The UNEP Magazine for Youth

for young people · by young people · about young people

The road to COPENHAGEN

Clear and
present danger
President Mohamed Nasheed

Clean revolution

Loud and clear

Seal the deal!

Concerted effort

Last resorts
TUNZA
the UNEP magazine
for youth. To view current
and past issues of this
CONTENTS
publication online,
please visit www.unep.org
Editorial 3
United Nations Environment
Programme (UNEP) A warming world – for real 4
PO Box 30552, Nairobi, Kenya
Tel (254 20) 7621 234
Fax (254 20) 7623 927 Seal the deal! 5
Telex 22068 UNEP KE
E-mail uneppub@unep.org Clear and present danger 6
www.unep.org
ISSN 1727-8902 Concerted effort 8
Director of Publication Satinder Bindra
Editor Geoffrey Lean What can wedge analysis do for us? 8
Special Contributor Wondwosen Asnake
Youth Editors Karen Eng, Joseph Lacey Facing extinction 10
Nairobi Coordinator Naomi Poulton
Head, UNEP’s Children and Youth Unit
Theodore Oben Loud and clear 12
Circulation Manager Manyahleshal Kebede
Design Edward Cooper, Ecuador TUNZA answers your questions 14
Production Banson
Front cover photo Robert vanWaarden
Plastiki 15
Youth Contributors Devin Aviugana, Canada;
Veni Sevia Febrianti, Indonesia; Kyle Gracey,
United States of America; Ruchi Jain, India; Whit Beyond learning 16
Jones, United States of America; Ely Katembo,
Democratic Republic of the Congo; Anna Keenan, REDD for go! 16
Australia; Simon Sizwe Mayson, South Africa;
Martin Metz, United States of America; Wendy
Miller, Australia; Desideria Murti, Indonesia; All change 17
Gerard Penecilla, Philippines; Michael Plesner,
Denmark; Alexander Readford, Australia; Dan Clean revolution 18
Scott, New Zealand; Sho Scott, Japan; Juan
Carlos Soriano, Peru; Gemma Tillack, Australia;
Jake Voelcker, United Kingdom. Last resorts 20
Other Contributors Franny Armstrong; Jane
Bowbrick; Mark Lynas; William Malpass, Bayer; Six degrees 22
Mohamed Nasheed; Fred Pearce; Radiohead;
Rosey Simonds and David Woollcombe, Peace
Child International.
Printed in the United Kingdom
The contents of this magazine do not necessarily
reflect the views or policies of UNEP or the editors,
nor are they an official record. The designations
employed and the presentation do not imply the
expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part
of UNEP concerning the legal status of any country,
territory or city or its authority, or concerning the
delimitation of its frontiers or boundaries.
UNEP and Bayer, the German-based around the world and develop new
international enterprise involved youth programmes. Projects include:
in health care, crop science and TUNZA Magazine, the International
materials science, are working Children’s Painting Competition on
together to strengthen young people’s the Environment, the Bayer Young
environmental awareness and engage Environmental Envoy in Partnership
UNEP promotes children and youth in environmental with UNEP, the UNEP Tunza
environmentally sound practices issues worldwide. International Youth/Children’s
globally and in its own activities. This Conference, youth environmental
magazine is printed on 100% recycled paper, The partnership agreement, renewed networks in Africa, Asia Pacific,
using vegetable-based inks and other eco- to run through 2010, lays down a Europe, Latin America, North America
friendly practices. Our distribution policy aims basis for UNEP and Bayer to enlarge and West Asia, the Asia-Pacific Eco-
to reduce UNEP’s carbon footprint. their longstanding collaboration to Minds forum, and a photo competition,
bring successful initiatives to countries ‘Ecology in Focus’, in Eastern Europe.

2 TUNZA Vol 7 No 2
Just EDITORIAL
say
no!
We all agree that recycling is a good thing. But while
transforming, say, a newspaper into an egg carton saves
Seal
the
deal!

on pollution, landfill and raw materials – not to mention

carbon emissions – recycling processes still gobble up
precious resources like energy and water. And no matter
how diligently we recycle, it’s still just a dent in the mountain
of waste we’re constantly generating.

