COP15: Wrap up Day

NGOs have limited admittance to the Bella Center as of Tuesday, and today very few NGO participants were able to access the Conference venue. Instead, we were productive at the Scout Center compiling details from our experiences and following the negotiations carefully with a live stream. We took turns writing careful summaries from the speeches by different countries’ heads of state and high level politicians. Gabi says “We were impressed that Nancy Pelosi, speaker of the House of Representatives of the U.S. Congress, emphasized the importance of support for women as a vulnerable group affected by climate change.”

We worked at several stations this morning to record our partnerships, media highlights, and to compile our photographs and videos. Margrethe enjoyed working with the media for WAGGGS. She searched for articles, interviews, and photos of our delegation on the Internet. She was especially excited about the photo that she found about Abby holding two koalas!

We also learned about Advocacy for WAGGGS and brainstormed ideas for international climate change programming for girls and young women. Among the top ideas were to focus on mitigation and adaptation. We talked about having several badges for different environmental resources such as water, sun, and air. It is also important to us that the environmental program material is accessible in different languages, affordable, and fun for girls.

Tonight we all celebrated our hard work the last two weeks with a delicious Danish dinner at a restaurant. Miriam says “It was really nice to bond with everyone over dinner.”

We will continue to reflect on our experiences at COP15, finish our project summaries and COP15 reports, and strategize plans of action of how to engage our fellow Girl Guides, Girl Scouts, and communities in our own countries on climate change issues.

Yours Truly in Guiding and Scouting,
Sarah, Maria, and Emily

COP: Day 10

Today was certainly a very interesting day for us in Copenhagen. There was success, surprise, and frustration.

There was a planned (and unapproved) protest (which will be explained later) that took place in and around the Bella Center this morning. There were hundreds of Danish police and police vehicles surrounding the center. Again, the train station was closed, so we had to walk to the center from the stop either before or after the center itself.

In the morning Emily attended the YOUNGO spokescouncil meeting, which took place outside of the Bella Center under a pond! They weren't imitating the Maldives government (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/8311838.stm)... there was a dry (but moldy) room. The spokescouncil discussed the approval of future actions as well as who should attend the actual COP15 sessions this Friday (the one ticket that YOUNGO has is going to a youth from Latin America).

Later that day Emily went to Klimaforum in the city and attended a panel discussion on solar energy. She also interviewed several women about the issue of gender and the environment.

Sarah spent the day inside the Bella Center. She was involved with the WAGGGS side event in which WAGGGS delegates explained their projects from home and informed the public about issues of women, youth and the environment.
After that, Sarah joined other WAGGGS delegates for our action, in which we sang an environmental version of the campfire song, "One Voice". We caught the attention of many people and politicians!

Maria had the intention of entering the Bella Center around noon by exchanging a pass with a WAGGGS delegate who was leaving the center at that time. It happened at that time, about one hundred protesters left the center and met several hundred other protesters outside the center (and the police lines). Entry for all NGOs was immediately cut off, and Maria was left outside the center (safely but cold) to watch all the police-protester action going on outside. She tried to reason several times with the police in a three hour period, but eventually left when it was really very clear that no more NGOs could enter.

The protesters were protesting the limited access of "civil society" and NGOs allowed to enter the conference.

Overall, a different day for all of us. Tomorrow will be a very different pace from the rest of this conference, as we will be watching the negotiations from an online broadcast.

Goodbye, Bella Center!

COP: Day 9

The level of security at the Bella Center is high. There is overcrowding outside the Bella Center, so the metro stop at the Center is closed. Thousands, including myself, walked to the Center from a nearby metro station. Today, Emily attended the Bella Center on behalf of the Americans with WAGGGS. Maria spent the day working on finals for university and recovering from sickness. Sarah explored some of the many talks in town and made some valuable contacts with other organizations, and was even treated to coffee!!

This morning, Emily got a special pass to attend a session with Arnold Schwarzenegger, the Governor of California. He said that an international agreement is not all that is needed to make progress in the climate change movement. He recognized that governments, with the cooperation of cities, states, provinces, regions, corporations, activists, scientists, and universities are part of the movement towards a cleaner future. Change and progress require people to work together and take action. He challenges people, nations, and cities to lead by example in the climate change movement.

Today only 7,000 NGO accredited participants were allowed to enter the Bella Center, compared to about 15,000 that have been attending the conference daily. WAGGGS can only have 11 accredited individuals inside the Bella Center, but we are thankful to WOSM for sharing some of their extra badges with us today. Still, not all of the WAGGGS delegation was able to come to the Bella Center today.

