3 Young Environmental Activists Speak About Copenhagen
at City Hall Forum

1/26/2010 - by Margaret Morris

Three young activists who attended the Copenhagen Climate Conference shared their thoughts about the experience at Ventura City Hall in a forum convoked by Mayor Bill Fulton January 19.

The youngest, high school student, Alec Loorz, co-founder of Kids vs. Global Warming and SLAP (Sea Level Awareness Project) described the agreement arrived at by the five biggest polluters (770 parts CO2 per million) as “insane.” However, despite a general sense that the conference was “pretty much a failure,” he felt hopeful because of “100,000 people in the street demanding climate justice.” He plans to help organize participation in the Million Kid March entitled “I Matter” to promote local action to combat climate change during October, 2010.

Sarah Otterstrom, Ph.d of Caso Pacifico, a young mother of a toddler, explained her work in Nicaragua partnering with local farmers in preserving tropical forests, the destruction of which results in huge increases in carbon emissions. These farmers tend native forests, plant new trees and promote sustainable agriculture practices along with biodiversity in plants and animals.

Dr. Otterstrom had a “mostly positive impression” in that the conference was truly global and that each organization was given importance for its work. No single solution was touted as the answer. She expressed the hope that local, grass roots organizations will all contribute more effectively than the formal processes of the conference.

The last speaker, Andrew Dunn, Assistant Publicity Chair of UCSB’s Environmental Affairs, stated, “Almost everyone was disappointed in what came out of Copenhagen.” He expressed surprise by corporate control of the process and that “market based solutions” were unlikely to be effective. He too expected local organizations to continue the struggle. “People were angry but excited to come back home and work on what they learned there,” he said.

All three expressed frustration that industry leaders were given leading roles in the negotiation process despite the likelihood that they would limit the size of any solutions to ineffectual levels. Andrew advocated challenging the notion of corporate personhood at the local level through California Students Sustainability Coalition to reduce corporate clout. (Visit Ultimate Civics for more information.)

Both Mayor Fulton and Supervisor Steve Bennett, who kicked off the event, emphasized the size and severity of climate change, which Bennett described as “the greatest challenge of our time.” He stated he had no definitive solution to it but felt Ventura County was positioned to be a leader in meeting the challenge. One exciting note is that efforts to impliment AB-811, a bill to fund home-owner loans for solar and efficiency retrofits, is finding wide support in Ventura County.

Mayor Fulton stated that the sea level will rise significantly in the lifetime of most people in the room causing the city serious harm. He too stated that Ventura had a long history of leadership in “green” activism and would be a leader in finding ways to deal with problems.

During the question and comment part of the program, several audience members saluted the sacrifices of the three on behalf of the everyone’s environment and apologized for older generations having failed them.