Will Steger, the most accomplished and skilled polar explorer alive today, led Expedition Copenhagen and included me as a delegate to provide support and mentorship to 12 carefully chosen young leaders seeking to help tell the story of Copenhagen in the Midwest. I have known Will well now for 5 years, but during 10 days in Copenhagen, we really formed a close bond. He says I am a "good sleeper."
What an honor it was to be invited to participate in Expedition Copenhagen of the Will Steger Foundation! In 10 days, often running 18 hours--even 21 on occasion--I had the chance of a lifetime to join the convergence of humanity that was Copenhagen. While the negotiators, the heads of state will get 90% of the press, for me the real story of Copenhagen was the coming together of youth, who built cross cultural networks, soberly asking the negotiators in a sea of orange T-shirts, "How Old Will YOU be in 2050?" Our team of youth delegates was a diverse and wicked-smart bunch who came from 7 states across the Midwest--MI, WI, MN, IA, IL, ND and SD.
Midwest state and local government elected officials are among the thousands who have converged on Copenhagen, Denmark to urge the leaders of 192 nations to come together to tackle climate change. Governor Jim Doyle of Wisconsin is the highest ranking midwestern elected official with a public role here, giving a key address. "Why would someone fight to maintain an energy system that basically imports all of our fuels (from outside of Wisconsin)?" Doyle asked. He intends to meet with the largest American manufacturer of wind turbines, General Electric and the largest Danish maker of wind turbines while in Copenhagen.
When I got out of bed on Sunday morning, I could not believe the news coverage of the 100,000 person demonstration on the streets of Copenhagen. I was angry. The BBC story lead story was about arrests and violence, none of which I saw from noon to 6PM while walking 6 kilometers with an enormous crowd of people from all over the world. By 9:30AM Sunday, the Associated Press reported that Danish police say only 13 of 968 people detained during Saturday's protests remained in custody.
Aurora Conley, an Ojibway woman from Bad River Indian Reservation near Ashland, WI is a Will Steger Foundation youth delegate who led the march along with indigenous peoples from all over the world. She might even be asked to address the plenary session on behalf of the world's indigenous people on the conference's final day. I am working here in Copenhagen to support Aurora and 11 other amazing emerging leaders that Will Steger has assembled to put pressure on U.S. negotiators at the summit. Please take five minutes to watch this beautiful video of Saturday's Copenhagen march posted by The Uptake, and hear Aurora's message that should be taken to heart by the negotiators inside the Bella Center: "We're moving now!"
Last Friday morning, I stepped off the plane in Copenhagen for the 15th Conference of the Parties to the Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP15). My role at the Copenhagen climate conference is as a policy mentor and coach to 12 youth delegates from 7 Midwest states. They make up Expedition Copenhagen, traveling with polar explorer and global warming eyewitness Will Steger. I had reviewed all the negotiating positions of individual countries like my own, China, Japan, Canada--and important blocks of countries, the European Union, the Alliance of Small States, the G-77 developing nations. I felt prepared to track the formal negotiations of the conference. What I was unprepared for was the remarkable intensity and focus of the youth delegates I would meet that night.
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