Local Actions

It seems like time I kept everyone in touch with what I have been up to locally. Don’t Bake the Planet hasn’t been forgotten and as part of Earth day I let people know what I was up to and I am really keen to have more than a pretty but meaningless Facebook group, but I am only going to be able to focus on this after my exams.
However, so far I have let people know all about Copenhagen and how and why Climate Change threatens children’s rights- a crucial link to make- I have found it really rewarding going into schools, I got some of the cutest thank you letters ever! (left). I also created a display that I put up in church that let anyone everyone at church know about my experiences in Copenhagen. My cake sale and presentations of Earth day were a great success, even if more low key than I originally intended but GCSE revision has been a bit of pain (… you know how it is !).

For me, I hope this summer can be the time for real change in my local community as I will have the time to make a greater difference. I have been so inspired by my fellow CCF (Children’s Climate Forum) delegates, everytime I receive an e-mail from one of the other Copenhagen 4 or someone from the CAP (Climate Ambassador Programme) I feel inspired and enthused. From the rest of the Copenhagen 4, Katie’s work with the CAP Project and as a Link is brilliant- no one works harder, Luke with all his great work with the US delegation and his inspiring PHOTOsyntheseis project and Graeme with the Scottish youth parliament.
Lots of young people really care and really work hard to show that they do and if we all do small things, be it an assembly in school or a meeting with a local group, real change can become a reality. I only strive to make as much of a difference in my community as some of the truly remarkable people I was fortunate enough to meet through my part as one of the Copenhagen 4.
Cressie

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The issues we care about

By Luke, Tagd climate ambassador

In the run-up to the general election, the voices of young people are drowned out in the storm surrounding the contest to occupy No. 10 as many of us (myself included) will not be old enough to vote on May 6th – more about this later!

The issue that most concerns me is the current global environmental crisis. Attending UNICEF’s Children’s Climate Forum in Copenhagen in December and having the opportunity to get involved with the Department of Energy and Climate Change’s youth advisory board has impressed upon me the need for leadership on climate change at the level of governments.

The meeting of world leaders in Copenhagen at the end of last year provided a woefully inadequate mandate for international action, and the world is looking forward to more positive outcomes at a similar conference in Mexico at the end of 2010. However, there is a mountain to be climbed before this can be achieved, and the importance of countries like the UK in this process should not be underestimated.

We have, in recent decades, been at the forefront of trying new renewable energy technologies and creating tough national climate legislation to reduce emissions. We are one of the leading nations on the issue of climate change within the EU, a group of countries that plays a vital role in global negotiations by mediating the often heated debates between poorer and richer countries.

So apart from continuing the legacy of striving to reduce the UK’s carbon footprint, a new government must also increase the part that the UK plays in pushing for a fair, ambitious and binding deal in Mexico at the end of this year. Scientists predict catastrophe if we can’t start to reduce global emissions by the end of this decade, so the potential effect that a new government, sitting in power for at least half of that decade, could have on this problem is huge. Children around the world are already bearing the brunt of global warming: a government that is weak on climate change is a government that is blind to the needs of our present and future wellbeing.

Secondly, whoever is in charge after May 6th must recognise the economic opportunities that come with reducing our emissions, and must fully embrace and support the flourishing of a low-carbon economy. As we emerge from economic turmoil, thousands of young people are finding themselves without the jobs they desire or have trained for. The government must work tirelessly to ensure that all young people are able to find employment and that they are given the suitable training to maximise their job prospects. Supporting a low-carbon economy provides a perfect way to do this: by showing teenagers at an early stage the opportunities that exist already or will exist in a few years, from cavity wall insulators to wind turbine engineers, a government can improve the hopes of loads of young people and also ease the transition that is needed to meet our emissions targets.

Obviously these aren’t the only important issues that face our country today. However, these are the ones that I care about most, and I fear that they risk being lost in the clamour for political power.

Finally, in the last couple of months I’ve realised that there is something else that annoys me greatly: the voting age! I’ll be 18 on June 29th, and I find it insulting and absurd that I and so many of my peers, whilst being able to join the armed forces and face death for our country, whilst being eligible to pay taxes, and whilst facing the nightmare of possible unemployment, are not considered competent to choose a political party who will send us to war, take our money or provide us with jobs. A general election affords us an opportunity to do something about this absurd situation – to lower the voting age, so that more young people get engaged with politics and have our voices heard on the issues we care about.

