The Participants What has been interesting about the conference has been both the age of the participants and also where they've come from. Many of them are high-school students from interstate. The ones I met and spoke too seemed well informed and incredibly active in their local communities. Take Emily Pritchard for instance 17, from Melbourne and a member of Change & Switch; an organisation that had sponsored her to come up to Sydney after her involvement in the Model United Nations.
She wasn't your typical activist; she wasn't interested in non-violent direct actions and civil disobedience saying she was more impressed by spreading the message through the Youth Decides campaign (which will be discussed later). Hasindu Saranguhewagetb, 16, was similarly impressed by the idea, both of them saying they would both be taking it back to their schools.
The Politicians
On the first day, the only politician in sight was NSW Premier Nathan Rees, who made the point that all his advisors had told him not to come to the conference. Probably for good reason; his policies to address climate change have been woeful, and as his advisors expected, the crowd was hostile to him from the first moment.
When hecklers started asking questions about the coal industry he simply spoke as if not hearing them. He was fairly unimpressive, but the crowd's reaction was. When he finished his lackluster speech the crowd all stood up, donned green hard hats and shouted NO NEW COAL, RENEWABLE ENERGY NOW. Needless to say, he scampered pretty quickly.
The second day was one where politicians and climate change heavy-weights were much more at the fore; there was South Australian Premier Mike Rann who received a warm reception and wild applause when his government's climate change policies were told to the audience. Yet, when members of the crowd who had turned their backs on him for his government's uranium policy, heckled him, the crowd was definitely in favour of Mr. Rann. It turned nasty when one of the conference goers took it upon himself to eject the hecklers, and shove him around a bit in the process.
And then it turned even nastier, when a Maralinga Woman stood up and started heckling Mr. Rann about nuclear testing done by the British in the 1950s in South Australia. Again, what was interesting was how to crowd was so much in favour of the speaker. As Resistance member and heckler Zane Alcorn told me, it was sad to see how the crowd was so much in favour of listening to the man in the suit rather than the man asking the questions.
A little bit counter-intuitive and not really progressive.
Then there was independent Senator Nick Xenephon, who, like Rann also received loud applause for his climate change work. Finally there was Senator Christine Milne from the Greens, definitely a crowd favourite and for good reason, she spoke eloquently about the problems that we're facing and made it obvious that she would never tire from the fight.
The Policies and the Controveries
Like the Unions or any political party, the conference (and the climate change movement in general) suffered from too many divergent opinions as to how the problem should be tackled.
The most fractured of the discussions was on the CPRS, (the Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme). Senator Christine Milne and Senator Nick Xenephon were clearly opposed to it, arguing it didn't go far enough to address the problems, and that the targets were measly, compared to what was needed. Tim Flannery on the other hand argued that the CPRS should be passed and that:
‘We need to take a first step and we need to take it in advance of the Copenhagen Meeting so we can go there with at least some credibility'
Copenhagen was also another sticking point. At the press conference, Flannery, the chairman of the Copenhagen Climate Conference was strangely doubtful about what Copenhagen could achieve. Echoing Rudd, he kept saying that he was beyond optimism and pessimism and that it was only ‘determination' that could get a meaningful and effective agreement. He then went on to say, that if Copenhagen isn't effective then we (the youth), should have a ‘winning strategy' on hand to push the movement forward.
What or in what form that should be, was never elaborated upon.
The Next Election and the Youth Decides Campaign
What was an interesting point mentioned by Professor Flannery, Senator Milne and Senator Xenephon was the way in which the next election (or a double disillusionment- fingers crossed) could ultimately dictate how climate change effects this country and the world in general. Flannery said that:
‘We have to see emissions peaking in the developed world in the next 5 years'
This means that the governments that are elected in the next few years will be the one's that write the policies that matter. Christine Milne then went onto to say that in Australia, it will be the balance of power in the Senate that will make a major difference. At the moment it's shared between the Greens, Climate-change skeptic Senator Steve Fielding and indendent, Senator Xenephon. Milne argued that:
‘We [the Greens] are going to be working hard to get the balance of power in our own right'
The Youth Decides Campaign was another point of interest. Run through World Vision, (although curiously not on their web-site, or on the web anywhere), the campaign moves to create a referendum that young people can log on to and show their support for the Climate Change movement.
Inspiration from the individual
In light of all this, what has been the most inspirational aspect of the conference has been the (slightly older) and more experienced activists. The activists like Louise Morris, campaigner for Friends of the Earth who has worked for over a decade to protect forests, and has recently moved on to tackle the coal industry in Victoria. Or there is Steve Phillips the founder of Newcastle based climate change action group Rising Tides, which is attempting to curb the expansion and eventually the use of coal for power in Australia. Or there is Anna Rose, the Co-Director of the AYCC, and Co-Director of Power Shift. All three (and many many more) seem absolutely tireless in their pursuits. That tireless dedication made it even more macabre when in the workshop on the Story of Coal both Louise Morris and Steve Phillips found it so difficult to come up with success stories from their activism.
What that led me to realise is that these are the people, regardless of whether anyone is with them, or if it's in fashion, they will fight. And that they have and they will always dedicate their lives for the protection of the environment. Something that we can't underestimate or take for granted.