This treaty – the only treaty ever to commit nations to legally binding targets on greenhouse gas emissions – provides essential stability for continued action on climate change. A void in international agreements could prove fatal for people and communities across the planet. Young people are calling for a second commitment period of the Kyoto Protocol to be implemented immediately to provide a bridge to a new, more comprehensive climate treaty by 2015.

A second commitment period of the Kyoto Protocol is essential. The leaders of polluting nations have run out of excuses. We are running out of time too. We need a legally binding agreement now to ensure a safe future for us and future generations. The Durban Package signals recognition that the world’s governments will purposely and comprehensively address the causes of climate change.

The final agreement that will involve all countries have to ensure that climate change mitigation measures are sufficient to meet the goal of keeping global temperature rise below 2°C.

In a word, they aren’t. The flood and its survivors are being given almost no attention by the UN and delegates at the conference, and the people have received next to no assistance from the municipal government.

Now, in the final hours of negotiations, as COP17 draws to a close, it is unlikely that any sort of climate treaty will be agreed upon that meets the needs of the most impacted. In addition, it remains to be seen whether the Green Climate Fund, the singular high hope of many most impacted countries in desperate need of funding for adaptation measures, will be approved and launched.

Despite this incredible disappointment, many youth, NGO’s, and members of civil society are dedicated to offering what relief they can – and have launched a campaign facilitated through 350.org, with all funds going directly to the KwaMashu community. They hope to show the victims of the flash floods that despite the appearance of being ignored, there are people at these negotiations who truly understand that for many, climate change means survival or death.

This is also, as it happens, a unique opportunity to shine a light on developed countries’ inaction on pledging tangible resources for immediate adaptation, and that the United States and Saudi Arabia are holding up the one measure with potential to truly help peoples most impacted the world over (The Green Climate Fund).

As the global climate continues to warm, sudden, heavy downpours are expected to increase across South Africa, adding to the growing global tally of climate casualties. This isn’t the first not-so-funny coincidence of a climate-related “natural” disaster striking during a climate conference, and it certainly won’t be the last.

From various media outlets’ efforts to try to clarify and make relevant the climate change story, two points stand out. One involves the challenge of adequately addressing the nuances of science, making the story both scientifically rigorous and yet accessible.

The other involves how to make climate change issues tangible to a public which, studies show, often thinks the issue is remote from them in time and space.

Now, artists have begun to address both issues, mainly finding relevant avenues to address the climate change challenge. And, increasingly, they are getting their inspiration from scientists and researchers. Several are delighted that climate change is attracting the attention it needs.

Photography by Joe Lukhovi.

Joe Lukhovi is a freelance photographer currently based and living in Nairobi, Kenya. His style is diverse, ranging from portrait to documentary photography.

I will tell you of Goblins, elves, fairies, giants and gnomes just like you all were told as you grew up. Most of you always ended in a toothy (or not so toothy) grin, or with a drool of saliva on your pillow. I hope this story of one Pablo Solon leaves you grinning but there is one catch to this story.

You must perceive the characters like a seven year old. There is Pablo, a mice turned to horse, the polluters the evil step mother and sisters, the least developed countries (LDC’s) and the AOSIS are the Cinderellas. We really want to see them go to the ball and hopefully at one time in future dance with her prince (which represent a better deal at the end of COP 17 talks).

Say you were mandated with voicing the opinions and fears of a small nation, say Bolivia, that doesn’t hold as much ground when it comes to world super powers like the USA, European countries, Canada, China and Australia. This was the job for Pablo Solon who was the UN ambassador for UNFCCC negotiations for the last two and a half years.

At COP 15 in Copenhagen, Pablo arose out of the monotony of the negotiations when he so passionately disapproved of the Copenhagen Accord. The Accord is a legally non-binding agreement that suggests that the US cut emissions by only 17% starting 1990. What does this actually mean? The US is one of the biggest emitters of fossil fuels. A 17% decrease in emissions would do almost nothing to combat global climate chaos. Naturally the Bolivian ambassador objected to The Accord. Following the objection, the USA cut aid to Bolivia by $3 million.

In Mexico, Ambassador Pablo vehemently opposed the Cancun Agreement. In these negotiations on the last Friday, a document was brought in and the negotiators were given two hours to read it through. After the two hours, negotiators were set to adopt this document for the next ten years, until Pablo took a stand. He pointed out loopholes in the Cancun Accord to allow for carbon trading and schemes such as REDD that reduce the responsibilities of developed countries. Pablo said, ‘We were accused of being obstructionist, obstinate and unrealistic. But we feel an enormous obligation to set aside diplomacy and tell the truth.’ After his term was over this April, he still shows up in Durban, South Africa for the COP17 negotiations and he joins the people outside at the General Assembly.