David Kidney: Looking Good

Meeting with David Kidney was a great opportunity for us, the Copenhagen 4, to tell The Under Secretary of State for Energy and Climate change about our experiences in Copenhagen. Incidentally, is was also a marvellous opportunity to see inside the Houses of Parliament, in the ‘canteen’ – if I can call it that with oak panelling and the iconic green leather of the House of Commons, anyway, let’s just say it was a far cry from my school canteen! our meeting was informal but informative. I left the meeting feeling both positive and reassured that out government really does want to listen to us. It was also great to know that Kidney had read the manifesto from the Children’s Climate Forum – ‘What’s up COP?’ and agreed with all that was outlined, saying it was ‘fantastic’ how we had looked at adaptation as well as mitigation.
From our meeting we were hoping to share all that we had gained from the forum, especially how all the delegates came together with the goal of trying to safeguard the planet for future generations- not out of self-interest. Kidney was pleased by this and said how he felt that politicians had a thing or two to learn from us- something that Kidney assured us he would feed back to Ed Milliband, Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change.

The main points of discussion from our meeting were:

• The role of civil society, maintaining the momentum built in the run up to COP15, ensuring Mexico delivers all that was promised of Copenhagen.
• The role of young people in the Climate Debate and the example of global co-operation they set at the Children’s Climate Forum in Copenhagen.
• The DECC, Department of Energy and Climate Change Youth Panel; Luke, Katie and Kidney came straight from sitting on the panel to the meeting. The plan being to get a panel set up and cemented before the general election.
• The Robin Hood Tax (click to support)- this was something Kidney supported, his only concern being that the funds gathered would be allocated to too many projects, one of these being Climate Change.
• Climate scepticism, Kidney reassured us that while there will always be criticism the government is trying to promote greater transparency from scientific bodies to help reassure the public that climate change is a very real danger that is imperative we deal with.
  
  Overall, Kidney’s message was that of a positive one and that by the time we come to Mexico the World should be in a much stronger place to reach a legally binding consensus. Additionally, ever since December more and more countries have been signing up to the Copenhagen Accord- showing political willingness and progress.
  
  The message is: We must continue to lobby, campaign and overcome climate change scepticism but things are starting to look up. We must keeping going. We must keep believing.

'Make the change- show that you care'.

Cressie
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PHOTOsynthesis: US Climate Change Legislation, One Picture at a Time

The main picture for the campaign. It does make me look a bit like God, cradling the world in my hand... perhaps a bit arrogant!

PHOTOsynthesis is a campaign I’ve made with a friend from the US delegation to the Children’s Climate Forum, Becca. In the US, a bill that will reduce America’s emissions is trying to make its way through Congress. The US is one of the biggest emitters in the world, so urgent action is required to reduce its impact on the environment.

The idea of the PHOTOsynthesis campaign is to unite people around the world in expressing their wish for a strong climate bill in the US this year. There is a very real danger that it won’t even be debated in the Senate this year, let alone be passed as a strong first step on the road to decarbonisation.

All too often, countries act in response to climate change in terms of their own national interests. It is the aim of this campaign to give people the world over a voice in the US political system, so that we can perhaps remind one US senator that his or her vote is about more than just their citizens, but that this bill has far-reaching consequences for children and communities around the world.

At the moment, the campaign is based upon facebook (http://photopetition.notlong.com), which gives us a broad reach and should allow us to access large numbers of people across the world. The name ‘PHOTOsynthesis’ comes from the idea of bringing people together and using their photos as a more meaningful and emotive petition which we can then use in the US to lobby senators and decision-makers. On facebook, therefore, we are collecting all the ‘profile pictures’ of all the members of our group. The photos needn’t be climate-specific – they are just intended to give each and every signatory of our petition a unique and individual mark upon the campaign. They will then be collated into a (hopefully!) massive ‘photo petition’, a collage or a video which we can then spread around the world and send to loads of senators in the US.

Taking the fight to the US Senate

So the first stage is to gather as many members as possible – so join up and get loads of your friends to join too! Once we’ve shown that we’re serious with a large number of members, we will then (as we are already beginning to do) raise the profile of the group, and try to attract as much attention as possible on the campaign. We are also working on bringing it off facebook and giving it a dedicated web page - so look out for more news of it on Tagd! Once we have a date for a Senate debate, we’ll then mobilise our friends in the US to push it to their senators and their contacts to try to remind America that climate change is a global phenomenon, and therefore they have a responsibility to the global community to limit their impact upon it!

Thanks for reading and JOIN UP AND INVITE!!!

Luke

Amidst the chaos, a deal emerges from Copenhagen. But is it the one we all hoped for?

