The art of (paper) boat making

The UK Youth Delegation actions team have surprise surprise… been planning actions!  :)

We wanted to get the public more involved in what we are up to in Poland this December, so we’ve been asking young people to send messages in origami boats to United Nations negotiators, on what they want from the discussions.

Last week, accompanied by the faithful Nora, we managed to reign in some dedicated Friday students to get involved in *free* origami workshops á la Emma.

Today’s your last chance to send your message with us if you pop a boat in the post pronto!  Since I can’t give you private one-to-one lessons in the art of origami boats, you’ll find my faithful assistant, the internet with instructions here.

Follow these instructions to make an origami boat and send your construction to us asap: UKYD c/o Otesha, The Hub, 5 Torrens Street, London ECIV 1NQ. And hey presto- you’re part of the political process!

Brownies para nuestro futuro

Everyone loves a brownie.  Especially home made ones.  So a couple of weeks ago we set up a stall at uni to fundraise for at least the first two meals of day 1 at the UN climate negotiations beginning next week.  It was also a great way to raise awareness that there was even such a thing happening in Poland!

And after realising that ‘Brownies para nuestro futuro’ made us just seem plain poor, we had to change the sign, albeit with some less than perfect Spanish.  Spot the foreigner in the room…

(Thank you to Nora and Conny for your baking and stall skills!  And of course to all of those who indulged in a brownie para la planeta.)

What a handsome delegation…

With just over a week to go before the United Nations climate change negotiations, I’m trying to do some last minute scrubbing up on the latest climate change policies, actions brainstorming and trying to get used to wearing ‘smart’ clothes – I’ve been ordered to leave the beads and scarfs at home…

On the 1st December the biggest climate change discussions of the year will begin.  And I’m going to be there, leading a 16 strong youth delegation to remind decision-makers of their moral obligation to do what is in the interest of people.  Especially the people of our generation.

Meet our awesome team here and follow our blogs and updates in Poland!

November Newsletter

Dear Friends of the UK Youth Climate Coalition,

Is it just us who feels that things are really moving? The UK Climate Change Bill, a new ministerial Department for Energy and Climate Change, and of course the little matter of the elections across the pond…

And this month saw new and exciting projects for us too!

Hello Matt!

Firstly, we welcomed Matt to the team as our Actions Coordinator. Matt is not only a keen-birdwatcher and all-round hero, but he’s going to bring huge numbers of young people to the Global Day of Action on December 6th. He’s working furiously on getting young people to demonstrate that our generation is ready for the big changes and real solutions that we need to see. Check out the beautiful website to be inspired, and we’ll see you there!

Hello Ben!

As if by magic, he was joined by Ben. An incredibly talented designer and strategist, Ben is our Communications and Branding Coordinator. He’s been working extremely hard on building websites, graphics and various geeky things which seem to be working miracles! To work with someone who shares our ideas and vision – and can produce that visually – is a very special gift indeed.

Hello UK Youth Delegation!

At the same time, we’ve now selected, trained and let loose the first ever UK Youth Delegationto the UNFCCC talks on climate change. 15 of us will be travelling (by land!) to Poland in lateNovember to join over 500 young people who will be pushing for a strong, fair Global Deal on climate change. We’ll be supported by a committed Outreach Team back in the UK who will aid our aims to be all over the national media, so watch this space!

Before we leave, we’re asking you to tell the UK government what you want from them during these negotiations. And we want to you do this by making origami boats! This may seem like a frivolous response to a serious event, but there is reasoning to our madness! We’re going to collect your messages and pack them up to take with us to Poland. We’d have your messages in a bottle, but it’d weigh us down too much…

Follow these instructions to make an origami boat. On your boat write a message to the UK government telling them what you want from these negotiations. Finally, send your construction to us: UKYD c/o Otesha, The Hub, 5 Torrens Street, London ECIV 1NQ. And hey presto- you’re part of the political process!

And Also…

Elsewhere, we also;

• Wrote our first blog post on It’s Getting Hot In Here, the blog for the global youth climate movement
• Took part in the first EU planning meeting for European youth climate leaders sending delegations to the UN talks on climate change
  
• Helped sign up hundreds of new students to the Student Switch-Off campaign
• Took part in the inaugural and memorable Climate Rush 
  

The UK Youth Climate Coalition is growing, the youth climate movement is growing – thank you for being part of it.

