I’m Not Done Yet – reflecting on the Climate Talks

Submitted by Caroline, local community organizer

During the last month or two I have been trying to understand the outcome, if any, of the Climate Treaty talks in Copenhagen last December.  The answer seems to be very little.   At the same time, I have been personally taking stock of 2009, and thinking about where to go from here.  Though I am an environmentalist at heart, this was my first time taking action on one of my biggest concern in life:  global warming.  Along with my co-organizers, we poured energy into spreading information to our communities about the science and politics of climate change.  On October 24^th 2009, the International Day of Climate Action, we organized a climate action alongside thousands of others from 350.org, an online global movement to stop climate change.  We rallied friends, neighbors and community groups to join us in demanding a fair and binding Climate Treaty with the goal of bringing carbon dioxide levels back down to 350 parts per million, now considered the safe upper limit of this major greenhouse gas.   This day is now recognized as “the most widespread day of political action in the planet’s history.”  However, the Copenhagen climate talks have come and gone and have not left us with a fair or binding treaty that the latest science demands.   Yet, seeing the images and videos on 350.org of people from one side of the earth to the other taking action and having their voices heard, it seems like this was the most hopeful outcome of the latest Climate talks.

As I look back on 2009, what I realize about becoming involved in the International Day of Climate Action is that I’ve changed.  I feel like I walked through a door that I can’t walk back through, and I can’t go back to being the person I was before. Being a rather soft-spoken individual, to volunteer myself to organize a Climate Action was a big deal.  However, I’ve reached the point where I want my voice to be heard.  Having developed strong connections with my co-organizers and receiving good press coverage in the New Haven Register and other local papers, this certainly helped spread the word and raise awareness in our community.  More, I learned that finding a community of like-minded and motivated individuals is just as important as finding my own voice.

So, the question I’ve been asking myself, and want to ask you is: where do we go from here? In the spirit of the motto from the online youth-based climate movement Tck Tck Tck is, “We’re not done yet,” here are a few ways I intend to keep the momentum going.

As I’ve discovered, to find one’s voice and let it be heard is incredibly empowering. I continue to abide by this.  One day during the Climate Talks I gave myself a nudge and called the White House and left a message for President Obama to support a strong Climate Treaty.  I’ve recently called our state’s Senators urging them to vote “no” to the so-called Murkowski amendment (Alaska’s Senator), which may have gutted our Clean Air Act.  These are small steps, but the truth is, they do take note of calls and letters.  As we know, the voices out there in support of the oil industry and calling global warming a “hoax” are very loud and evident in policy-making.

2010 is going to be an important year in the U.S. given that President Obama has reiterated that he wants to pass a Climate Bill – to which the rest of the world will be tuning in to the outcome.  One of the easiest ways I’ve found to become involved is by joining a few online movements such as 350.org, repoweramerica.org, 1sky.org, and the Sierra Club.  Through these organizations I receive periodic updates, news, and calls for action such as writing letters to government officials (which literally takes seconds since they often provide you with a template and even mail it for you).

My next step is to do some reading.  I find it very hard to wrap my mind around global warming and still go about my daily life.  I also have a suspicion that information is trying to be kept away from the public.  Thus, I’m starting with the climate scientist who started it all, James Hansen, and reading his book, “Storms of my Grandchildren”.  I’d highly recommend reading a review of it at http://www.slate.com/id/2242201/pagenum/all/#p2

As I’ve shared my own strategies for continuing the momentum, I realize there are obviously many more vehicles for becoming involved and active in the climate change movement.  I am eager to hear what you might already be doing.  And I am especially eager to know where you think we go from here?