June

With regional meetings all morning, I took the opportunity to catch up on work - monitoring the media. With no luck on the international front I resorted to rather basic monitoring methods in the local newsagent, scanning every German paper in sight. The paper that had promised to cover the event seemed to feature exclusively scantily clad women and I secretly hoped that we’d been left out.

The Young FoEE delegation left the hostel around 11am to head towards the park near the Maritim hotel, where 350.org were organising a huge aerial picture, followed by a march to the doors of the Maritim where speakers, including two members of the Young FoEE policy action group, would talk about climate justice. It promised to be an exciting day spent outside along with hundreds of fellow activists and campaigners. The only downside – it was pouring with rain.

We arrived at the site for the aerial picture and were kitted out with Green hard hats (symbolising the potential for greening the economy) and white jumpsuits that were thankfully waterproof, as it became clear on arrival that we would be spending at least 45 minutes laying in the rain. The atmosphere was nevertheless one of excitement, this time like a festival with the fun.

The exact number required to pull off the human banner turned up, 450 people would form a giant exclamation mark, with the words “Yes you can” and “tck tck tck”. German camera crews arrived, and numerous other press, and the choreographer began preparing the human banner on the ground.
After 45 minutes laying on the wet grass in the rain, thoroughly soaked, we finally got the shot that was needed, which would be spread across the web and inside the conference in the eco – the NGO newsletter.  

• Watch the video here
  

An inspiring and motivating message to the participants in Bonn that the clock is tck tck tck-ing, and that we only have 6 months left to deliver a strong and just climate deal in Copenhagen.

In the article he talks about his introduction to human and environmental rights in the 1980's and how his goal since then has been to help strengthen and mobilize local communities to fight for their own interests. 

Nnimmo also mentions the dangers he's encountered as an activist and how he has used music and poetry to cope with his own struggles and to empower others.

• Read the full interview here

• Find out more about Environmental Rights Action

As the discussions continued in the Maritim hotel, Young foe-ers prepared for the following four days, with morning briefings going deeper into the FoEI position and the background and history of the UNFCCC.

Using “action preparation” as a very poor excuse to get out of these discussions my colleague and I jumped on a bus into central Bonn in search of chalk, paint, paper, fabric and general school materials. You ask why? All will become clear on Friday.

The afternoon saw the Young FoEE group split into three working groups: Action, Media and Policy, followed by three hours of discussion and training.

By the end, in short, the Action group came up with some wonderful ideas and concepts for actions throughout the week, with a teaser for the Flood in Copenhagen (FoEI's large mobilisation at the UN climate talks this December) on Thursday, the main action on Friday (more to be revealed), and further ‘fairytale’ actions/interventions on Saturday.

The Media group tried to define their role so as to best assist both the Action and Policy groups, to get the Young FoEE and FoEI positions across, and to get the most amount of media-coverage possible, while discussing the possibilities and potential for new-media.

And finally, from what I could observe, the Policy group got incredibly frustrated, and stuck in a quagmire of acronyms and detailed technical discussion.

Back in central Bonn, the REDD side event: “REDD traps: can we avoid them?” with the Global Forest Coalition, asked if it is possible to develop REDD policies that respect indigenous peoples’ rights, conserve and restore biodiversity, and do not undermine the climate regime.

• Find out more about Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation in Developing Countries (REDD)
  

Tomorrow brings the Young FoEE-ers first trip to the conference centre, accreditation, the small task of preparing and implementing the Flood teaser action, a small amount of press work, and an introduction to Climate Justice from the Climate Justice Now!

Lots to do.

Arriving Tuesday afternoon in glorious weather, weighed down by sacks of wellington boots, flyers and other materials, not to mention our tents, we were greeted by fellow Young FoEE-ers in the garden outside our hostel.

We would not be entering the Maritim Hotel, the centre of the talks, until Thursday, and looked forward to two full days of training and action preparation.

We had no first-hand idea of how the talks were going yet, but the general feeling was one of optimism, although, this would soon be challenged.

The Young FoEE activities got off to a great start. The first afternoon was spent with introductions and to each other and the whole UN climate talks process known as UNFCCC.

After a brief overview of the week’s activities, the evening brought an unexpected surprise when members of the Friends of the Earth International (FoEI) delegation arrived for an evening workshop. What was meant to be an informal chat about the FoEI stance on the talks turned into very intense and motivating discussions.

Initially the FoEI delegation looked incredibly exhausted and frustrated by the UNFCCC processes, and said as much, giving all the Young foe-ers a bit of a reality check . But, the pessimism was soon swept aside by a motivating and passionate talk from Asad Rehman, Senior Campaigner for Friends of the Earth England, Wales and Northern Ireland.

The core message of the talk was that the frustrating UNFCCC process should not be demotivating, but in fact the complete opposite: it should be motivation for action action action. This got us all very excited.  Talks continued until around midnight, and it became clear that there was a huge gap waiting to be filled by the Young FoEE activists in Bonn: an action-sized gap right outside the Maritim hotel. Plans are indeed afoot...

• More pictures of Young Friends of the Earth Europe in Bonn can be viewed here
• Follow their Twitter updates and more here