US President Barack Obama (C left) speaks during a multi-lateral meeting with Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabao (R) and other leaders at the Bella Center in Copenhagen Photo: AFP

Over two weeks of talks, almost two years of planning and some 45,000 people took part in the UN climate summit in Copenhagen - the vast majority convinced of the need for a new global agreement on climate change.

Why then did talks break down in the final hours of the Summit and did the endless meetings achieve anything concrete?

While a promise to limit global warming to a 2C temperature was agreed upon by the majority of the international leaders, this agreement is not binding and does not set new greenhouse-gas reduction targets. Instead, countries are to set their own emission-reduction commitments, which would not be legally binding

Gordon Brown, the Prime Minister, and EU chiefs said the deal was a first step but acknowledged there was much further to go to get the ambitious and legally-binding treaty countries such as the UK have been pushing for.

More positively, by 2020, $100 billion “Copenhagen Green Fund” aid will help poorer countries halt deforestation and switch to greener technology. In the mean time, There will be $10bn (£6bn) a year "fast start" funding for the poorest and most vulnerable countries to protect themselves from the impact of drought and floods caused by global warming over the next three years.

What Next?

Britain is pushing hard for a legally binding treaty with clear targets to be laid out for the international community to commit to; however this will require another meeting of world leaders.

Meanwhile there will be pressure on the developed nations set their own carbon emission reduction target. The EU has offered to cut emissions by 20per cent from 1990 levels by 2020.

A meeting of all UN members' climate change negotiators is planned to be held in Bonn in June, and their annual conference is due in Mexico in December.

We asked Luke, one of our roving reporters and part of the UK delegation who took part in the Children’s Climate Summit, what he thought of the outcomes of the COP 15 talks.

Zaynin Kanji

Luke’s Response:

Through the Children’s Climate Forum the world’s youth demanded of world leaders a strong and fair deal to fix the climate. In too many ways, they failed us and the entire global community by missing the opportunity in Copenhagen to reach an ambitious global consensus on the issue.

We had hoped that Copenhagen would be the turning point in the fight against climate change by getting all countries to sign up to a deal which would reduce emissions of greenhouse gases, provide financial help for poorer countries to cope with climate change and help reduce the destruction of forests around the world.

It was tremendously exciting in the weeks leading up to the conference to see governments come out with pledges for emissions reductions, and the news that world leaders would attend the conference raised the profile of climate change as a global issue to an all-time high.

The ‘Copenhagen Accord’, as it is being called, is disappointing in so many ways – it does very little compared to what we wanted the conclusion of COP15 to do. However, although it doesn’t live up to the expectations nor the needs of vulnerable children around the world, it DOES mean that $100 billion of climate-related aid will flow to developing countries by 2020. Without such an accord, there would have been yet another delay to getting this aid to the people who are being hit hardest by climate change.

Nonetheless, the weakness of the deal in terms of combating the root causes of climate change means that we all need to redouble our efforts to get our governments to act on global emissions in 2010.

As a follow-up to the Children’s Climate Forum, we are thinking hard about how we are going to maintain the tremendous pressure for action that was built up for Copenhagen. Hopefully our efforts and those of numerous other organisations and individuals will lead to the deal we needed in 2009 being reached in 2010.


Find Out More:

• Copenhagen Accord: Questions and Answers
• The Children's Climate Summit
• Visit Tagd and find out how you can help combat climate change

Cloud nine: On track

The team travelling home from the Forum, but only beginning their new journeys as Climate Ambassadors.
UNICEF UK/2009/Rowan Boase

The children’s Climate Forum has been an apex of passion, commitment and inspiration. Sitting here on the train from Copenhagen to Cologne I feel so enormously privileged. Despite my tiredness I feel high on the euphoria of being part of something so fantastic that has given the world’s children an opportunity to voice their concerns about an issue that all too often jeopardises our basic rights. To hear my newfound friends at the Forum saying, ‘we can’t go to school when the rain is very heavy', has further motivated me and has exemplified how climate change induced disasters deny our fellow citizens the right to education, health and happiness. It has been reassuring to know that I am not alone in my quest to 'right' these wrongs and together, as one, we can be a tide of change, with today being the day of the wave march in London.

Some of the delegates at the Forum after a brilliant week of working together.
UNICEF UK/2009/Rowan Boase

The last two days of the Forum have been greater than ever with yet more fantastic workshops, where I created my very own silicon solar panel! And even used it to power a cutting edge cardboard buggy. Understanding such technology will play a key role in the Primary School workshops I will continue to run. Within my political and advocacy group the incredible opportunity of hosting a question and answer session with both the Chinese and Moldavian negotiators arose, for which I was elected co-chairperson. Unfortunately, the Chinese pulled out at the last minute and we were left with a redundant script and pre-prepared questions, compounded by the fact that the Moldivian negotiator was over twenty minutes late. Improvisation was the order to the day and in the true spirit of the Forum we rose up in the face of adversity and unanimously gained a greater understanding of how the negotiations will run at COP 15.