Emily attended US Secretary of Agriculture, Tom Vilsack’s presentation this afternoon. Last week, the afternoon presentation by Secretaries of State had a strong youth presence, but today, she was surrounded by party members and accomplished NGO participants. Vilsack announced an agreement between the USDA and US dairy producers to use manure for energy projects on farms. This will help curb CO2 emissions on farms.

This morning, the Gender YOUNGO group met, and we are in the process of finalizing our policy recommendations and policy summaries that we will hand-distribute to negotiators this afternoon and tomorrow. Emily met with Barbara De Rosa-Joynt, who is the Multilateral Initiatives Coordinator of the US State Department. Barbara is a former GIRL SCOUT and is doing an awesome job representing the US.

Emily also attended the US Delegation Briefing with Jonathan Perhing in the evening.

Yours in Guiding and Scouting,
Maria, Sarah, and Emily

COP15: Day 8

Today we focused on women and climate change at COP15. We began the day by finalizing the language for Heads of State and delegations in regards to youth in the text. This working group is a sub-policy working group in YOUNGO that we have been working with for the past week. In addition to youth in the text, we address girls and young women in our policy recommendations.

Next, several members of our delegation attended the Women’s Caucus. After recapping the events of the weekend, we discussed the language for speaking to others about women’s issues. We spoke up about the importance of including “girls and young women” in the text. Our message was challenged by different opinions, but it was nonetheless a good conversation.

Next, we participated in the newly formed Gender YOUNGO group with many of my WAGGGS and YOUNGO colleagues as well as a group of women from South Africa that we met at the Women’s Caucus. We will work very hard over the next few days to provide policy draft recommendations for negotiators.

In the afternoon, Emily and Sarah attended a session by the Secretary of Energy, Mr. Stephen Chu. He spoke about the importance of standards to drive energy efficiency.

Emily spent the remainder of the afternoon at the “Women for Climate Justice” session. Four panelists from large NGOs including CARE, Oxfam, and the Asian Development Bank spoke about their programs and their focus on women. We learned that indoor smoke is the 4^th killer of women and children in the developing world. 80% of African food is produced by women, and globally, women make up the majority of the agriculture sector. The discussions focused around the mantra, “No climate justice without gender justice.” Women are agents of change and need to be educated, empowered, and part of decision-making processes.

In the evening, we attended the daily US Youth meeting and then drafted a letter for the US negotiators on capacity building. We attached a draft proposed by Switzerland to our letter and brought it to the US Delegation office. It was exciting to meet members of the US Party at the office.

Yours in Guiding and Scouting,
Sarah, Maria, and Emily

COP15 Weekend: Dec. 12-13

It was nice to try to catch up on some sleep this weekend, although the days were still filled with some fun and important events.

For most of Saturday Maria and Sarah, along with some other WAGGGS delegates, took part in the Flood Copenhagen march with thousands of other climate activists to express Girl Scout's role in the climate change solution and show that we are a progressive organization focused on empowering women worldwide.

We rested for the evening, getting ready for our big day on Sunday: meeting the Princess of Denmark! Princess Benedikte is a long time supporter of Scouts and Guides, and we were all excited to get the chance to meet her. Sarah, Emily, and Luiza--our Brazilian sister funded by GSUSA--posed for a photo with the princess.

Sarah went to the Bright Green exhibition, to learn about all the innovative businesses that are promoting energy efficiency and renewable energy.

Some spent the rest of the day shopping, some recovering from sickness, and everyone planning for the week to come.

Wish us luck in all of our upcoming events!

G.S. love,
Sarah, Maria, and Emily

Day 5: 10-12-09

The morning opened with the presentation of the Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS) draft agreement, which calls for inclusion of small island states in political text to ensure their survival. It is extremely important for the small island nations to be considered since many--such as Maldives--rest only one or more meters above sea level and are especially susceptable to climate change.

Another exciting event was when the Australian delegates--Ally, Petina, Nellie, Aby, and Linden--plus Katie and Rebecca met Tim Flannery, a world renowned Australian climate change scientist and the head of the Copenhagen Climate Council. He was also a panelist at a side event in which four youth who presented projects involving youth in the environment from their home countries, followed by a panel discussion about the projects.

Later, Emily and Sarah sat in on a U.S. Secretary of Commerce Gary Locke’s, side-event discussion on energy security, energy efficiency, and green jobs. As Locke eloquently stated, "The climate change challenge is relatively simple. We can make changes now, or we will have to make changes later."

