European Youth Get Ready

Last weekend I was in Leuven, Belgium to meet other European Youth going to the UN talks on climate change this December. In the past, there has been only a very small number of Europeans at these talks (probably because they were bloody far away – Montreal, Nairobi, Bali…), but all that is about to change.

This year the talks are in Poland, and the mega-important ones next year are in Copenhagen, Denmark.

We spent the time building our knowledge – the Vice-President of the Inter-Governmental Panel on Climate Change (the leading scientific body on climate change with over 2500 scientists working on their reports) came to speak and told us it was time to get people out on the streets! We learned more about the UN process, but most importantly we spread ideas and got to know each other.

The EU often negotiates as a block in these global talks, and that means that we need to work together as a block too. All I’m saying is that we are ready to rumble!

Germany, France, Sweden, Ukraine, United Kingdom, Netherlands, Belgium, Italy, Russia, Denmark were all represented. And Costa Rica – but he doesn’t count :)