are starting to realize that investing in C02 emitting industries, such as the coal industry is actually not a smart business investment.

I was ecstatic to see Bill Mckibben's work, as I have been reading quite a bit of it leading up to the COP21, but I also believe that this is a sign that people have accepted the reality of climate change and are actually deciding to do something about it. Even if divestment in coal is only being done, because it is the smart economical choice, it still means that people are recognizing how climate change will affect them and are changing how they live to prevent something bad to happen. I think this is at the very least a start, if not a great milestone!


One success they promoted of 350.org was there successful campaign in Washington DC which has removed all investments from coal burning industries.

Climate Activist Party

When I say the Climate Activist Party we attended Thursday night was a way to add fun to COP21, I by no way mean to imply COP21 was not fun in itself. I only say this because it was a different kind of fun, the kind of fun you might see among a bunch of 20-30 year olds at a bar. What was unique about this specific party was it was a gathering specifically for those attending the COP21 and actively becoming engaged in climate action.

Myself and three other colleagues decided this would be a fun opportunity to talk and learn about climate change and what youth around the world are doing. We arrived and entered the boat which the party was hosted on. It stayed attached to the dock, but the Seine river made for a very scenic place to celebrate climate action. The party represented 42 nations and over 100 people attended. After dancing and sharing a few drinks I began interviewing and talking with other kids around the world.

I talked with many young people. One was named Vili and he was from Norway. He said the reason he attended COP21 is because he wants to bring back what he learns there to his home, but also share the successes of Norway at the COP21. I also spoke with a women named Jasmine. Being from Iran, she told me her age [35], explained her life as a physician and said the climate change presents a global health issue and she wanted to attend COP21 to address this issue. I spoke with a man named Mimi from Egypt and a girl named Caro from Germany.

 I learned most had heard about the party through YMCA's Camp Climate. I spoke with the planner for this event and he told me that he began working with the organization when he realized how many youth want to take Climate Action, and this is a good way for them to get involved internationally. He says most have ambitions to bring back their knowledges to their communities where they are from. It was a great experience and a reassuring reminder that there is reason to be optimistic for the future generations.

People dancing and talking at the party.

Day One of 'Espaces Generations Climat'

Going into the public space, Climate Generations, at COP21 I didn't really know what to expect. The only thing I did know is that I had one event at 13:00 that I needed to attend. This event, #YouthPower: Role of Children and Young People in tackling Climate Change, focused on what youth around the world are doing. To clarify, youth represents from what I observed those under 30. In my research prior to our trip to Paris I had been defining youth as 25 and under, but given what was considered to be youth at the conference I will be referring to those under 30 for the remainder of the blog posts.

I made two main observations at this event: youth are optimistic and they want to be taken seriously. This event was lead by a panel of only young people who lead the discussions assuring the event stayed on a timely basis. This was a theme across all panels in the Climate Generation space, crunched for time. Those running the panel introduced many youth who came up form the front row to give their experiences and solutions for their own community. The panel was kicked off by a girl from San Francisco who gave a spoken word performance on the topic of youth and climate change. It was short, but it was very effective in getting the crowds full attention.

Following the spoken word, two UNICEF Ambassadors came up to talk about their local experiences and what they have successfully done with their peers in their community to combat climate change. The first was a girl from Malaysia who looked to be about 15 or 16 years old, although I couldn't say for sure. Her and other students worked to create digital maps in order to connect with other communities internationally. This allowed for her community to discuss what has been successful with other communities in south east Asia and eventually helped them implement multiple wells in her village as well as neighboring villages. The second youth ambassador was a young man from Zambia. He seemed very nervous, but what he did was created a group of young students to assist the farmers in his village who were unable to keep up with the needed crop growth. This mainly included physical labor that the farmers couldn't accomplish on without the help of other people.

Many other youth spoke about their communities, but it was clear that despite the circumstances of each speaker, they all seemed to have stories of success. They all, in one form or another, expressed the importance to share their successes with other youth around the world as the driving force as to why they attended COP21 in Paris.