Cressie and others listen intently to the negotiator from the Maldives, as he discusses the reality of sealing a deal at the UN Climate Summit.
UNICEF UK/2009/Rowan Boase

The closing ceremony was as marvellous as the rest of the forum with our song ‘ It’s my world’ and the wondrous Alien Beat Club and the climax of handing over our manifesto to the Chair of the COP 15 negotiations. The highlight of the forum for me was when I was asked to attend the press conference, after the closing ceremony. I was nervous but determined to do justice to so many articulate participants and to communicate how Climate Change is as much of a moral issue as an ecological one.


Climate Ambassadors hand over a copy of the declaration to Connie Hedegaard, President of the COP15, at the closing ceremony of the Children's Climate Forum. UNICEF UK/2009/Rowan Boase

The closing party was a great opportunity to let our hair down and for me learn to dance the American way- more lessons are definitely required though! Regardless of language, everyone can communicate through dance and I strongly advocate the world leaders try it!

A delegate from Kirabati shows off some spectacular dance moves at the party!
UNICEF UK/2009/Rowan Boase

On the last day we were also given our buddy Country, for which ours was Vietnam, a country that has been hard hit by global warming. I am determined to capitalise on such international links to launch an education programme and my, ‘Don’t Bake the Planet’ Campaign.


The Vietnamese and British Climate Ambassadors discuss how they can work together going into the future.
UNICEF UK/2009/Rowan Boase

Finally, our trip to Tivoli gardens was an array of festivity as fairy lights danced in the trees, making the skyline a wonder wall of colour and creating a truly magical experience. It was all FAB; my only hope is that COP15 shall be equally fabulous with a fair, ambitious and binding deal being reached.


The British and American Climate Ambassadors enjoy an incredibly Christmassy trip to Tivoli Gardens on their last day in Copenhagen.
UNICEF UK/2009/Rowan Boase

This is but the beginning…

Cressie
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Cold feet, warm hearts

Workshop ideas at the UNICEF Children's Climate Forum.

UNICEF UK/2009/Rowan Boase

On Tuesday, we returned to our host school and went on a field trip to the Experimentarium - Copenhagen's interactive science museum. It was a really fun break from all the recent hard work, and the local students were really welcoming and enthusiastic.

After lunch, we returned to the town hall and presented our mitigation groups in a market stall format, which was so much more effective than the presentations that the adaptation groups carried out yesterday. The facilitators have been really responsive to our feedback, including issues surrounding food and the length of the plenary sessions. All the ambassadors shared what they had learned and discussed in the main hall, whilst I was given the difficult (yet fulfilling) task of explaining the Cap and Trade system. Some of the ideas that came out of the discussion included; a community bike scheme for African school children and a cultural exchange between developed and developing countries, where schools can transfer skills and resources for climate change projects.

The day ended on a real high note with a tour of the city. It was a really beautiful way to spend the evening, after which Cressie was interviewed for a UNICEF Education 4 Development video. We have been bombarded with media opportunities during and after the forum, and I am just off to record an interview for Radio 5's breakfast show for tomorrow.

Planting trees at a field trip at the UNICEF Children's Climate Forum 2009 in Copenhagen.UNICEF UK/2009/Rowan Boase

Wednesday morning was spent in the freezing cold forest, where we did tree planting and pancake making over a camp fire. Whilst Luke couldn't feel his feet by the end of the morning, I accidently set my shoes alight, and lots of pancakes landed either on the ground or on somebody's lap, it was great to get some fresh air and contribute to Denmark's huge reforestation scheme - they hope to increase tree cover by 25% in the next 50 years.

Climate Ambassadors at a field trip at the UNICEF Children's Climate Forum 2009 in Copenhagen.
UNICEF UK/2009/Rowan Boase

The rest of the afternoon was packed with Climate Ambassador Programme skills training, where I took part in the Solar Power workshop, where we made our own solar panels that eventually powered a radio, and the Communication Advocacy workshop, where we focused on lobbying.

The COP message group also presented their ideas to us. They hope to write a declaration, a booklet and create a video and power point. Eight climate ambassadors from developing countries have also been selected to represent the world's children at the UN Conference, which shows what amazing progress we have made in terms of children's rights.

