My apologies to all for the wait but my first update from Copenhagen is finally here! I've been busy everyday focusing my time in working with youth from around the world, and more specifically US youth, on how to communicate, plan, and take action on demanding a legally binding treaty while in Copenhagen. While everything that we're doing here is very exciting and important I've come to realize that the essential key in reaching this goal is strong US leadership-which is where youth currently back home in US come in and are so essential! In the post below, from my friend Caroline of the Sierra Student Coalition Delegation, learn how YOU and other US youth from across the country can help demand US leadership by joining the Rapid Response Team that was created by US Youth here at COP15!

Hello dear movement friends,

I have a very important ask of you, from one member of the climate family to another. Please read on.

http://powershift09.org/rapidresponse

I’m so excited and grateful to be here in Copenhagen for the International Climate Negotiations. These next two weeks are going to be jam-packed and intense. But it’s the organizers in the states who have the big job.

This weekend was the Conference of Youth where over 500 youth delegates from around the world gathered to prepare for our role as youth .

I have met so many inspiring young people- a young woman in Indonesia helping her farmers in her community adapt with the changing climate and its effect on agricultural production… Organizers from Australia who put on a spectacular flash mob dance to cap off their own Power Shift conference. And to think that, as we were embarking as climate leaders in our country, what happened here two years ago (Power Shift 2007) has become a wave of Power Shifts around the world! As you know, the US carries not only a huge carbon footprint, but a powerful influence over the outcome of the conference- what commitments other countries will make (or not make) and ultimately, the fate of these young people around the world.

Tomorrow is when the real job starts. I am committed to connecting with you all throughout my time here- and umm, I don’t really need an excuse to call you, but this will indeed make it certain to happen! I want to make sure you all are represented here, and that what happens here does not go unnoticed- that we as Americans react to the good, the bad, and the ugly with full force! Not just a few hundred of us here at the conference center. It’s YOU who will be able to take the message home to our politicians, to the people who have so much sway over the fate of the entire planet.

http://powershift09.org/rapidresponse

That’s why I’m writing to you! Youth delegates (like me about 17 other Sierra Student Coalition delegates) from around the country will be contacting their friends, classmates, and fellow organizers back home so that we can collectively affect the U.S. negotiation position. We’ll all need to use media, grassroots support, and our creative energy to voice our expectations for the negotiations and the Obama Administration- “FAB” fair, ambitious and binding action.

As part of the Rapid Response team, you’ll be part of the team of young people from around the world who are working to positively influence the outcome of these negotiations. You’ll receive breaking updates through emails and phone calls from youth delegates in Copenhagen- and you’ll help us tell our local papers, pressure our state leaders, and remind President Obama that, no matter where we are geographically, we stand together. We need strong international commitments this year.

I’m impressed by the work you each have done- I’m grateful to have such smart, compassionate people with me on this journey. Our story is part of a larger GLOBAL dialogue. We need our leaders to make decisions that reflect SCIENTIFIC REALITIES and that take OUR FUTURE into account. We as youth cannot continue to “wait our turn” to change the fate of the planet.

Please join us. It’s our turn.

As was described above that fact that I, along with the rest of my fellow delegates with the Will Steger Foundation, am in Copenhagen at COP15 is absolutely amazing but what is even more important is the action that youth at home in the US will take! This is the moment of our generation. We must all work together in solidarity to ensure the properous future of our generations and generations to come- Please join us!