By Barbara Kessler
Green Right Now
One thing you can say about the politics of climate change — people are getting hotter about it.
As we approach the Copenhagen world conference (Dec. 6 – 18), those close to the negotiating progress are becoming more frustrated with the plodding pace of official change.
This week in Barcelona, where negotiators met for pre-talks, activists and leaders of African nations demonstrated to try to win more concessions from industrial nations.
Student activists staged a sit-in at the doors to the conference to press for greater reductions in greenhouse gas targets, beyond even the 30 percent reduction by 2020 proposed by the European Union. What this portends for the US, which hasn’t yet put numbers on the table, is anyone’s guess.
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PowerShift 09 youth vow to keep up the pressure for climate change laws
By Sommer Saadi
Green Right Now
Despite the white snowfall in Washington, D.C. this past weekend, the Capitol was deluged with green demonstrators who didn’t let the snappy weather chill their enthusiasm for fighting global warming.
An estimated 12,000 clean energy youth activists met in D.C. for PowerShift ‘09, a four-day summit to raise environmental awareness and lobby Congress for the passage of climate control legislation. Participants, most between the ages of 18 and 26, traveled from all 50 states, every province in Canada and a dozen other counties to take p
art in the event.
Quashing any stereotypes that this millennial generation is unmotivated or unconcerned, the long weekend featured roomfuls of rapt young environmentalists at seminars and panel discussions concerning a range of green issues. (Check out their energy in this You Tube video. Global Power Shift.)
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Tags: · Activists/Authors, Brianna Cato Cotter, Climate Change, Congress, David Dix, global warming, Jessy Tolkan, Ken Salazar, Laura Comer, Lisa Jackson, PowerShift '09, Robert Kennedy Jr., Van Jones