Climate Ambassadors at the UNICEF Children's Climate Forum 2009 in Copenhagen.
UNICEF UK/2009/Rowan Boase

Finally, we got into our interest groups again and my group - the Climate Ambassador Programme group - made real progress, forming a detailed action plan on producing certain outputs from the forum. These include, collating a contact list of all the delegates, organising an international day of youth climate action and developing a list of community action ideas.

As you can tell, we have all been rather busy but are having amazing times. We cannot believe we only have two days left of the forum - the experience has certainly exceeded all my expectations.

Katie x

The climate, the Countess and the cook

Climate Ambassadors at the Forum energise themselves for a plenary session in the Copenhagen City Hall.
UNICEF UK/2009/Rowan Boase

It has only been three days since the CCF opened and the UK delegation have already given talks in schools, made pizza, rehearsed our climate change song, taken part in countless workshops and even met the Countess of Denmark!!!

On Sunday we split up into our Adaptation workshops. For me this has been one of the biggest highlights of the forum so far. The workshop I took part in was focussed on Climate Justice. Climate Justice is an issue I am incredibly passionate about. I was really inspired by the fact that no-one disagreed or argued with one another. Every single delegate believed that industrialised countries should help developing countries deal with climate change in one way or another. This made me think that if only the world leaders could have acted like this a long time ago, the world wouldn’t be facing the climate change problems it is today.

All of the views and ideas from the different workshops shined through when presented to the whole Forum. I was chosen to present on Financial Climate Justice and although nerve wracking, it was an experience I will never forget. It was particularly moving how emotionally a young delegate from Hong Kong reacted to how much of a challenge all of the ideas would be to implement in her country. It made me realise that it’s not just developing countries suffering from climate change, but over developed countries like Hong Kong will also find it taxing to adapt to climate change.

Graeme speaks to the Forum about ideas for achieving financial climate justice.

UNICEF UK/2009/Rowan Boase

In the evening, many events took place. These included Santa Claus himself lighting the Copenhagen City Christmas Tree and Flaming Pandas (people who were in Panda suits which were on fire)! We also rehearsed our climate change song for the Closing Ceremonies, where I stood next to the Countess of Denmark and the young princes who are in line to the throne of Denmark.

Graeme meets Countess Alexandra at the climate song rehearsal

UNICEF UK/2009/Rowan Boase

On Monday, we split up into our Mitigation workshop groups. This was also very inspiring, and it was interesting to hear everyone’s views in my Renewable Energy workshop. In the afternoon we went to visit the UK delegation’s host school. After a ride on the Copenhagen underground we arrived at the school where the students gave us a presentation on Danish culture and climate change in Denmark- we were put to shame when we found out that 20% of Danish electricity is produced by wind power, but only 2% of UK electricity is produced this way. We were so impressed that they gave both presentations in near perfect English! We also gave our presentation on UK culture- and they laughed at our myth about the haggis.

Students from the Danish host school with the UK Delegation

UNICEF UK/2009/Rowan Boase

In the evening I learned how to make pizza dough from the Danish students, which was a lot of fun though very messy. I not only managed to cover myself in flour but I also encrusted my shoes in dough, leading everyone to think that I had in fact kneaded the dough with my feet! However, the results were delicious and we had a really great evening. We’re all now looking forward to our field trip with them to a Renewable Energy Centre tomorrow.

Graeme

Copenhagen, Baby!

The Copenhagen 4 inspect the giant ball covered in all the delegates handprints and climate statements.
UNICEF UK/2009/Rowan Boase

The Copenhagen 4 have arrived! We’re all really tired from our first day hard at work at the Children’s Climate Forum, but our levels of enthusiasm and excitement are at an all-time high!

We arrived on Friday evening and settled into the youth hostel which is putting every one of the 45 delegations up for the duration of the Forum. We (the boys) found our first friends from another delegation in our roommates, who come from Turkey. They speak good English, which helps!

We got up for a 7.30 breakfast, which is pretty much the earliest I have woken up on a Saturday since I was in the womb. Having headed across to the City Hall (which is an AMAZING building – it looks like it has come straight out of the Middle Ages!), we got to setting up our exhibition stand about UK culture. It was really great to see all the delegations in one room together and to start to mingle. We made loads of really good friends – from Poland, Kiribati (which is pronounced Kiribas), the Maldives, New Zealand, Greenland, Hong Kong and from loads of other places too!

Katie adds her thoughts to a poster.
UNICEF UK/2009/Rowan Boase

We then had a plenary session in which we discussed what was going to happen during the week and had the opportunity to get to know the facilitators a bit. The opening ceremony was an awesome experience – we got to see the best of Danish carol singing and ballet dancing and heard brief speeches from some important local people. The Forum was declared ‘open’ upon the lifting of a giant ball covered in all the delegates’ handprints and their climate statements – it was quite a spectacle!

