The Washington Post reports that a delegation of Washington area students and a diamondback terrapin named Happy took part (via videoconferencing) in Thursday’s United Nations Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen to help advance a solution for curbing carbon emissions.
Dressed in crisp white shirts and ties, seven students from Paul Public Charter School in the Northwest Washington and four girls from Clermont Elementary School in Fairfax County’s Alexandria section faced a camera at the U.S. Forest Service Building in the District and made a live presentation about the harmful effects of greenhouse-gas emissions and rising temperatures.
“Climate change … affects every living thing in every part of the world,” said Sophie Meyer, a Clermont fifth-grader. BoardBuzz couldn’t say it any better. More than 1,000 young people from many countries are among the participants at the conference who want to influence future climate policies. “You really have a lot of power,” said Danielle Ostafinski, a senior at Grand Valley State University who is representing Michigan as part of a delegation funded by the Will Steger Foundation. Many of these young delegates stood outside the Copenhagen conference center wearing shirts that say, “How old will you be in 2050?” “The message we wanted to send was, ‘Do not leave youth out in the cold,’ ” said Ostafinski. “It’s our future on the line.”
BoardBuzz agrees. Regardless of your own thoughts on climate change, climate and energy policy should be a global priority. In 2050 there will be nine billion of us, most in countries we currently refer to as developing countries. All these people will naturally be looking for the energy-consuming luxuries we enjoy today in our part of the world. The winners of the future will be the countries which improve energy efficiency, expand renewable energy production, and protect their environment. Our students get it. We hope the U.N. delegates do too.