In the late afternoon, several WAGGGS delegates took part with other youth organizations in a "freeze action" – where everyone mingled in the main space outside the plenary and froze what they were doing simultaneously. It was a spooky scene of youth delegates frozen in mid-action: drinking from their water bottles, adjusting their hair, taking a step, talking to a friend or on the phone, etc.). Meanwhile, some stood on a raised platform holding signs that read, "Don't freeze the deal" -- meaning that we want negotiations to continue over creating a fair, ambitious, and binding climate change agreement.

Ostara had another photo opportunity with the Nobel Peace Prize recipient and Green Belt Movement Founder Wangari Maathai!

Luiza and Emily participated in a panel discussion about Girl Scout/Guide projects in their home countries, following a film about "Young Voices in the Climate Change Movement".

Some of our delegates also supported our sibling organisation, the World Organisation of Scouting Movement (WOSM), as they presented with UNICEF/Unite4Climate.

The last major event was the YOUNGO (Youth NGO) reception in the evening. WAGGGS opened the event by singing "One Voice" -- a simple yet inspiring song to show solidarity in the youth climate movement: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_iTr1dy4ge8

That's all for today--keep checking throughout the week for daily updates!

Yours in Scouting,

Sarah, Emily, and Maria

COP15: Day 4

Here is a blog written by Emily about her exciting day at COP15!

The two highlights of my day occurred within the one hour timeframe of US Secretary of the Interior, Ken Salazar’s, presentation. First, I was photographed by the Associated Press (AP) just before the start of his presentation. Since the news and photos by the AP are published by newspapers all over the world, my picture can now be found in many different news sources all over the world! It is a pretty intense photo of me writing notes from Maria’s laptop, but it is great nonetheless. After Ken Salazar’s presentation, I was chosen to ask him the second question! I asked about how the Department of the Interior is engaging in the legislative process to ensure that a bold, science-based policy passes through the US Senate. I introduced myself, spoke well, and was very proud of myself! Ken Salazar then used my name twice in his response which was really exciting!

This is a link to my photo in the AP:

http://topics.ocregister.com/photo/0f8M4hi50j52n

Sarah, Miriam, and Linden were interviewed today by Climate Change TV.

Today was “Youth and Future Generations Day.” All of the youth wore bright orange t-shirts. It was great to be so united with all of the other youth at the conference.

This evening, I met with all of the US youth, and we learned about the legal rights of presidents to sign treaties. Afterwards, I attended a special event for the Chinese and American youth. It was great to have dinner with the Chinese youth. We shared our stories and broke cultural barriers in the hopes that our governments will one day collaborate and understand one another better.

Yours Truly in Guiding and Scouting,

Emily, Maria, and Sarah

COP15: Day 3

Lisa Jackson of the American Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) met with a group of eight youth this morning, including our very own, Miriam.

I was pleasantly surprised by Lisa Jackson’s humbleness towards theyouth. She
listened to what each youth had to say. She recognizes thatthe youth voice is a
crucial voice in the deliberations.

One of the participants said that “climate solution is human solution.” We need to look for the opportunities that come out of climate change and address them with innovative and creative strategies. What new opportunities can we embrace from the current situation? We need to adopt more efficient and effective strategies in terms of our lifestyle and behaviors to improve the environment.

Four members of our delegation spent the day at a Danish school and led climate games. Margrethe noted the enthusiasm of the children. She says:

Through the games, the children learned that climate negotiations are not
easy, that people are often misinformed about the climate, and that some facts
aresurprising.

The children were enthusiastic and happy to speak with the WAGGGS representatives about climate change and what the Girl Guides and Girl Scouts are doing around the world. The children made green handprints and notes of messages that they would like to be presented by us on their behalf at COP15.

Two young people, a young girl from the Salmon Islands and a boy from Morocco shared their stories during the press conference of the International Youth Climate Movement. They announced that tomorrow will be the Youth Future Generation action day. WAGGGS will run a side event right after the ribbon cutting.Other members of our delegation attended many different side events. Gabi attended a very promising session about Finland. She says:

I think that it is pretty cool that Finland declared to cut their CO2
emissionlevel by 40 percent by 2020 and 80 percent by 2050. This is greater
than thee mission level that was set as a target by the EU.

Our whole delegation took photos with Mr. Jacques Diouf, the director general of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). It was a good opportunity to thank Mr. Diouf for the cooperation between FAO and WAGGGS in the production of the Food Security and Climate Change Challenge Badge.

