Expedition Copenhagen Delegate Blogs

December 12, 2009
By: Reed Aronow - COP16 Delegate

COP 15: Week One Comes To a Close

The Expedition Copenhagen team has been making tracks this week, organizing amazing actions and meeting people who can influence our climate future. Earlier this week, I met Rajenda Pachauri, chairman of the IPCC, and sat in on sessions with Secretary of Interior Ken Salazar and Secretary of Commerce Gary Locke, joined by fellow youth asking challenging questions.

The youth are making sure that our voices are heard, echoing throughout Copenhagen and around the world. This past week, I have met informally with country representatives from Swaziland and Niger, I have taken part in creative events, and have helped spread the youth call for a strong, equitable, and legally binding treaty across the world.

Yesterday, five of the Expedition members travelled to the USA Center inside the conference, where we united with NOAA, the EPA, and the US Forest Service to do an interactive video q & a with middle school and elementary school students back in Washington D.C. Their knowledge of climate change was impressive, and they were concerned about how it would effect wildlife such as happy the diamondback turtle. The kids were cute, making sure that the negotiators knew that they were counting on them to keep animals like happy from being wiped out by climate change.