COP16 Tuesday Update

I had a wonderful meeting last night with an inspiring group of Canadian youth. We went around the circle at their low rent hostel in the centre of Cancun as they introduced themselves and where they are from-- Holly from Whitehorse, Emilie from PEI, Audrey from Gatineau, Adam from Prince George, Maggie from Victoria -- just about every part of Canada is included in the youth delegation.  One amazing young man, Malcolm Madsen from Whitehorse, last year cycled from Whitehorse to Ottawa for the October 24 day of action.  He is the son of conservation activists and old friends of mine - Ken Madsen and Wendy Berthrood.  Self-sufficient and well-trained, he had also just made the dinner for the group. Delicious rice, corn and beans (and they even had a plate for me, which was welcome when we met at 8:30 pm. This sort of event does not accommodate stopping for meals).  The organizer of the group, Amber Church is also from the Yukon, and daughter of a distinguished Arctic scientist. About 50 Canadian youth are here, part of a contingent of 1000 young people from 40 countries who met in their own Summit prior to the opening of COP16.

Well away from beaches and monster hotels, the only Cancun most tourists ever see, is a brave cadre of Canadian young people.  They are working non-stop. Lobbying, holding events, networking, blogging.  They even drafted language for the negotiations for the engagement of youth. It got into the text word for word.

In exasperation, one young man asked me "do you think the Canadian media understands how critical it is that Kyoto not die? Do they have any idea how many years would be lost in coming to an agreement?" I had to answer that "no, they don't." We no longer have any journalists specializing in climate issues.  We used to, but no longer.  It is hard to explain why the non-binding, voluntary pledge agreement, called the Copenhagen Accord, is wholly inadequate compared to the architecture and framework of the legally binding document called the Kyoto Protocol.  Spin from PMO and John Baird is hard to de-mystify when the media corps has to start from scratch to catch up.  That said, there are some very good journalists here at COP16 -- notably François Cardinal (and I hear rumours Louis-Gilles Francoeur is here as well) and Shawn McCarthy, Mike de Souza, with both Susan Lunn and Margo McDermid of CBC expected today tracking Baird's arrival.

One young woman asked me, how after all the years I have been working on this issue -- 24 years -- how do I keep my spirits up? What gives me hope?

The answer was easy. "You. All of you."