Young seek ‘seat at table’ at Glasgow climate talks
Leaders say activists have been invigorating
GLASGOW, Scotland – The generation of young people who will inherit a warmer future is telling the generation that caused carbon pollution to clean up its mess.
But they fear that message isn’t getting through. “It’s our future. Our future is being negotiated, and we don’t have a seat at the table,” said Boston College student Julia Horchos, 20.
Young people are attending the talks in Glasgow, Scotland, in unprecedented numbers, and world leaders have credited their activism with reinvigorating negotiations aimed at avoiding catastrophic climate change.
But even among those who are inside the venue, nearly all are observers, like Horchos – kept outside the rooms where the real decisions are being made.
“I’m urging all leaders and decision makers to listen to the calls that are coming from young people, reflect that in the ... negotiations and, of course, in the action taken domestically by individual governments,” said Alok Sharma, the British official chairing the talks.
Yet on a day dedicated to youth involvement, the midday highlights Friday were a speech by former U.S. Vice President Al Gore, 73, and a news conference by John Kerry, 77, the U.S. climate envoy.
Outside, tens of thousands of people, most under 30, made clear they fear being seen, and even celebrated, but not heard.
In her several days of going to sessions, Horchos said only one had time for members of the audience like her to talk, and that was a special youth event. Diana Bunge, 21, also from Boston College, got to hear from three CEOS of multinational corporations, and Horchos met Kerry, but they didn’t get to make their case for their future.
“When I arrived at COP26, I could only see white middle-aged men in suits,” said Magali Cho Lin Wing, 17, a member of the UNICEF UK Youth Advisory Board. “And I thought, ‘Hold on, is this a climate conference or some corporate event? Is this what you came for? To swap business cards?’ ”
Still, they know it’s important to be at least near the room where it all happens.
“It’s my life,” Horchos said. “It’s definitely my responsibility to step up.”
Outside the negotiations, the worry was the same, but the way it was expressed was different.
In Glasgow’s Kelvingrove Park, mostly young activists carried banners with slogans such as, “I have to clear up my mess, why don’t you clear up yours?” and “Stop climate crimes.”
The Fridays For Future protest was part of a series of demonstrations being staged around the world Friday and Saturday, to coincide with the talks in Scotland.
Some at the rally accused negotiators of “greenwashing” their country’s failure to curb greenhouse gas emissions by trumpeting policies that sound good but won’t do enough to prevent dangerous temperature rises in coming decades.
“We are here as civil society to send them a message that ‘enough is enough,’ ” said Valentina Ruas, 18, a student from Brazil.