December 10th Part 2

Hello Everyone,

As for the evening of this remarkable day, I went to the "China-US Youth Workshop: OUr Shared Future" at the University of Copenhagen. It was a workshop for U.S. and Chinese youth to come together for an unprecedented meeting to discuss their individual journeys to the Copenhagen climate talks, create new relationships that transcend language and cultural differences, and pioneer a new generation of US-Chinese diplomacy built on shared trust and ambition. There were 50 Chinese and 50 American youth who attended the event. It was organized and put together by Holly Chang, co-organizer of the China delegation and CEO of Golden Bridges. The purpose was to illustrate that this is the relationship of 'our time' in respect to these two countries, and it is that partnership that needs to be cemented in order for our world to thrive. Furthermore, climate change is a problem that's will be shared between our two countries for decades, and this event was an opportunity to break down a lot of the cultural barriers that can hinder progress in negotiations.

The following is the schedule of the evening with some commentary:

Part 1 '你好 and Hello'

There was four presenters (two Chinese, two Americans) who discussed their own personal "roads to Copenhagen."

We breakout into small groups and discussed our own "roads to Copenhagen" focusing on the following questions

1. What has been your 'road to Copenhagen' looked like?
2. What has been the defining moment for you in your life that caused you to be involved in climate?
3. What do you think has changed (in you) now that you've been in COP and how do you think this will impact you when you return home?
4. What's been the hardest thing that you've had to overcome to be where you are today?

I was in a group of 5 people. I recall two specific Chinese youth and their specific reasons for coming. One was a graduate student from Beijing. When she was an undergraduate as an English Literature major, she did her final project on energy demand comparing China to the US. As she learned more about this issue, she was prompted to get involved in this NGO, China Youth Climate Action Network. Another student, Lina, talked about her experience with 'Students on Ice' - an educational expeditions to Antarctica and the Arctic. Through a very competitive program, she was one of the few selected and highlighted her trip to us. The most significant things she point out was that it gave her an appreciation for nature, that the world is not just about human. It appeared that appearance gave her a very unique hands-on understanding and appreciation of the situation.

Part 2 - "Our Shared Future and Climate Strategy"

We had two intro speakers - "Where We Are in China and the US politically and how the youth movement is involved"

We breakout into small groups again and discussed the youth movements, policies, and collaboration

1. What are the obstacles and opportunities for China and the US moving forward?
2. Are people really engaged on climate change in your society?
3. What do you consider "real" solutions to the climate crisis? CCS? Nuclear? Hydro?
4. If you were Hu Jintao/Barack Obama how would you approach the US/China in the negotiations in order to have a sustainable future and prosperous country?

This was certainly a very interesting part of the whole talk. Since I writing my remarks for this evening several days after the event took place, I have a little difficulty giving concrete examples. I can recall that the topic of education was a universally agreed very important. One of the Chinese youth who had been doing a study abroad in the US said that there is a very negative connotation especially on environment protection in China. Yet, China has taken many initiatives with high fuel standards for cars (higher than those in the U.S under C.A.F.E) and wind power as examples. There needs to be understanding about what the efforts the countries are putting forth and work in cooperation rather than the usual 'blame game.' In terms of society engagement, we first addressed the US. I said it depends on the region, sometimes down to the city or town. I gave a short example. I said Seattle, WA is a very environmentally conscious city compared to the rest of the US. We are known as the Evergreen State. However, I met a business women on a flight from Kansas City who had never heard and knew much about climate change and was frankly uninterested. The same parallel was drawn to China. Those in the largest cities and university students usually had a higher awareness about climate change than those in western China (the rural/undeveloped part of the country). I am only giving a little bit of important to a much wider conversation so if you would like to hear more, please feel free send me a post or we can arrange to meet when I back in Seattle. The dialogue was nothing less than an eye opening experience. I am actually in contact with Holly because the entire session was filmed and I am trying to see if I could get a copy of it to bring back home.