A tatste of Danish culture at the opening ceremony.
UNICEF UK/2009/Rowan Boase

In the afternoon we got into some more detailed discussion about climate change, COP15 and our role in the climate debate. It is a truly quite profound experience to sit in the midst of 160 young people who, with their widely varying cultures, backgrounds, experiences and thoughts about climate change, have nevertheless congregated with a single-minded aim: to get something done about it. Striking also was the realisation that we in Britain still see climate change as a threat to our futures – having heard a snapshot of others’ experiences of climate change, it is clear that for many of the people we are with, it is a very real and present threat to their communities’ ways of life.

The delegates get to work.
UNICEF UK/2009/Rowan Boase

So having found out a bit more about what the next week holds for us and having made some great new friends, we are really looking forward to having a fantastic Forum. So to sum up, in the words of our Turkish roommates, today was ‘tiring but funky’.

Luke x

Meeting your local MP

I recently met with my local MP, Peter Luff, after arranging to meet him at his weekly surgery. We discussed my involvement with UNICEF, my local volunteering activities, but also the Conservative policies and his own personal opinions surrounding climate change.

With the General Election fast approaching, it was really valuable to get an insight into the Conservative’s action plan when it comes to the environmental agenda. Their priorities seem to be:

• The development of ‘smart grid’ and ‘smart meter’ technology
• Subsidising the insulation of homes
• Encouraging the micro-generation of electricity
• Expanding offshore wind and marine power

Worcestershire, my home county, is relatively forward-looking when it comes to sustainability, achieving the Beacon Award for tackling climate change in 2008-2009. Whilst Peter and I didn’t see eye to eye on some issues, such as wind turbines and nuclear power, it was great that he gave me some of his time – especially given that I am not even of voting age yet!

Architects from Worcestershire County Council working with young people at a design workshop, with the aim of building an eco-community centre in our local area.

In many ways, I felt that Peter did not quite grasp the extent of youth activism on climate change in my local area. This is why it is essential for young people to contact their local MP’s and get their voices heard on such issues. By showing local leaders that we support ambitious climate policies and pledges and reminding them that we will be the ones voting and facing the consequences of climate change, they will soon start to take notice! So here are a few of my top tips for contacting and meeting your local MP:

1. Have a look at the website ‘They Work For You’ to find out who your local MP is, what they have voted on recently and their main topics of interest.


2. All MP’s have a personal website where you can find contact details – write them a letter or an email, or even ring them up and see if you can arrange a meeting. They might take a while to respond, but be patient!


3. Once you’ve got a date, do some research. Have a look at some issues they have campaigned about recently and think about how it’s relevant to you. They will be pleasantly surprised by your initiative and will certainly be more responsive in the discussion.


4. Relax, act confident and smile! There is no need to be nervous – they are representing you and will appreciate what you have to say.


5. Thank them for their time, even if the discussion wasn’t that positive.

I hope to get in touch with Peter once I return from Copenhagen, and discuss the outcomes of the Children’s Climate Change Forum and the UN Conference, and what it means for our local area. I hope you feel inspired to take similar action with your local MP and get a positive experience out of it!

Katie x

350 Hand's Up!

On October 24th, people in 181 countries came together for the most widespread day of environmental action in history. Over 5200 events took part in the 350 campaign, calling for strong action and bold leadership on the climate crisis.

My 350 Hand's Up! event, held in Worcester town centre.

People from around the world were asked to organise an action incorporating the number 350 at an iconic place in their community, and then upload a photo on the website. By raising awareness of the significance of the number 350, which refers to the safe upper limit of carbon dioxide we can have in our atmosphere, we can hold our decision-makers accountable to producing a treaty at Copenhagen that is strong, equitable and grounded in the latest science.

I was inspired to join this campaign and organise my own event for the 350 International Day of Action. I came up with the idea of collecting 350 messages from my local community, asking them why they care about climate change and called the project Hand’s Up!

I collected messages from my local rugby team, the Bishop of Worcester, the fire service, children as young as 3 and local MP’s. Peter Luff MP said, “I am delighted to help Katie with her excellent initiative. There is no more pressing issue facing the planet than climate change and I really hope what Katie is doing will draw even more attention to it ahead of the vital summit of world leaders in Copenhagen in December.”

Worcester Warriors, my local rubgy team, invited me to have a photo taken with a couple of their star players at the stadium before a match. They made me feel very short!

