Many people who came to the China-US youth workshop yesterday may have come for the free food, but for the 120 Chinese and American youths who showed up, they all came back with much more food for thought.
This year, unprecedented large youth delegations from all over the world came to Copenhagen to pressure their governments to make the right decisions that will affect their future. Among them is a self-organized Chinese youth delegation of 40 people, supported partly by funding from Nike and Ford Foundation, who only asked the Chinese young people to have concrete conversations with their US counterparts in return. The US delegation, which has a much larger size of 350 students aged between 16 and 26, came largely on money made from bake sales and donations from their community.
After an five hour interaction on a wide range of topics such as why Copenhagen conference matters to them, their evaluation of the governments’ emission reduction targets and how would they pressure the government to take quick actions, the young people from both countries reached the consensus on a lot of issues and most importantly, they learned to establish trust and to understand each others’ difference, like in China, initiative in climate issues is top-down (from government to grassroots), while in the US, it’s bottom-up.
They vowed to lead their governments in more green initiatives and in establish trust, a cornerstone for future cooperation.
“I don’t think our governments trust each other, but we certainly have to trust each other,” Ben Wessel, a leading US youth delegate with SustainUS, an NGO of young people advancing sustainable development and youth empowerment in the US.
The youth in Copenhagen from all of the world are talking about shifts in culture and priorities in values. “People of my generation began to realize that prosperity is not how big your houses or cars. In the US and many countries in West Europe, there is an idea of excess is a virtue and there is an idea we should reward those who use more of our resources. But our generation is ready to make their choices,” said Marcie Smith, a youth organizer from US. According to Smith, the 350-strong US team is ready to pressure the US congressional representatives and President Barack Obama when they arrived in Copenhagen and their network in US is currently doing many campaigns inside the country.
The Chinese delegates, which is largely comprised of Chinese college students majored in environment policy and environmental science, have so far organized a few campaigns inside the conference site to demonstrate the Chinese youths’ dedication in fighting climate change, like a drama-like Chinese traditional medical consultation on how to make earth healthier.
“I do think President Obama is listening to the young people, but the congressional reality from the US has made it very difficult to move forward,” Marcie Smith, who freshly graduated from college and is now learning how to grow her own food on an organic farm in stead of going to a graduate school.
“We need a fair, ambitious and binding treaty out of Copenhagen, as the reality is much dire than the scientists has initially predicted,” she said, “and part of that fairness is returning power to people.”
“A lot of things need to be reformed about how decisions are made in US. Like now, the people from the military and those with money are having a bigger say in decision-making, but young people are craving to have a say in the policy that will shape their future.”
Here in Copenhagen, Smith met a lot of people from Zambia and Nepal who are suffering from climate change. But back in the US, people do not have to deal with that yet, said Smith. “The reality is that my Zambian friend, my Nepali friend, they are carrying the burden of my country’s carbon emission and that’s the reason why we need a fair, ambitious and binding treat in Copenhagen,” said Smith.
Besides pledging determination in verbal form, the students have laid out a few concrete action proposals. A young Chinese entrepreneur named Huang Lei is actually in talks with several Chinese youths and American youths about initiating a joint business project in clean energy, while some students are thinking about writing commentary articles to the big media about what they think US and China could do together in fighting the climate war.
Though they are showing large presence in Copenhagen, many of the US youths the real solution to climate change is really the grassroots solution because people at the grassroots level understand the problems of their community. “They are the ones to know which alternative energy is practical and applicable,” Smith said.
In contrast, the Chinese youth seemed to be happier about their government’s commitment and action in fighting climate change. “We had a prime minister to take care ofthat and I don’t think this happens in other countries,” Li Lina, a graduate student of international studies. “But I don’t want to comment on whether China’s emission reduction goal is ambitious enough, because I don’t have enough knowledge to comment,” she said. “At this stage, we care more about the solutions,” she added.
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