Saturday, December 12, 2009

Thousands Rally at U.N. Climate Conference

Sea of lights in Copenhagen as 100,000 supporters of climate action rally for a real deal
It is the most inspiring thing I have ever seen. A stream of lights for as far as the eye can see is weaving through the streets of Copenhagen, as the participants of the largest climate march and rally in history hold candles to remind world leaders of their hope for a real deal to solve climate change. The march and rally caps off a a globe spanning day of over 3,000 marches, rallies, and vigils. [photo courtesy of Zoe Caron]
Read the full report by Richard Graves here.


Protests and Talks Intensify in Copenhagen

COPENHAGEN — It was a raucous day on the streets as protesters from around the world — with a dizzying array of causes, from “no nukes” to “climate debt” — marched from the old city center to the Bella Center.

Behind lines of police, negotiators worked through the day trying, in theory at least, to find common ground among 192 countries on steps to cut emissions of greenhouse gases, share the costs of doing so and limit exposure of poor places to climate hazards. I shot the following video around the main march, which saw little of the violence that erupted elsewhere in the city tonight between police and more radical elements, nicknamed the “black masks.”
Read the full report by Andrew Revkin and see his video here.


COP15 – day 6 roundup
Environmentalists and activists rallied worldwide Saturday in favor of a global climate agreement. In Copenhagen [photo below], host city of the ongoing UN negotiations, a six-kilometer march from the parliament building to the conference venue gathered an estimated 50,000 people.
Read the full report here.

Saturday, December 5, 2009

White House hosts Young Leaders

The President and his Administration invited a group of young leaders to the White House on December 2nd for a Clean Energy Economy Forum. The event brought together emerging leaders from non-profits, businesses, and community groups along with experts from federal agencies, members of the Cabinet, and White House officials.

Presenters included EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson, and Cabinet Members Steven Chu (Energy), Ken Salizar (Interior), and Hilda Solis (Labor). The meeting was webcast live and included an online discussion open to all.


The Video of the forum is below:


FYI: the guy wearing glasses in the lower right of the video image above happens to be my son, Jason Kowalski, Policy Coordinator at 1Sky.org.

A link to a video of the online forum is here. One of my favorite online comments that the moderators selected to read was from Meg Boyle who wrote: "Let's see this as a good first meeting. At the next one, I'd like to see student leaders present and admin folks ask questions."
Great comment! I hope that the White House takes it seriously and acts on it.

For a report on the Forum and insights to its significance for young leaders see: "Youth Climate Movement Grows Up… In a Good Way"

CandleLight Vigil for the Climate

[click image to enlarge]