In five hours time, the next part of my journey begins…

First - to meet with the government negotiators will be at the UN negotiation.

Second - to meet and interview Dr James Hansen, the world’s leading climatologist.

Third - to attend the Environmental Audit Committee to watch Dr Hansen and Tim Helweg-Larsen give evidence.

Then, tomorrow, I head for the train that will take me to the UN negotiations… We’ve been speaking to journalists, doing our final preparations and trying to get some sleep before probably the most intense 17 days of my life!

I won’t be blogging here - as all our blogs, videos, images and podcasts will be at our delegation website - www.ukyd.org - nice and easy to remember :)

It really is actually all happening - I can’t WAIT!!

I love this video. It shows how using universal humour is a fantastic way to bring in messages on climate change. Everyone will understand ’self-assembly furniture always has one piece missing’ and ‘i believe you’ve been looking at your uranus’… finally, climate change can be funny!

Also just the fact that they look directly at you - there isn’t any hiding from them…

I’ve talked a lot about The Green Finger Project and now it is nearly ready to launch!

In two weeks time, at the UN talks on climate change, we will launch mygreenfinger.com where you can upload your own GreenFinger and join the global movement?

Join Us!

(Chill out - watch until the end….)

The UK Youth Delegation Media Team practice their messages…

You’ll know that I’m a sucker for talking about climate change in a different way. Well, these guys have got it SO RIGHT! I can’t tell you how excited about it I am.

I spoke to Francis who set it up last week, and he showed me some really exciting stuff whereby you can see all their organising, tasks to-do and who they are. It feels like you’re part of the group before you’ve even signed up.

Check it out and sign up - they rock!

Here is a video from last year’s UN Climate Change talks, where the Environment Minister Hilary Benn joined young people in an action - and to speak to them.

His speech is little condescending (’You are the future’ - actually, no, We are the present…), but he understands the challenges we face.

In two weeks time, I will be doing something very similar to this:

It is so cool - the Australian Youth Delegation to the UN Climate Talks (in 2.5 week’s time - aargh!), are going to Poland over land. That’s right, all the way from Australia to Poland by boat, train, bus, foot, metro and anything else which doesn’t waste resources like flying. And they get to actually see the world, rather than just flying over it!

They’re blogging about it here, and I just wanted to post something which I really liked written by a certain Jack Fuller.

I wish this climate problem didn’t exist. Its mundane, philistine imperatives suck up our time and our lives. How is it that we care about carbon dioxide? How is it that we came to this point, of caring so much about what powers our lights? Future generations, I hope, will not care about this. The world has much, much more to offer.

I am coming of age during the emergence of a great distraction. Climate change is a distraction, and all the more so because we must pay attention to it. It may take up most of our lives with its damned consequences. We risk seven metre sea-level rises if the West Antarctic or Greenland ice-shelves melt; we risk 200 million refugees in Asia if the Himalayan water supply melts away.

And so my agency, my education, my impatience to assume the world – the longing persuaded in me by my parents and this civilisation, must now be directed towards a climate and energy problem we have known about for far too long. This new imperative to live sustainably must be prioritised, but it is boring. On the other hand, the question “what is a great life?” is perennial, and far more challenging. I await the time we can return to it.

- Jack Fuller, on the train to Malaysia

Hey guys,

I hope you’ll forgive me, but over the next few weeks this blog is going to be a little quieter. I’m massively busy with preparing for the UK Youth Delegation at the UN Climate Change talks in three weeks time (eek!). If you want to help me getting there, click here to go to my fundraising page ;)

We’re also about to launch OurTimeIsNow.org.uk, to bring massive numbers of young people to the Global Day of Action - and I’m hoping you’ll be part of it.

I’ve also got my academic work kicking in now, so I’m going to let this labour of love take a back seat. I’ll still be posting once in a while, but thanks in advance for taking the time for reading over the last few months, and I look forward to taking the next step with you!

Casper

How about this for a ‘morning after’ moment? It ran in the New York Times, Wall Street Journal and Washington Post. It highlights the fact that though the election is over, the fight for clean energy and a stable climate is far from finished.

Like many of you, I stayed up last night until 6am to watch something really special.

For the last two weeks, I’ve been saying (half-jokingly), that if McCain/Palin won, I would give up all my activism and just go live in a big house and go make lots of money. But with the election of this transformational figure, I have hope again.

Obama gets it - he knows how massive the problems we have are. Not just climate change, but an international community divided, a twentieth century economy in turmoil not to mention America’s sick healthcare system.

The President Elect has a plan. He wants a Green Jobs Revolution. He wants to modernise America’s energy supplies by massively developing renewables. He wants to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 80% by 2050.

This guy means business, let’s hope that in those important first 100 days of his Presidency, he gets America on the right track.

On Wednesday, Oct. 29, Al Gore called upon youth around the United States to help repower America this November. It’s great stuff!

I’m thinking maybe we could do the same next year… who shall we ask?

Another Bond theme today, (in Quantum of Solace, the evil Mr Greene is blocking scarce water resources), as Achim Steiner, executive director of the UN Environment Programme, warns that water mismanagement will leave entire regions “economic deserts,” unfit for agriculture or human settlement.

“Unchecked climate change will mean that some parts of the world will simply not have enough water to sustain settlements, both small and large, because agriculture becomes untenable and industries relying on water can no longer compete or function effectively. This will trigger structural changes in economies right through to the displacement of people as environmental refugees.”

Thankfully, we have 82 year old women like this, who won’t let that happen!