Resource Guide


Below is a list of sources I will be using for my research on youth at the United Nations Framework Convention on climate Change, COP21 in Paris.

Arnold, Eric. "The Greening of Hip-Hop: Urban Youth Address Climate Change and Sustainability." Race, Poverty & the Environment 16, no. 2 (2009): 82-83.

 

            Youth engagement at the UNFCCC and other large conferences is ideal, but for many youth this isn’t pragmatic or financial possible. Alternative methods for youth engagement in climate action exist. This hip-hop concert is one example of this and a reminder of the importance of youth involvement from all diversity and classes.

Boys, Stephani K. "The Millennials Refuse to Be Ignored! An Analysis of How the Obama Administration Furthers the Political Engagement of a New Generation." International Journal of Public Participation 4, no. 1 (2010): 31-42.

 

            President Obama’s first campaign for President of the United States was a success. A key factor in the deciding votes was the increased in engagement of young people. Whether intentional, or not, Obama’s Administration was able to effectively engage youth to vote and speak up in the political world.

          

"Climate Generation: A Will Steger Legacy." http://www.climategen.org/.

 

            Climate Generation: A Will Steger Legacy is a non-profit organization focused on prevention, mitigation and adaptation to climate change. They have a heavy focus on education and run YEA!MN a program focus on youth engagement.

 

Francis, Pope. On Care for Our Common Home: Laudato Si'.  United States: Libreria Editrice Vaticana, 2015.

Pop Francis’ Encyclical brings up many concerns of our world from how we view progress to our moral/religious obligations to take care of the earth. I will use this to defend/support any claims for why youth participation is important.

           

Giddens, Anthony. "The Politics of Climate Change." 155-62: Policy Press, 2015.

 

            It is important to have an understanding of climate change politics to better assess youth involvement. Anthony Giddens here gives a good glimpse into the topic to better frame my arguments around youth involvement in climate change action. I will use this in a small section of my research talking about climate politics and the inclusion of youth within it.

 

           

Ipcc. "Summary for Policymakers." In Climate Change 2014: Impacts, Adaptation, and Vulnerability. Part A: Global and Sectoral Aspects. Contribution of Working Group Ii to the Fifth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, edited by C. B. Field, V. R. Barros, D. J. Dokken, K. J. Mach, M. D. Mastrandrea, T. E. Bilir, M. Chatterjee, et al., 1-32. Cambridge, United Kingdom, and New York, NY, USA: Cambridge University Press, 2014.

International Panel on Climate Change provides reliable information on causes of climate change, effects of climate change, and suggestions on how to deal with the problem and will be the source for evidence of climate change.

           

           

Johnson, Laura R., Julie S. Johnson-Pynn, and Thomas M. Pynn. "Youth Civic Engagement in China: Results from a Program Promoting Environmental Activism." Journal of Adolescent Research 22, no. 4 (2007): 355-86.

 

            This looks at civic engagement in China. China is one of the leading CO2 emitters in the world. I will be using this to frame a reference to youth participation across different cultures.

           

Muir, John. The Story of My Boyhood and Youth.  Cambridge, Massachusetts: The Riverside Press, 1913.

 

            Contains some interesting quotes from John Muir as well as experiences in his youth which later, he believed, influenced his environmental ideas and choices. I think it will be interesting to include. Also, many people argue that exposure to environmental attitudes at younger ages can lead to pro-environmental behavior as adults as well as fulfilling civic responsibility. This could show a different perspective on youth engagement.

           

Narksompong, Joanne, and Sangchan Limjirakan. "Youth Participation in Climate Change for Sustainable Engagement." Review of European Comparative & International Environmental Law 24, no. 2 (2015): 171-81.

            What youth add to the conversation of prevention, mitigation and adaptation of climate change. This serves as further reference to youth engagement.

           

"Our Children's Trust." 2015. http://ourchildrenstrust.org/.

            Organization for mitigating climate change. They host videos, events, programs, etc. for youth and I will be using it for more information on youth involvement.

