The quiet streets of downtown Poznan were flooded with people over the weekend for the International Day of Climate Action. With banners held high, hundreds of people marched through the city center to the site of the United Nations Climate Change Conference, demanding action on climate change through chants in multiple languages.
“What do we want? Climate Justice! When do we want it? NOW!”
The youth presence in the event was particularly strong. Dozens of young people, covered in face paint and bearing colorful costumes, dressed as clowns to represent world leaders who are “clowning around” while the planet warms. Others danced to the beats of a drumming contingent that joined the procession.
In contrast to the tone of the conference, the march was energetic, loud, and fueled by – in the words of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. – the “fierce urgency of now.” Rather than getting bogged down in the minutia of daily negotiations, young people remain above the fray, never losing sight of the grander vision of this conference – the establishment of a strong, ambitious, and equitable international climate change treaty. While listening to countries intensely bicker over the placement of brackets in a draft document when the larger question of financing adaptation in developing countries is on the table, I can’t help but worry that delegates to this convention have not internalized the urgency of the challenge in front of us.
International youth march in Poznan during the International Day of Climate Action
The International Day of Climate Action presented a welcome opportunity to demonstrate just that.
Jeff Gustafson is the director of the D.C. Youth Environmental Alliance and a delegate to the 2008 United Nations Climate Change Conference.
