Courage

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.