         

Pearce, Nickki J., and Reed W. Larson. "How Teens Become Engaged in Youth Development Programs: The Process of Motivational Change in a Civic Activism Organization." Applied Developmental Science 10, no. 3 (2006): 121-31.

 

            I will be using this to provide potential reasons for how Youth ended up becoming engaged. This will go well with organizations and youth I talk with in Paris asking them how they ended up at the COP21.

           

Petrasek MacDonald, Joanna, Sherilee L. Harper, Ashlee Cunsolo Willox, Victoria L. Edge, and Government Rigolet Inuit Community. "A Necessary Voice: Climate Change and Lived Experiences of Youth in Rigolet, Nunatsiavut, Canada." Global Environmental Change Part A: Human & Policy Dimensions 23, no. 1 (2013): 360-71.

 

A study of Inuit youth in Rigolet, Nunatsjavut, Canada. This supports youth involvement and shows youth who are already experiencing they effects of climate change. They have recognized problems they will have to deal with as adults and have come together to voice their opinions. It shows that youth not only have a voice, but also have good ideas that can realistically and effectively be applied.

     

Riemer, Manuel, Jennifer Lynes, and Gina Hickman. "A Model for Developing and Assessing Youth-Based Environmental Engagement Programmes." Environmental Education Research 20, no. 4 (2014): 552-74.

 

            A model used to assess youth-based environmental engagement programs and what it can tell us about engaging youth. I will be using this for support for conferences (such as UNFCCC) as an effective way to engage youth, and instances where youth had success in creating change.

    

Rossi, Federico M. "Youth Political Participation: Is This the End of Generational Cleavage?". La participación política de los jóvenes. ¿El final de una división generacional. 24, no. 4 (2009): 467-97.

 

            Looks at reasons youth become politically involved as well as argues against any notion that youth are politically apathetic. Will be used with (Sloam) articles for support.

 

Silva, Conceição Firmina Seixas, and Lucia Rabello de Castro. "Brazilian Youth Activism: In Search of New Meanings for Political Engagement?". Alternatives: Global, Local, Political 39, no. 3 (2014): 187-201.

 

Addresses the reality that today’s youth often times are/want to be politically involved (including climate change) but find that traditional forms (those forms which we base youth participation often times) don’t lead to real change, because their voice isn’t heard, etc. This clarifies this idea as well as shows ways in which youth are becoming engaged in their own, unconventional way.

                                                                                              

 

James, Sloam. "‘Rejuvenating Democracy?’Young People and the ‘Big Society’project." Parliamentary affairs  (2011): gsr051.

 

This article talks about youth participation in democracy in Britain, Germany and the United States and reflects on changes in politics and how that affects the perception of the rest of the publics’ views on youth participation. I will be ignoring the BIG SOCIETY section of this paper, and will only be taking a few comments from the beginning. 

   

Sloam, James. "'Rejuvenating Politics? Youth, Citizenship and Politics in the United States and Europe'." Conference Papers -- American Political Science Association  (2011): 1-26.

           

            Sloam argues against any claims that today’s youth are apathetic. He gives many reasons for why this is not the case. I will be using this as well as (Rossi) article to show how youth today are active, and some important changes in society that have lead to many people to believe youth are politically apathetic.

 

           

http://www.unicef.org/education/files/Publication_Youth_in_Action_on_Climate_Change_Inspirations_from_Around_the_World_English.pdf

 

            UNICEF infographic on youth engagement form around the world. It is important to remember that climate change effects everyone and so we must consider all countries and cultures in the discussion. This will help represent more people in my research.

           

 

http://unfccc.int/cooperation_support/education_outreach/overview/items/9193.php

 

Some examples of youth related events hosted at COP21 in Paris this coming December. Hopefully I will be able to follow/attend some of these events.

http://www.nigycc.net/ - Nigerian Youth Climate Coalition (NYCC)

 

            Host projects for Nigerian youth as well as participation at UNFCCC. Another organization focused on youth engagement I will be referencing.

 

http://www.un.org/esa/socdev/documents/youth/fact-sheets/youth-climatechange.pdf

 

            A UN document overviewing youth & climate change.