I received great support from a number of local organisations and individuals, including Transition Worcester, Worcestershire County Council’s Switch It Off campaign and the local Green Party. It just proves that climate change needn’t be something to be scared or angry about as it can bring local communities together to achieve amazing things!



Katie x

Tagd gets blogging for Climate Change Blog Action Day

Today is Climate Change Blog Action Day, when thousands of bloggers around the world post their thoughts on climate change. The aim is to spark discussion on this pressing global issue.


Apparently, it will be one of the “largest social change events on the web”. Even Prime Minister Gordon Brown’s at it.

Never one to miss out on a party, Tagd is also doing a blog for the Climate Change Blog Action Day (you’re reading it right now!). Climate change is one of UNICEF’s central campaigns, after all.

So we thought we’d use this opportunity to fill you in on the climate change campaign activities Tagd is involved with.

As you might have gathered from the posts below, Tagd are sending four young people to Copenhagen to represent the UK in the Children’s Climate Change Forum in December, ahead of the very important United Nations Climate Change Conference, where world leaders will meet to formulate a global agreement on climate change.

The ‘Copenhagen 4’, Cressie, Graeme, Katie and Luke (pictured above), won the chance to attend the forum on behalf of young people in the UK after entering UNICEF’s Big Climate Callout competition. Stay tuned for more enlightening posts from our foursome on their preparations for the trip and the forum itself over the coming days and weeks. You can also keep up to date with UNICEF’s work leading up to the conference by registering with Tagd.

Tagd is also promoting loads of ways you can get directly involved in the climate change campaign. You can email your MP, asking him to contact Ed Miliband, Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, to demand that he takes decisive action at the Copenhagen conference. Or, you can join us at the Wave march, the UK’s biggest ever protest in support of action on climate change, in London on Saturday 5 December. If you can’t make it, why not paint your hands blue and send us your photos, which we’ll bring to the march.

And if you’re feeling particularly inspired, Tagd has details on how you can organise a ‘Wave Day’ with your school, youth group or your friends. We’ve produced a downloadable climate change resource pack, filled with tips and ideas on how you can take action on climate change.

So there you have it. But now we’ve done our bit and got you up to speed on Tagd’s climate campaign work, why not get blogging yourself? If you’re passionate about this issue, you couldn’t choose a better day to start. And even if you don’t have a blog, you can do a post on social networking sites like Facebook, MySpace and Bebo.

For more inspiration, check out our tips on writing an article and getting creative.

7 Weeks To Copenhagen

The Copenhagen 4's second preparation weekend at the UNICEF offices, London

The Copenhagen 4 getting involved with UNICEF's call to action for the Wave.

After a long week at school, we all arrived in London pretty tired. But after a good night’s sleep and some nice toast – according to Luke and Cressie – we were raring to get on with our jam-packed weekend’s worth of work.

We kicked off Saturday with some exciting, if still slightly vague news about the Forum, including where we will be staying in Copenhagen and details about the workshops. Finding out that we will be working from 8am to 9pm every day, excluding socialising time, was a bit of an eye-opener! It was also great to have a chat with a couple of the 2009 J8 team about their experience and the sort of things we can expect to happen at the Forum.

We were really lucky to receive media training and blogging and videoing tips from the UNICEF staff. Whilst Cressie had a tendency to laugh uncontrollably when in front of the camera – to the amusement of the rest of the team - I think we will be experts at expressing our key messages in the future. Exhausted and in need of food, we headed over to South Bank for a lovely meal and walked along the river, like true tourists!

On Sunday we had the opportunity to really work together as a team, and I can now safely say that the Copenhagen 4 is ready to face all the challenges that the world can throw at us! Firstly, we prepared for our meeting with David Kidney, the Parliamentary Under-Secretary for the Department of Energy and Climate Change, and thought about what we’d like to get out of the discussion. We are also planning to write a letter to Gordon Brown, praising him for committing to go to Copenhagen, whilst also seeing whether he would like to meet with us in the future.

The final thing to do was to start thinking about what we could do for the UK presentation that we will present to our Copenhagen partner school at the Forum. All plans are under wraps, but all I’ll say is that it includes a sheep (whatever Luke says!), dodgy accents and certain chaos!

Watch this space.

Katie x

Hello from the Copenhagen 4's Cressie

Cressie, 15, from near Gloucester, is one of the four winners of UNICEF's Big Climate Callout competition, selected to represent the UK at the Copenhagen Children's Climate Forum in December.

The first prep meeting we had in August was a great success. During the weekend we drew up targets and action points as well as assigning areas of responsibility. Since then I have been busy organising presentations in local primary and secondary schools, explaining how climate change is a children’s rights issue and why UNICEF is so involved.

