Copenhagen Summit on Climate Change:
A Canadian Youth Perspective

By Laura Tozer and Janet Speth CSJ Toronto

“I have been involved in United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change international negotiations since 2005 as an advocate, a communicator, and a student. I work to represent young people who lack a voice in the negotiations that are deciding our future, and to communicate with the public directly about what is going on behind the scenes. I have gained a great deal of experience in this role and I have had the opportunity to work with some amazing young people that are dedicated advocates for action on climate change.

In Copenhagen, the world was supposed to conclude negotiating the new phase of greenhouse gas reduction and climate change adaptation commitments to take place after the first period of the Kyoto Protocol ends. Our leaders failed us and the negotiations sputtered to an end with the Copenhagen Accord drawn up by the US, Brazil, South Africa, India and China, which was not an outcome of the UN negotiation process and has nowhere near the level of ambition and action required to confront climate change.

Canada’s involvement was so shameful that the coalition of over 400 international environmental organizations awarded it the Fossil of the Year award – an ‘honour’ reserved for the country that is the most obstructive to progress on reaching a climate change agreement. Representing a country that so clearly worked against international action on climate change made us harsh critics very quickly. However, we were very frustrated as they accredited 45,000 people but the venue only held 15,000. By the second week non-governmental organizations representatives were barred and so with disappointment we watched voiceless from afar.

In Copenhagen Canada’s representatives did not put forward any money to help vulnerable countries adapt to climate change; they stuck with one of the worst greenhouse gas emission targets in the industrialized world, a 3% reduction from 1990 levels by 2020; they expressed a desire to replace the Kyoto framework, and they argued for a 2006 baseline (not 1990) that would forgive the emission growth that has happened in the interim.

It will be the youth of today who will be left to deal with life in a changed world tomorrow, based on decisions made in Copenhagen. However, I feel hopeful because of the amazing people that I worked with that are dedicated to this issue and because I met so many decision makers from other jurisdictions that are acting on climate change, from cities to provinces to the World Council of Churches. We all need to follow this example and start building a hopeful future by addressing climate change boldly.” …Laura Tozer

We, Sisters of St. Joseph, can join Canadian youth to raise the dashed hopes of Copenhagen out of the arid dust of distrust and denial. To think critically is to counter the culture of denial that is discrediting climate science through the power of corporations and media. This belief states that human activity is not significant in global warming. There is no global emergency and no reason to change attitudes and behaviours. Is this the gospel imperative we embody? No! Together let us be the voice for our wounded earth building relationships of mutual respect and integrity.

Recommended reading: Heat by George Mondiot, particularly the chapter on “ Denial Industry”