When asked why he is here, Pablo says, ‘the Cancun Agreement was a bad deal, but here we can have an agreement that can be even worse than that. Why? Because the level of reduction of the carbon emissions is still going to cause an increase of the world temperature by 4 degrees Celsius and that means 9 degrees Celsius for Africa. They are going to cook Africa.’

Is there any hope for Cinderella to dance at COP 17? The people are our hope according to Pablo. The only way to change the course of the talks could be by social pressure not only here in South Africa but all over the world. The population that makes up less than 1% should not define the conditions under which the other 99% of the population lives.

‘For 350,000 people to die from climate change associated disasters is an ecocide and everyone has a role to play in mitigating this. The scenarios are three. The good being the number of emission reduction increases by the biggest polluters. The bad, the negotiations are extended for one year as the governments refuse to lock the Cancun Agreement. And the ugly is that they lock down the Cancun Agreement and temperatures continue to rise at a rate of 4 degrees per year, and more than double that for Africa.’

As Canada pulls out of Kyoto Protocol, it is clear that economic power is valued over ecological power. The pressure is on. As we venture further into this climate catastrophe experiment, we must amplify voices of those most impacted by climate change and those who fight for climate justice. Bring their experience straight to the negotiators and get dirty corporations out of the UN process.

In the next two weeks, the evil step mothers and step sisters must work through their issues, or at least try to. The mice of the world must grow up and if they turn to horses, they become drivers of change and help Cinderella get to the ball. Hopefully one day soon, Cinderella will dance with her prince.

This year, COP17 is taking place in Durban, South Africa and tens of thousands are descending on the city to talk about saving our planet. In our experience, all to often the participants of the UNFCCC just talk. Here at Project Survival Media we have found that some of the most amazing action on solving the climate crisis comes from the youth organizers around the world. These faces are some of those young people that are and will continue to move the world towards a just, safe and sustainable future.

Stay tuned for more updates from the Project Survival Media team in Durban, we are just getting started.

Portraits of COY7 in Durban South Africa – Images by Robert van Waarden

SUN COME UP
The Oscar-nominated film Sun Come Up follows the relocation of the Carteret Islanders, a peaceful community in the South Pacific, and now, some of the world’s first environmental refugees.

‘Sun Come Up’ is launching a House Raiser campaign to build off the momentum of the Oscar nomination: 50 parties in 50 different homes. Each home commits to raising funds for the Carteret Islanders by February 27th, the date of the Academy Awards! All donations will go directly to the Carteret Islanders’ relocation program toward the building of new homes. Learn more!

Click here to sign up and feel free to email bleyer@gmail.com with any questions. You can also spread the word to your network by posting their widget on Facebook: http://www.call2action.com/widget/w673.

SUMMER OF SOLUTIONS
Applications have opened to join the Summer of Solutions this year. As an emerging leader in youth empowerment and green economic development, Summer of Solutions is opening up the opportunity to creative, dedicated young people who believe in improving their communities, advancing social justice, and improving the environment.

During the course of a summer, youth are able to design, receive support for, and help implement solutions in their communities. Summer of Solutions programs work in collaboration with community partners to create self-sustaining green economy projects that will continue to have a direct positive impact.In just three years, the Summer of Solutions program has expanded from a single site in Saint Paul, MN, and a partner program in Portland, OR, to fifteen programs across the country.

They welcome all participants ages 14-30 regardless of race, culture, class, gender, sexual orientation, and religion. Positions as volunteer participants (up to 20 hours a week) and full-time participants (40+ hours a week) are open. The program is free, and full-time participants are eligible to receive need-based financial support, the application for which is here. SoS is currently working to generate funding to support participants with all levels of need.

To learn more about Summer of Solutions and find a program, visit Grand Aspirations, the host organization of Summer of Solutions, or apply directly here.  The priority deadline for full-time applicants is Sunday, March 13th at midnight PST, and the final deadline for full-time applicants is Sunday April 24th at midnight PST. Volunteer applications are accepted on a rolling basis.

SoS looks forward to receiving your application, and working together, hands-on, to create stronger, self-sustaining communities across the country.

APPLY NOW!

