Liz McDowell, one of 5 Sierra Youth Coalition (SYC) representatives who went to Bali as part of the Canadian Youth Delegation, was kind enough to send us this brief summary of the end of her experience in Bali. The representatives did an incredible job of representing Canadian youth in the talks!
From Liz McDowell
On Saturday, December 15th, the United Nations climate talks ended in Bali, Indonesia. Counter to what was expected, the Canadian government delegation did not block the negotiations from moving ahead (Canada won the most “Fossil of the Day” awards at the talks, given out by www.avaaz.org each day to countries who did the most to block progress at the talks). This is due to a huge groundswell of public concern. Please watch the video below for a personal message of thanks from the Canadian Youth Delegation to Bali.
The United Nations agreed Saturday on a "Bali roadmap" to launch negotiations for a post-2012 global climate agreement that will be guided by scientific analysis of the emission cuts needed to avoid dangerous climate change. The good news is that the Bali deal recognizes that rich nations need to cut their greenhouse gas pollution by 25 to 40 per cent below 1990 levels by 2020, and nations will negotiate the next phase of climate agreements on that basis. But some parts of the deal are too vague, and there is still much to be done on the domestic front. Let's see some action!
For more information about the climate change talks, go to the United Nations website at unfccc.int/meetings/cop_13/items/4049.php for an overview of the talks, actions plans that resulted, and various other documents and bits and pieces.
Destination Conservation Saskatchewan – A Student Update
Destination Conservation is working with schools across Canada to help them reduce their waste and consumption. Check out one student’s report of their waste reduction experience in a Saskatchewan high school, thanks to Destination Conservation’s great programs.
What We Did at McLurg High School
At McLurg High School, Destination Conservation is off to a strong start. Our janitor, Mr. Kosolofski, organized a waste reduction awareness activity for the students. This occurred during Education Week (which is also Waste Reduction Week).
Mr. Kosolofski collected and saved all of the garbage in the building on Monday. This did not include the recycled bins -just garbage cans. He weighed this garbage. Then on Tuesday, at lunch, he set up a variety of containers for cardboard, paper, plastic, glass, newspaper, tin cans, pop bottles, pop cans, juice boxes, milk containers, compostables, and reusables.
The students (and some staff) then emptied the garbage from the day before and began to sort it into the proper categories. It was an interesting way to collect data that would help us make decisions that would help the student body to reduce waste.
What We Found
From just one day of school at McLurg High School, Mr. K collected 41 pounds of waste. Of this amount 2.4 pounds were plastic, 2 pounds were pop bottles, pop cans, juice boxes and milk containers. The compostables took up a whopping 11 pounds. Liquids (not emptied from bottles/cans) measured in at 6 pounds. The items that would be considered "garbage" and not recyclable only accounted for 9 pounds of the 41 pounds.
That means that 75% of the things that were put in the garbage could have been recycled. Also the recyclables that are worth money (but ended up in the garbage) came to $2.60. That doesn't sound like much but since we have 180 student days - we could extrapolate that we are quite likely throwing away $468.00 per year.
Please help your school to reduce waste, save money and save the environment in the future.
Many thanks to the teacher advisors, Mr. Smadu and Mrs. T. Cey, for helping to organize this project in McLurg High School!
To learn more and get your school involved, go to Destination Conservation’s site at www.dc.ab.ca.
Youth Advisory Group - Call for applications
The Canadian Commission for UNESCO (United Nations Education, Scientific and Cultural Organization) is currently looking for fifteen people from across Canada, aged between 15 and 30 years old, interested in becoming a member of its Youth Advisory Group (hereinafter the YAG).
As part of the YAG, you’ll work to identify and create solutions for the concerns of youth in your community. You’ll help create workshops, travel to annual meetings and important events (locally, nationally, and internationally!), and learn from other youth who are working with you – hearing about each area’s issues and their innovative ideas for creating stronger communities.
The Qualifications You Need…
The Commission is looking for people who:
are between 15 and 30 years old;
are students or affiliated with a civil society organisation;
are Canadian citizens or landed immigrants;
demonstrate knowledge and/or experience in UNESCO-related issues;
demonstrate interest in and knowledge of their local and/or provincial youth community;
demonstrate the ability to communicate and willingness to advocate for the Commission in the local and/or provincial youth community;
are committed to promote the diversity of cultural expressions and heritage of the multiplicity of cultures, ethnicities and identities of Canadian Youth;
have experience within a group, an association or an organisation working on Youth and/or UNESCO-related issues;
are able to express views effectively in both oral and written forms;
are willing to commit time to the activities of the YAG (between 2 to 3 hours a month, variable depending on the projects and activities).
How to Apply Download and complete the application form and return it with a copy of your résumé and a cover letter no later than 5:00 p.m., Monday, January 21st, 2008, to:
Cynthia Lacasse
Programme Officer - Youth
Canadian Commission for UNESCO
350 Albert Street, P.O. Box 1047
Ottawa, Ontario, K1P 5V8
Phone: (613) 566-4414 ext. 4550
Fax: (613) 566-4405
Email: Cynthia.Lacasse@unesco.ca
Make a Climate Friendly New Year's Resolution!
To avoid feeling like you're just returning to the daily grind with a bleak winter stretching ahead, it can be invigorating to set yourself a New Year's Resolution! Many Canadian youth are reflecting on our performance in leading the world to stop climate change, and are resolving to do their best to reduce and then eliminate greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in their own lives, homes, schools, communities and country.
They have encouraged our government at the recent post-Kyoto negotiations in Bali, Indonesia to set firm targets for Canada and the world so that we may succeed in avoiding most of the destruction, misery and cost climate change could cause for our generation and all future ones to come.