The concept of precycling helps tackle the problem of over-

consumption before it begins, avoiding the need to recycle
J ust three short months are left of what may well
prove to be the most important year in history,
culminating in what is probably the most crucial
international meeting to date. For the Copenhagen
in the first place. Precycling means stopping to think, before Climate Change Conference, which takes place in
you buy: Do I really need this item? What effect did/will its December, and the negotiations that are preceding it all
production have on Earth? What do I already have that might year, will decide the future both of humanity and of the
be altered? And so on. Eventually, if enough people stop planet itself. Reaching an ambitious and comprehensive
buying stuff, other people will have no incentive to make it. agreement there on reducing global emissions of carbon
dioxide (CO2) and other greenhouse gases may well be
Here are a few ideas to start with: the last chance that the world has of avoiding not just
dangerous, but catastrophic, climate change.
• Try to buy products with minimal packaging, and opt for
recyclable packaging – paper and glass rather than plastic, The world financial crisis has made reaching agreement
for example. Let manufacturers and shops know you prefer harder, as national leaders think of their economies first.
less packaging. But in fact it should make it easier, for the answers to the
financial and climate crises – and to the energy crisis fast
• Carry reusable shopping bags and smaller cloth bags for coming up behind them – lie in the same direction. Clean
weighing produce. technology, and particularly renewable energy, offers the
most promising prospect for producing a sustainable
• Try mending or buying second-hand items before and growing world economy. It already constitutes a $4.5
purchasing a new product. If you must buy new, go for high trillion market, while last year investments in renewable
quality, so that it lasts longer. energy for the first time exceeded those in fossil fuels
and nuclear power worldwide. Green technologies are
• Rent or lease products, especially appliances and elec- also labour-intensive, providing plenty of good employ-
tronics, rather than buying them. Research has shown that ment, much more than is offered by more traditional
when responsibility for products ends with the manufacturers, technologies. The International Labour Organisation says
they have an incentive to make them more sustainable. that projected investments in renewable energy alone
could create another 20 million jobs by 2030, with another
• Carry a kit with utensils, cloth napkins, and a drinks bottle 12 million arising from producing biomass for energy and
and/or cup when going out to avoid producing waste when related industries.
eating out.
For the last year UNEP has been calling for a Global
• A borrower be: pool some tools, toys or books with your Green New Deal, where stimulus packages are targeted at
neighbours and start a community lending library. providing jobs and sustainable growth through greening
the world economy. Some countries, most notably the
• Buy food in large sizes or in bulk to decant into smaller Republic of Korea, have wholeheartedly embraced the
reusable containers as needed. This saves on individual concept and others have devoted varying proportions of
packaging and money. their recovery packages to it. But much more needs to
be done, and a strong enough agreement in Copenhagen
• Grow your own vegetables and herbs. could itself provide an enormous stimulus by pointing
countries and economies towards a new, low-carbon
Need inspiration? Watch the 20-minute animated film The future. Governments must ‘seal the deal’ on climate in
Story of Stuff (www.storyofstuff.com), a look at the realities December, and then move on to building a prosperous
of the production, consumption and waste cycle. green future.

The road to Copenhagen 3

 A warming world for real

Banson Alex Webb/Magnum Photos

L
ast year was one of the 10 warmest worldwide since how long the ice would last before it all melted in summer,
modern records began more than 150 years ago. The he would have said 2070 or 2100. Now he estimates that the
Arctic sea ice shrank to its second lowest extent on Arctic will be ice-free in September as early as 2030, and
record, only just failing to beat the previous year. some expects reckon it could happen by 2013.