It’s Friday night in Cancun.  I just exited the UN conference for the last time – leaving closed-door-negotiations behind as they work through the text of what they will agree on coming out from this conference.  After 2 weeks of organizing and navigating our way through Cancun, a major disappointment has been the blatant silencing of our voices, of civil society, throughout the process.   We saw this escalate last year in Copenhagen with the police crackdowns and the shutting out of hundreds of people from the Bella Center.  Instead of responding to the outrage of last year, the UN took it to a new dangerous level in Cancun. As negotiators are now left to debate our survival, I’m furiously moved to write on this.

Kandi Mossett, of IEN & Y4CJ, leading a chant at the La Via Campesina march on Dec 7.

On Tuesday, we received major press coverage of an action led by a few members of our delegation.  After a press conference, and at the same time as thousands of people took to the streets in Cancun, members of GGJ and Y4CJ walked out marching and chanting.   Beginning in the middle of the second week, the UNFCC had installed a new protocol that actions needed to submit for permitting 2 days ahead of time.  Because this was an unpermitted action, security immediately confronted them and literally stripped them of their badges.  Them, along with 12 others had their names listed and their accreditation taken away.  As an eye witness, I saw the oppressive act of stealing our voice, taking away their ability to participate for the rest of the conference.  (See the Democracy Now coverage of the action HERE!)
Tonight, the international alliance Climate Justice Now! held another action inside of the Moon Palace to protest the silencing of civil society, using the powerful image of people representing different constituencies (youth, indigenous peoples, among others) with UNFCCC gags over their mouths.  They too were escorted out of the center and stripped of their accreditation.

Yesterday, we were blessed with the presence and words of President Evo Morales.  He visited the La Via Campesina alternative forum, for an evening program of speakers, including himself.  Yesterday I was beautifully reminded of the voices of those who are not inside the negotiations, and those that came together in April at the Cochabamba People’s Summit.  But yet, the Cochabamba People’s Agreement on Climate Change and the Rights of Mother Earth, the declaration that was produced at the Summit and brought to Cancun as an alternative text to the Copenhagen Accord, is not being recognized, it is being ignored.  Evo Morales reminded us of the importance of listening to the people, and leading our politics by principle.  The silencing of the Cochabamba Agreement is yet another illustration of how the UNFCCC and governments like the United States are not concerned for the population of the world or their own constituencies, but are willing to muffle our needs and opinions in order to access personal, selfish gain in the negotiations.

Raising our fists in support of the Cochabamba People’s Agreement, with Aurora Conley.

Where does that leave us?  With an even more critical eye of the UN process, and a deep understanding of the levels of oppression and injustice we witness in these spaces.  We have to demand a more democratic and inclusive process, and we have to stand up to be heard even if that calls on direct action.  I’ve been blessed to be a part of this delegation, and to represent Project Survival Media.  I have been greatly reminded of the importance of independent, youth-led media that brings truth to power and keeps raising the voice of the voiceless.  We demand to be heard!

The Global Work Party was organized by 350.org and 10:10 and is being heralded as the world’s largest day of civil action ever. Be sure to hop on over to 350.org for more photography around the world.

Crossposted from photographer vanwaardenphoto.com

[One of] the other things that keeps me going is knowing that one of my great aunts and my great uncles [had] respiratory problems. Their breath was taken away slowly inch by inch, feeling like they were being suffocated. When they died, thinking about them and thinking that how much better it would be for the rest of the people here. I don’t want them to die that way anymore, I want them to be able to breathe.” Fern Benally, Navajo Activist.

Shadia and I just finished an assignment in Arizona, covering an incredible group of activists that are working hard to stop dirty energy on the Navajo Reservation and pushing the envelope on clean energy development. We are focusing on the closing of one of the coal mines in the area, the tactics that were used and what this means to the people affected by the closure.

The former coalmine is in the Benally’s backyard, land that has been the families for thousands of years. For the last 30 years, 24 hours a day, the large coal trucks would rumble by the house and the coal crusher would drown out nature. Now, thanks to incredible co-operation and dedication amongst groups like the Black Mesa Water Coalition, Grand Canyon Trust and the Sierra Club, the life of mine permit was revoked in January. Now, the Benally’s can hear the birds sing and watch the stars like their ancestors did long before Europeans came here.

There are still many examples of environmental racism here in Arizona and across our planet. But, it is important to celebrate victories and share the knowledge so that we can all move towards a sustainable future. More to come on this project in the future.