With hope and optimism,

Casper, Emma, Matt and Ben

* If you would like to receive monthly updates from UK YCC please email hello@ukycc.org

Make our imagination a reality

Imagine if we could stop dangerous climate change by acting together.  Individually, locally, nationally and globally.

Imagine if we could stop dangerous climate change by throwing age, background, nationality and gender out of the window.

Imagine if we could stop dangerous climate change by empowering ourselves and standing up for what is right.

The politicians, businesses, and polluters would have to listen.

Imagine what we could achieve.

Ben’s one guy doing a lot of imagining and empowering. Check out his video – young people are already standing up for what is right and sharing this with the world.  The more who do, people will have no choice but to follow.

De-squashing my confidence

Everyday I walk through through the Plaza Mayor to wherever I choose to go.  I sat there the other day in the sun with Nathan, (a climate camp friend who is facing a court case for his peaceful protest against Kingsnorth), eating grapes.  This is one of the best things about Spain.  It’s sunny and you can sit.  The sun has contributed immensely to my happiness levels.  At this rate, I might not make it back to England.

I’m back to blog from my month of re-orientation.  Now based in Madrid, Casper has been holding the UK YCC fort with strength to be admired.  And there’s lots of news to be shared in due blog posts.

Madrid has been about finding a home – a home to change the world from; finding amigos (I’ll tell you about the inspirational people I’ve met in due-course); attempting to hold debates about the beauty of being a vegetarian (going on vegan) and bio-fuels IN SPANISH (believe me, it’s not easy); adapting to Spanish time and culture; indulging in home-made churros; and trying to crack the Spanish ‘rr’ in words like “guerra” (war).  It’s just not possible.  Oh, and trying to at least get past ‘hola’ before true Madrileños know I’m English.  It always squashes the confidence a wee bit.

It’s now operation integration stage 2.  It’s about finding a support network.  And fundraising for the UK Youth Delegation to Poznan training weekend.  This freaks me out a little bit.  Charity fundraising action does not seem to be so hot here in Spain.  Well we’ll just have to change that.  Anna (super-food goddess and Latvian friend) is going to help me fundraise by selling fresh juice at uni.  A bit of yummy, healthy, brain food never will be a cool alternative to those copious amounts of cafe con leche.  Admittedly, I’m trying to wean myself off it too.

Post Climate Camp update

It’s been two weeks since Climate Camp and having spent the week away from electricity and computers, I came home culture shocked and unable to pick-up on my blog again.  But I’ve wanted to, because so much happened there and has done since.

This was the third Climate Camp I’ve been to, and it was awesome to see how it’s grown and has become an annual event.

I love the feeling of unity the Camp offers – from your die-hard environmentalists, to the Buddhists, to the feminists, to the locals down the road, and to those who simply don’t belong to a category, working together to fight a global issue.

I love the style of community the Camp offers – the whole camp dividing up tasks to keep the Camp running, from cleaning, cooking, liasing, press etc.  The way over a thousand people can make decisions based on consensus is admirable and makes campers feel empowered and listened to, like we all should in our daily lives.

I love the essence of the Camp and what it is standing for – the protection of a whole.  The protection for the things you care about, the things I care about, and all the things the campers care about.  There’s no limit in the things we want to protect.

And I love the solutions the Camp offers.  It says NO to coal-fired power stations.  It says NO to third runways at Heathrow.  But it gives alternatives and says YES to a different, better, healthier, more just, more enjoyable and cleaner life.  I don’t see why we would want any different.  Can you?

This lady and her baby sum it up beautifully…

Green Finger Crazy

I’m loving what I can do with iMovie.

Here’s another Green Finger video.

Britain from Above

We can’t normally see or picture the impact of our lifestyles on the earth – be this our travel to work, our flights abroad, or the way our commodities and food reach us.  But this BBC video with satellite tracking and computer imaging, although used to demonstrate migration, is a good tool to visualise the intensity of our day to day lives.

Can you just imagine the extent of our daily carbon emissions according to this video and the blanket of pollution we are building up?

Learning from friends

Sometimes friends share information with you that shocks you so much it has the impact of a meteor.

Casper’s nugget fact would make most people think twice before using plastic bags ever again when shopping.

Guess how many plastic bags the world uses per year?

500 billion per year!

Think again before using another plastic bag.