This evening, Ostara and Prisca presented what they are doing to reduce CO2 emissions within their national associations. They talked about their projects and shared the effectiveness of involving girls and young women in combating climate change.

Also this evening, Miriam and Emily enjoyed a home cooked Danish meal with a group of a dozen accomplished women who are members of the women’s non-profit organization, Soroptimist International. Emily says:

It was inspiring and so exciting to enjoy a meal and conversation with women
who hold high leadership positions within international organizations. These women
are making a difference in developing communities.

Day 2 at COP15

Today was another exciting day at COP15! Our orientation yesterday helped us feel more confident in the COP15 environment today despite the size of the building, number of people, and frequency of flashing cameras.

Sarah represented WAGGGS in the spokes-council meeting this morning. In other sessions, members of our delegation spoke with nonprofit organizations about women, gender issues, and reproductive rights. Our delegation attended working group meetings, interviewed people with flip cams, asked questions at various sessions, and shook hands with many new people from around the world.

The WAGGGS delegation held a side event that was very successful! We wrote “1 voice” on our foreheads to represent the one, unified voice of girls and young women. We did the human knot, a millionaire quiz, and shared information about our key messages and the climate change badge.

This evening, Sarah and Maria attended a session by the US delegation. They had the opportunity to talk about Girl Scouting with Lisa Jackson who is the Administrator of the EPA in the US. Earlier in the day, Emily listened to Jackson speak as a panelist in a session entitled, “The Contribution of Biofuels to Climate Change Mitigation in Brazil.” Jackson supports Girl Scouts, and we are excited for our meeting with her tomorrow afternoon. Jackson is well-known for declaring, yesterday, that carbon dioxide and five other green house gases threaten public health. Women’s bodies are more vulnerable to health concerns pertaining to climate change, so now we need to push for the US to sign a real deal to take responsibility for climate change.

Our email inboxes are flooding with messages from youth working groups and US youth working groups at COP15. We are looking forward to getting more involved with the US youth working groups, continuing to spread WAGGGS key messages, and planning our own action.

Yours Truly in Guiding and Scouting,

Sarah, Maria, and Emily

First Day of COP15

Today was the first day of the main COP-15 conference. It has set the scene for the next 2 weeks, which will be amazing, tiring, busy, interesting and at some points overwhelming, but also a valuable learning experience.

We all attended a press conference held by UNICEF and FAO (Food and Agriculture Organisation), which focused on using youth and music to break barriers and build bridges towards global climate action. These 2 organisations have partnered with WAGGGS to produce the Climate Challenge Badge. There were 8 youth delegates speaking on behalf of the Children’s Climate Summit, and they shared their experiences of music’s influence in the climate change movement. During the open question time, 2 WAGGGS delegates asked the panel questions regarding the impact of climate change on girls and young women in their communities, and how they were being included in the decision making process to take action. A number of WAGGGS delegates also attended a press conference held by the Women’s Environment and Development Organisation, which identified why gender equality matters in a global climate change agreement.

After lunch we took part in a joint youth action, performing a ‘flash dance’ in the main common area of the Bella Centre. Over 200 youth took part to demand climate justice through dance and song. These types of actions are important as they gain the attention of the media and put pressure on government delegations.

A number of delegates also had the opportunity to attend a panel discussion including the Danish Prime Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen and the Executive Director of Greenpeace Kumi Naidoo. The closing statement of this discussion was made by Professor Wanguri Maathai, an exceptional woman whose work and influence has grown from a one woman campaign to save the environment to being internationally recognised for her struggle for democracy, human rights, and environmental conservation. She was presented with a World Citizenship Award by WAGGGS in 2007, and we were lucky enough to meet with her and have a photo taken.

It was a jam-packed day, challenging at times, but we can’t wait for more!

Girl Scout love,

Maria, Sarah, and Emily

Wow! What a weekend!

Today was the second (and last) day of COY5 and it began much like yesterday. In the morning we attended workshops covering a variety of topics, from the policies that will be debated during the conference to how to address the media. These workshops certainly added to our knowledge and skills that the entire youth constituency and we will bring to the COP15 tomorrow.

In the afternoon we had breakout sessions in our respective regions. We, of course, attend the North American meeting, which was eventually broken down into countries. The United States youth certainly seemed organized, ambitious, and ready to send a clear message at the conference and back at home that the American youth wants our government to take action concerning climate change. We broke down into even smaller working groups. Emily attended the communications meeting, and Maria and Sarah attended the action meeting. It was nice to meet with other Americans with similar ambitious and be able to share with each other our reasons for being here in Copenhagen.