South America suffered its worst weather disaster of recent It was 2007 that changed his mind. That year the ice cap
times, with flooding affecting 1.5 million people in Brazil. abruptly shrank 25 per cent more than its previous record
Heavy rains drove some 10 million people in India from low, taking it down to levels that had not been expected to
their homes. The United States was hit by Hurricane Ike, its occur before 2050. And, as we have seen, last year was not
third most destructive one after Katrina in 2005 and Andrew much better.
in 1992. And Cyclone Nargis, which devastated Myanmar,
was the worst to hit Asia for 17 years. The Greenland ice sheet is also melting much faster than
expected as its glaciers have started racing towards the sea.
By contrast, Argentina, Chile, Paraguay, Portugal and So are mountain glaciers worldwide – their average rate of
Uruguay all experienced their worst droughts in decades. melting and thinning doubled in just two years between 2004
And Australia has now been gripped by one for an un- and 2006. The ice shelves that border the Antarctic Peninsular
precedented 12 years. are rapidly disappearing, and the massive ice sheets that
cover the ‘frozen continent’ are also beginning to melt. Partly
In other words, it was a pretty normal year in what is now as a result of all this, the world’s seas are now rising twice as
a rapidly warming world. We are already getting more of fast as they did, on average, during the 20th century.
the same this year, and can expect it next year and for all
the years thereafter, as climate change brings more storms, And disturbing changes are beginning to take place in the
droughts and floods and changes the face of the Earth. hottest parts of the world as well as in the coldest ones. The
tropics, for example, are expanding, having widened by
It is all happening faster than anyone expected. Take that sea about 220 kilometres since 1970. This is threatening to drive
ice, for example. Professor Mark Serreze of the US National deserts into fertile ground in more temperate areas. There are
Snow and Ice Data Center – one of the world’s leading signs, for example, that the northern edge of the Sahara may
authorities – says that if you had asked him just two years ago leap across the Mediterranean into southern Europe.

4 TUNZA Vol 7 No 2
 SEAL THE DEAL!
THERE’S NO TIME TO WASTE
Planet Earth needs our attention

9
c e 200
r en
C onfe
nge
ima
te C
h a
G E N
H A
Cl
UN
E N A L !
O P D E
C TH E Plan
et

E A L otec
t the
S G row
th , Pr
ree n
er G
Pow
Banson
Stuart Franklin/Magnum Photos

CLIMATE CHANGE AFFECTS US ALL. Rising temperatures

and more frequent floods, droughts and storms are im-
pacting millions of people’s lives. Nine out of every ten
such disasters are now related to global warming. Those
are scary facts.

On 7 December 2009, world leaders will gather in

Copenhagen, Denmark, to respond to one of the greatest
challenges facing humanity: climate change and sus-
All this is happening after comparatively modest increases tainable economic growth. But how to protect the planet
in temperature from global warming. So far these have only and create a green economy that will lead to long-term
risen by about 0.7ºC. But we are already committed to much prosperity?
more warming because the greenhouse gases that we have
already released require decades to take full effect. In fact, our The negotiations in Copenhagen must answer this
past emissions have already committed us to another 0.5ºC question. Our existence depends on it.
of warming, even if we stopped all emissions of greenhouse
gases tomorrow. That, some experts believe, would be enough Reaching a deal by the time the meeting ends on 18
to bring severe drought to the US grain belt, which helps feed December will depend not only on political negotiations
more than 100 countries around the world. but also on public pressure from around the globe. Public
support must be galvanized.
Indeed, Britain’s prestigious Hadley Centre for Climate
Prediction and Research has forecast that drought will spread The UN-led Seal the Deal campaign aims to motivate pol-
across half the Earth during the 21st century, with extreme itical will and public support for a comprehensive global
drought affecting a third of the planet, and agriculture be- climate agreement in Copenhagen in December.
coming impossible in many currently productive areas.
YOU can join the Seal the Deal campaign. Sign an online,
Of course, an immediate halt in emissions is impossible, global petition which will be presented to world leaders,
and so temperatures are bound to go on rising, bringing reminding them that they MUST negotiate a fair, balanced
us perilously close to the 2ºC that scientists estimate is the and effective agreement in Copenhagen, and that they must
absolute maximum that should be permitted if the world is seal a deal to power green growth, protect our planet and
to have a fighting chance of avoiding catastrophic climate build a more sustainable, prosperous global economy for
change (for projections of the possible consequences of each the benefit all nations and all people.
degree of temperature rise see pages 22-23).

Whether the world succeeds in limiting the increase to this Find out more and make YOUR voice heard at
crucial maximum will largely depend on the outcome of
vital negotiations in Copenhagen in December 2009. www.sealthedeal2009.org
The road to Copenhagen 5
 Clear and present danger
The Maldives emits so little CO2 that it rounds down to ‘0 per cent’ of the world’s total, but this low-lying archipelago of
1,190 coral islands is among the world’s nations most vulnerable to global warming: it would become uninhabitable if sea
levels rose by less than a single metre. Faced with such an impending crisis, many would start looking for somewhere
to run.

