Courage
Posted on 22. Dec, 2009 by annac in United Kingdom
At a vigal for survival we had time to reflect on what was happening in Copenhagen
Friday night, half an hour after Obama’s press conference was met with a stunned silence all over Copenhagen, I found myself back at the conference centre.
This time not on the inside, but standing outside at the exit. Standing in minus three degrees, with the snow falling thickly, alongside hundreds of other young climate activists from around the world.
We were there to say no to the people inside. What Obama had just given us was not good enough. In fact it was worse than anything we had ever dared to imagine. Worse than we had come to Copenhagen with just two weeks before.
We were there because we were angry.
We still have some confusion as to what Copenhagen actually delivered, with different people painting it in different ways.
But the way I see it, and the way the other young people who stood with me on Friday night see it, it is simple…
We have nothing.
We have an ‘accord’ (what does that even mean!) which binds no one to do anything. At the very simplest level we have no binding commitments of emission reductions!
We have a situation where a select group of countries bypassed the UN system and betrayed the rest of the world, then held them to ransom.
They held an exclusive meeting where they decided they could not agree on what everyone was asking for, so they would propose something much weaker. Then tell everyone else this is all they would sign up to and if they wanted money they should sign too.
We have seen this deal be painted in many different ways and blame for it thrown anywhere it will stick.
But for young people around the world it is simple, whoever’s to blame.
It is not good enough.
It does not ensure us a future on this planet.
And that’s why we were outside the conference centre on Friday night.
But as I stood there, the whole crowd chanting around me, shouting at the top of their voices, I found myself getting quieter and quieter. I felt disconnected from everything that was going on.
I was numb.
Numb that this could actually have happened.
I was scared.
Scared of what this meant for our world, scared of what it meant for me and the rest of my life.
As I stood there silently my friend turned round and saw me. She grabbed my hand, held it and we stood there together, holding hands. Her shouting at the top of her lungs, me silent.
Holding hands, even in the face of my deepest emotions I had the courage to remain there, the courage to keep fighting.
We did not get what we wanted, what we needed, from Copenhagen. But we maybe we did get something to build on. And I’m not talking about Obama’s accord.
At Copenhagen we saw courage on many levels.
We saw the courage of vulnerable countries like Tuvalu to stand up for themselves and be heard.
We saw the courage of civil society to raise their voices and be counted in the face of many difficulties.
We saw the courage of individuals to keep fighting.
And this courage is so important.
Because coming out of Copenhagen with so little, courage is what we need now. To fight climate change requires more courage than maybe we have ever witnessed before.
The courage to continue even in the face of failure.
The courage to keep fighting even with the hugeness of the task at hand.
The courage to stand up and be counted whoever you are, however powerful you think you are.
The courage to imagine and build a beautiful and amazing future TOGETHER.
The courage to believe that this is still possible.
Copenhagen may be over, but the fight goes on.
It will take courage to win, but with courage we can, and we will.
The Adopter - Anna Collins
Anna Collins Born and bred in Warrington in the *sunny* North of England, Anna was brought up by parents with a deep sense of justice and taught to always fight for what she believed is right. "I guess you could say it was in the blood, my gran went to Greenham Common in the 80s"... read more»
The Adopted - Meet Jan & the UK Delegation
Jan Thompson (otherwise known to Anna simply as Jan!) is the lead climate change negotiator for the United Kingdom. The UK has a large negotiating team who each cover different sections of the negotiations, however Jan takes the lead and brings everything together. read more»
as someone who was there that night, screaming at the top of her lungs; as someone who’s heart feels broken because of this process, i thank you for this. this is courage.
I haven’t heard any fat lady sing.
Yes, we’ll need courage, moving forward, but more than that we’ll need rough knuckles and a willingness to do more than sign online petitions and hold candles aloft in Copenhagen (both of which I confess to doing).
From here on out, we’re making it personal. Our message and our demands are well-honed. We need only show elected officials that we’re serious. This isn’t really that hard to do. You see, we know where they live.
More on this to come….
In the meantime, keep fighting, AnnaC. Take heart – now we really know who we’re up against.
Thank you to everyone who was there at the vigil.
Personally, I wasn’t there because I was angry, bitter of disappointed. Not one bit. Actually, I sort of expected all these results from Copenhagen. None of it was a surprise.
Instead, I was there at the vigil because I have great, great hope.
And not the sort of hope that comes because things look likely to change anytime soon, not the sort of hope that says ‘now is the time we can relax, everything will be ok’. My hope, instead, stems from the action, the effort, the passion and the integrity that I see around me every day, in all the people who are working hard to make the world a better place.
Hope can only come through action, and with effort to create change. Our hope can be vested only in ourselves, not in others. We can’t wait for other people (Obama?!) to save us.
So to those who are in despair and anger right now, my message is to use these emotions and direct them passionately into where they are most effective, because through action you can turn these emotions into hope, rather than depression.
Thank you everyone lets fight on together with both courage and hope! I get both these things from knowing i’m doing this hand in hand with all you guys.
I alsio really like this reaction to COpenhagen.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/cif-green/2009/dec/21/copenhagen-climate-change
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