You too may want to think of personal actions you can take to reduce your impact such as taking shorter showers, walking instead of getting a ride or eating local, organic, vegetarian food more often.
Meatless Monday: reduce methane and other GHG's associated with the farming, trucking, and refrigeration, feed production, packaging, and processing of animals for food by reducing your meat consumption by at least one day a week.
Trash-free Tuesday: The only thing we need to throw out is the concept of garbage! Many schools that do a waste audit find that over 78% of what they regularly send to the landfill is actually recyclable – just as a Saskatchewan high school found during their waste audit. Reduce methane (a GHG 21 times more potent than CO2) produced from landfills by composting, recycling, reducing, reusing and refusing things that usually end up in the garbage.
Walking Wednesday: reduce CO2 and other GHG's emitted by cars, buses, planes, and trains by using your own two feet and hoofin it! Encourage others to do so by making plans to walk together.
Thoughtful Thursday: research and share ideas and info about climate change such as "carbon neutrality", "peak oil", “sustainable development,” and “true cost economics.” You could post thought-provoking quotes around your school, organize a discussion group, sustainability literacy quiz, or Philosophers cafe after hosting a speaker or showing a film such as the 11th hour, An Inconvenient Truth or The End of Suburbia.
Fair Trade Friday: Try purchasing only items that ensure workers a fair wage, such as certified fair trade, union-made, organic and/or local products. For the more ambitious, you could have a fair trade chocolate fundraiser or play Oxfam’s Global Trade Game in class.
Staggered Shower Saturday: reduce GHGs associated with collecting, treating, transporting, and of course heating water for showers by turning on the water to get wet, turning it off while soaping up, and then turning it back on to rinse. There are other, more climate friendly ways and places to relax, warm up, wake up and sing!
Solar-powered Sunday: all energy we use on the planet comes from the sun, even fossil fuels. It takes millions of years for the sun to produce gas, oil and coal, and only minutes, hours, or weeks to produce energy we can use via wind, sunlight, tides, and even food (think of biodiesel from leftover food!). Turn off the light and open the curtains, use your own physical energy instead of the elevator/car/leaf blower. You can also encourage your family and school to invest in renewable and energy-saving technologies... or just turn down the thermostat and put on a sweater!
Learn and Do More!
In BC, the provincial government has recently legislated targets for all public institutions (such as schools, hospitals, and all levels of government) to become carbon neutral by 2010! That means zero net emissions - a challenging but timely and important goal. Secondary and post-secondary students in B.C. have formed the Campus Climate Network and are challenging everyone to take it one step further.
Check out www.campusclimatenetwork.org to learn how students are currently trying to do more to stop climate change than we are doing to cause it. You can even create your own page on the wiki-based website to share what you are doing at your school to make it more sustainable and climate-friendly.
The Story of Stuff
By the time we make something, sell it, use it, and then throw it away, everything we own and use and share affects other people and communities around the world – but for the most part, we have no idea. The Story of Stuff started as a great book about the dark side of our consumption habits, and the creators have made a brilliant site with video chapters for each stage of an item’s lifecycle. From extraction to distribution to disposal, you are bound to be blown away by the distance we go to get STUFF.
You can watch the video, order the book, and check out their alternative ideas to buying more stuff on the site at www.storyofstuff.com.
Whatcha doin’ this Summer?
Catching the Spirit is an exciting summer program run by youth for youth! Get involved with youth like yourself who want to have fun while exploring and caring for Metro Vancouver Regional Parks in your community. You can be a part of the program either as a Participant or as a Peer Leader…
Being a Participant
It’s your opportunity to learn about parks and our environment, while camping out and helping with projects that improve habitat and enhance our regional parks. You’ll learn about hot topics like sustainability and stewardship, and also develop valuable leadership skills that you want. Plus as a participant in Catching the Spirit your volunteer contribution can go towards earning community service awards and school credit. All this while having a great time outside; and best of all, it’s FREE!
Being a Peer Leader
As a leader, you will help with conservation and preservation projects in the park (like bog restoration and trail work), as well as three-day overnight camping outings and park patrols. You’ll get credits toward career prep and CAPP classes, and as a Peer Leader you may even qualify for a scholarship grant of up to $500!
Programs run in select Metro Vancouver Parks from end of June to end of August.
The Great Declaration
The Great Declaration proclaims the global principles and values written from February to August of 2007, by a group of 26 young people from Quebec. The Declaration is now being spread around the world, from Algeria to Vietnam. It invites each person who signs it to personally commit to concrete action with a view to building a world that is more open and more united. When you sign up, you create your own actions to commit to, as long as you are committed to working towards a more just world.
Join thousands of people from all over the world and sign the Declaration! The Great Declaration will be officially proclaimed on August 12, 2008, on the occasion of the United Nations' International Youth Day.
To sign onto the Great Declaration and to view youth commitments from around the globe, go to their website at:
Of course, on the youth website for the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), there’s tons of information on ecosystem, species and genetic biodiversity. But did you know that they have a newsletter?
Go to the youth section of the CBD website to download their brand new newsletter, “Gincaniño” (inspired from a Portuguese word meaning “working together in the spirit of cooperation”) and find out how your biodiversity initiatives can be shared with youth around the world. They want your submissions too, if you have opinions, insight or views about:
cases of biodiversity protection in your neighbourhood; or
On the rest of the site, you’ll find examples of what youth groups and organizations are doing to get involved in the conservation of biological diversity around the world. And be sure to go to their Taking Action page, with links to Biodiversity Youth Clubs and a guide to being a youth representative at international meetings.