MALDIVES PRESIDENT MOHAMED NASHEED – who, at 42, is one of the world’s youngest leaders – is not just standing
his ground, but challenging nations around the world by pledging to make his country carbon neutral by 2019.

The Maldives is not the first country to announce such an ambition: Costa Rica, Iceland, Monaco, New Zealand, Niue and
Norway also have plans. But, if successful, it will be the first to achieve it. Its strategy requires a combination of 155
1.5-megawatt wind turbines, half a square kilometre of solar panels and a biomass plant that will burn coconut husks.
Extra power will be stored in batteries for back-up. This renewable electricity will also power all the islands’ vehicles,
including watercraft, while the nation aims to offset emissions from aviation by purchasing European Union emissions
trading certificates and destroying them. It will cost the Maldives $110 million a year to implement its plan, but the island
nation will start recouping its investment within 10 years.
Reinhard Dirscherl/WaterFrame/Still Pictures

Ullsteinbild/Topfoto
You’ve had positive reactions to your place in the Maldives. These sorts of but a clear and present danger to our
announcement worldwide. How have events are important because only existence.
people back home received the news? with the help of local people can Maldivians have lived in the
the country make a success of its Maldives for thousands of years. And
President Nasheed: Since announc- environmental policies. we don’t want to trade in paradise for
ing the carbon neutrality goal a an environmental refugee camp. For
little over two months ago, the Why does the Maldives want to be these reasons, we are investing money
Maldives has witnessed something the world’s first country to go carbon in improving the sea defences around
of an environmental enlightenment. neutral when the islands will be our islands – building water breakers,
Maldivians are discussing and debat- among the first to be affected by sea- sea walls and revetments as well as
ing the environment far more than they level rise? Why aren’t you devoting ensuring we protect our coral reefs
used to. The media features environ- your efforts toward adaptation or as best we can. Last year, the Govern-
mental stories more regularly than evacuation instead? ment warned that future generations
before and civil society groups are rais- of Maldivians may have to seek a new
ing awareness about the importance President Nasheed: The average height homeland if nothing is done to stop
of protecting the environment. of the Maldives is a mere 1.5 metres the carbon pollution that is driving
For World Environment Day on 5 above sea level. And so we are very global warming.
June, the Maldives held a children’s vulnerable to climate change and It is not too late to save the Maldives.
festival in which children could voice rising sea levels. Scientists warn that If the world wakes up to the climate
their concerns over the environment. sea levels could rise by a metre this crisis and makes a real commitment
This is just one example of the many century. For the Maldives, climate to combating carbon emissions, the
public activities that are now taking change is no vague or distant irritation, Maldives can enjoy a future in the