Hopefully I will run a ‘green day’ at my school, where we will dress up in green to help raise awareness of Copenhagen and being environmentally friendly in general.

As I am passionate about trying to give being ‘green’ a modern, chic appeal, so as to get more people involved and engaged, I have been busy designing a t-shirt with some friends. At the moment I am spending lots of time working on my portfolio and doing comparative research for the t- shirt - but hopefully a prototype will be made soon!

As usual I am looking for articles and reading about climate change in the press to ensure I am up to speed with all that is going on in the run up to Copenhagen. As the Children’s Climate Forum looms ever closer, I continue to become more excited and equally determined to make it worthwhile, helping raise awareness in both my local area and nationally.

Hello from the Copenhagen 4's Luke

Luke, 17, from Newcastle, is one of the four winners of UNICEF's Big Climate Callout competition, selected to represent the UK at the Copenhagen Children's Climate Forum in December.

Hi Everyone! As this is my first ever blog post, this is a pretty weird experience for me. Then again, the whole of the Copenhagen prep is a pretty steep learning curve - and I think the purpose of this blog is to keep anyone who's interested in what we've been doing so far.

After our first meeting in London (which was great fun and told us a lot more about what we'll be doing) I've been put in charge of the campaigns that we are running ourselves.

The main one is to get Gordon Brown to attend the Copenhagen conference. We think this is really important as it will show the world that the UK prioritises combating climate change and will help the push towards a strong, fair deal at Copenhagen in December (anyway, we're going, so why on Earth can't he?!)

If you'd like to sign up to this petition, you can do so here. We're also trying to get a petition on the Number 10 website, which we'll try to advertise as well. The hope is to get a large number of people behind us, so that when we send a letter to the PM, or if we get to meet with a minister, we can say that we have LOADS of young people in support of our petition, which will be alot more impressive!

I'm starting to get really excited about going to Copenhagen now - it's going to be such an awesome experience, meeting people from around the globe with so very different climate change experiences to ours. The whole thing has got me a lot more enthused about climate-related activities and has spurred me on to get stuck in again!

Well thanks for reading this, and I hope we'll be able to let you know about everything we're doing in the future, and about how you can get involved in some nice, tame, climate activism!

Hello from the Copenhagen 4's Katie

Katie Haywood, 17, from Worcester, is one of the four winners of UNICEF's Big Climate Callout competition, selected to represent the UK at the Copenhagen Children's Climate Forum in December.

The past few weeks have been pretty frantic for me, especially since I got back to school and started studying for my AS Levels. There are so many fantastic campaigns leading up to Copenhagen that I couldn’t resist getting involved!

Firstly, I have been recruiting for Power Shift, an environmental conference for young people, which is being held in London in October. Secondly, I have been busy organising my own 350 event, called Hand’s Up! The idea is to collect 350 hand prints from individuals and organisations around my local community, which I am going to display in the city centre on 24 October, the global Day of Action.

My role within the Copenhagen team is to facilitate our involvement in such campaigns, and raise awareness of them among other young people. My county council have also helped me arrange a meeting with local ecoschools committees, where we will discuss messages that I can take to the Children’s Climate Forum.

The first preparation weekend at the UNICEF head office was great fun, and it was really nice to spend time with the rest of the team. We’ve already got really exciting plans for our work leading up to Copenhagen, including launching a campaign to get Gordon Brown to go the Conference.

I still can’t quite believe what an amazing opportunity we have been given. It just shows that the world is starting to take young people seriously, so make sure you are shouting about what really matters to you!

Hello from the Copenhagen 4's Graeme

Graeme, 14, from Glasgow, is one of the four winners of UNICEF's Big Climate Callout competition, selected to represent the UK at the Copenhagen Children's Climate Forum in December.

Hello, my Name is Graeme McGhee I am 14 years old and I come from the city of Glasgow in Bonnie Scotland. I am always up for a laugh, love playing badminton and love watching the comedy panel show Mock the Week XD.

I am one of the four young people who will be representing the views of young people at the Children's Climate Change Forum in Copenhagen this December. I would like to think that I know a fair amount about climate change as well as politics. Climate change is a serious issue that we have to act upon now and, as a generation, we must work together to prevent this problem in the future too.

I have already set up a few events and discussions locally and citywide that have sparked interest on this issue throughout Scotland as well. At the start of October I will hopefully be interviewing the Scottish Minister for Finance and Sustainable Growth (John Swinney) about climate change.

Although we are only young citizens we can still make an impact on the world around us and influence decision-making all over the world.