After the breakout sessions, the WAGGGS delegation received an urgent message that we were finally able to get our identification badges for the COP15 conference. So we immediately went to the conference center and joined the line. At one point before security, a police officer took all of the WAGGGS delegates out of line and opened up a new security line just for us! This just goes to show that the guides and scouts really are know and respected worldwide. So, be honored, all of you WAGGGS members! That police officer really just recognized and did a nice deed for all 10 million of you!

And that brings us back to the true reason of us being here. The WAGGGS delegation is speaking on behalf of the 10 million WAGGGS members who could now be here themselves. Guides and Scouts are visible and are heard all around the world. We;re just doing our part, and other people see us and wither know why we're here, or they don't. If they know, chances are that they're probably impressed. And the case that they don't, we will definitely let them know.

So tomorrow is the start to a very busy couple of weeks! We are more ready than we were when we arrived for this conference, and we can't wait to get started!

"My day was fantabulus!" exclaimed WAGGGS delegate Miriam from Kenya when she arrived back at the Holmen Scout Center in Copenhagen after a full day of workshops and seminars at the Conference of Youth. About 400 youth from around the world participated. Climate change is a concern for every youth in the world. It was very impressive to engage in the conversation with over 400 youth to discuss strategies to address climate change.

We began the conference with activities to meet other youth. We learned what it feels like to be a leader and a follower.

In the morning, four members of our delegation, Fred (France), Prisca (Madagascar), Luiza (Brazil), and Gabi (Hungary), also took the challenge of holding workshops. They discussed the topic of effective group facilitating with other youth delegates as part of the preparation and empowerment for the UN Climate Change Conference. During this time the other young women took part in other workshops about varying issues, including youth and media, Reduction of Emissions for Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD) and social justice, the process of the UN Framework for Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), and activism.

In the open space sessions, we formed small groups with the other youth and discussed our goals for COP15, what we want to learn from the conference, and how to take advantage of the opportunities and failures at COP15. We also shared what we want to do after the conference in our own countries. The primary goal discussed was to form one strong and unified youth voice to take a stand on climate change at the conference and communicate the importance of change to the political leaders of our countries.

"I got amazingly emotional to hear the inspirational stories of two young women on how they started to work on the issue of climate change and involving other youth in the movement," said Prisca. Hearing the personal stories reminded us that many youth, including ourselves make an impact through our work all over the world.

This evening, we celebrated our diversity with an international dessert exchange. It was tasty to try desserts from around the world.

Tomorrow we will continue to participate in the Conference of Youth. We look forward to another day of learning, networking, and collaborating with other youth on a united message to present at COP15.

Yours in Scouting and Guiding,
Sarah, Maria, and Emily

First Day!

Hi! We are the Girl Scouts of the USA delegates at COP15, aka the UN Climate Change Conference. We are: Emily Rodriguez (NY), Maria Panaccione (WV), Sarah Kelty (KY).

Today was our first day of action in Copenhagen, Denmark with the World Association of Girl Guide and Girl Scouts (WAGGGS). We spent the day in an orientation/training at the Danish Scout headquarters--the Holmen Center--here in Copenhagen.

We are part of a delegation of 19 young women ages 18-25 who represent the 10 million Girl Guides and Girl Scouts from 145 countries. The other delegates come from 12 other countries, including Brazil, Australia, France, Sweden, Bolivia, Hungary, Kenya, Madagascar, Egypt, Denmark, Lebanon, Germany.

Today, we discussed the key messages we will promote at the Youth Conference (Dec. 5-6) and at COP15, which are:

1. Girls and young women have to be empowered because climate change disproportionately affects them.

2. Youth and civil society need to be a part of the solution to climate change.

3. Governments must strengthen their climate change commitments

We also reviewed our schedule for the next two weeks, which includes youth meetings, seminars, side events, and a special event with the other WAGGGS delegates to meet the Princess of Denmark!

Later, we formed working groups to tackle the different delegation areas: Communications/Blogging, Policy, Nonformal Education, Exhibition Stand, and Side Event/Action. Emily is a part of the Communications group, Maria joined the Policy group, and Sarah is helping out with the Action group.

Tonight we will be sharing our posters of projects within our own countries, such as GSUSA's Forever Green Community Action Project. We are excited to share Girl Scouts' contribution to the climate change movement and to hear about what other Scouts and Guides are doing in the rest of world.

We look forward to the start of the Conference of Youth tomorrow, and hope to keep everyone updated with daily blog entries!

Yours in Guiding and Scouting,
Sarah, Maria, and Emily