It’s all about NOW

I’m now finally in Poland for the UN climate change negotiations.  As always, there’s no time like the present to make the necessary decisions to avoid dangerous, irreversible climate change.  I will be unable to blog everyday, but please keep up to date with what we are up to in Poland by visiting www.ukyd.org

Our Message

Im just in Paris on a transfer to a train to Berlin where I will complete the last leg of my overland adventure to Poland where the international climate change negotiations will be taking place.

Already I enjoyed my first train journey, from Madrid to Paris, which I spent with two old ladies who kindly shared their travel sweets with me.

I practised some of our messaging on them…

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