6 TUNZA Vol 7 No 2
22nd century. Nations must agree to I hope the Maldives’ carbon-neutral these permits, this means that European
a tough, binding agreement drastically example will help persuade other polluters, such as factories and cement
to cut greenhouse gas emissions at the countries to follow suit. By successfully works, will have to pollute less. By
United Nations Climate Conference in decarbonizing our local economy, the entering into this scheme, the pollu-
Copenhagen this December. Nothing Maldives can demonstrate that going tion caused by tourists travelling to the
could be more important because green is not only possible but also Maldives can be offset by European
climate change not only threatens profitable. polluters emitting fewer greenhouse
the Maldives, it threatens us all. The I also hope our example can gas emissions.
Maldives is a front-line country in inspire concerned citizens and acti-
the climate change battle. But history vists in other countries to lobby What are your first practical steps
shows us that if you can’t protect the their governments for greater cuts in towards going carbon neutral? How
front line, the battle will soon be lost. greenhouse gas emissions. If a rela- long will it be before you achieve your
If the world can’t save the Maldives, tively poor developing country like first milestones?
tipping points might push climate the Maldives can go carbon neutral,
change beyond man’s control. what excuse can wealthy nations have President Nasheed: We have set out
for refusing to do the same? a vision for the country, based on an
How can the efforts of a tiny country initial eco-plan drawn up by climate
like yours be adapted to large, rich You are hoping that a carbon-neutral and energy experts Mark Lynas and
countries? Maldives will draw more eco-tourists Chris Goodall. We need to turn that
to the islands, but won’t that cause vision into a carbon-neutral reality.
more carbon emissions? In April, we established a Presidential
Advisory Council on Climate Change,
President Nasheed: Our carbon- made up of 15 environment and
neutral plan envisages the total energy experts, who will provide
decarbonization of the Maldivian the Government with advice on how
economy. We will stop burning fossil to reach the carbon-neutral target.
fuels and instead generate power This expertise will help us draw up a
with the raw materials the Maldives detailed roadmap for reaching carbon
has in abundance: the sun, the sea neutrality in 10 years.
and the wind. We are harnessing The Maldives is also pressing
pyrolysis technology to dispose of ahead with numerous environmental
our waste in environmentally friendly projects and reforms. For instance,
ways. And we hope to gradually the Government intends to privatize
replace petrol and diesel boat and car the state-run electricity firm STELCO,
engines with green technology. and we are looking for international
Aviation is trickier. Wide-bodied companies with experience in renew-
commercial aeroplanes need kero- able energy production to bid for the
sene to fly. Until someone invents contract. A $10 million photovoltaic
bio-kerosene, aircrafts will continue solar panel project is currently being
to burn fossil fuels. The Maldivian implemented in and around the capi-
President Nasheed: The Maldives is a economy is, and will continue to be, tal city of Malé and a local firm is
small country. And our contribution heavily dependent on tourism. The developing concentrated solar power
to global greenhouse gas emissions vast majority of holiday-makers come in island communities. Technology
is negligible, at less than 0.1 per from Europe and East Asia, so reduc- companies are researching the potential
cent. We have not been part of the ing the number of flights to and from use of wind power, and investors are
climate change problem. But we are the Maldives would be devastating for experimenting with biochar to help
determined to be part of the solution. our economy and our people. dispose of waste and allow Maldivians
We believe that the Maldives can Going carbon neutral does not to grow more local produce.
lead the world by example. That is why mean your country never produces We are also working hard to
the Government announced in March any CO2 emissions. What it means protect our marine life. In March, the
this year that the Maldives will become is that you are not a net contributor Government banned shark hunting.
the world’s first carbon-neutral country to global emissions. In effect, the Earlier this month, we created three
within a decade. country does not emit more CO2 marine protected areas to preserve
It will not be easy to make the than it absorbs. In order to ensure whale sharks and manta rays.
Maldives carbon neutral. Generating that the Maldives becomes carbon We are determined to reach our
renewable energy through solar and neutral, we’ll need to offset the carbon-neutrality target. Some people
wind doesn’t come cheap, particularly greenhouse gas emissions produced might say, because the Maldives is
in a country where the population is by aircraft flying here. One option a small country, that our efforts are a
scattered across far-flung islands. But under consideration is for the mere drop in the ocean. But I hope our
going carbon neutral is possible and Maldives to enter the European example creates a ripple of hope that
where there is political will, there is carbon trading certificates market forms a current of change, to protect
a way. and buy permits to pollute. If we buy this planet for all our grandchildren.

The road to Copenhagen 7

 Concerted effort

Travelling the world playing concerts is an newspaper-sponsored audit found that the 2003 album
essential, if gruelling, aspect of being a big- Hail to the Thief – including CD production and a world tour
that played to 545,000 fans in Europe, Japan, Australia and
name band. And the environmental impact is high the United States of America – emitted 7,500 tonnes of CO2,
– something the UK megaband Radiohead both which is equivalent to a year’s emissions from 1,400 cars.
acknowledges and seriously tries to tackle. And that’s before taking the band’s road travel or entourage
into account.

With its big, textured, moody sounds, Radiohead has While such figures aren’t unusual for a such a high-calibre
become one of the world’s best known and critically act, they shocked Radiohead’s front man Thom Yorke, who
acclaimed acts – with seven albums, three Grammy wins has long been concerned with environmental issues. He
and countless accolades. But popularity has its price: a threatened to quit touring if it couldn’t be made greener. ‘The

What can wedge analysis do for us?

Scientists say humanity will have to cut its CO2 emissions present path, and another one showing the track they will
by 80 per cent by 2050 if the world is to have any hope need to take if emissions are to be stabilized at a relatively
of avoiding dangerous climate change. But how is this safe level. A ‘business-as-usual’ scenario could see CO2
dramatic change – perhaps the most challenging in the emissions doubling to reach more than 60 billion tonnes
whole of human history – to be achieved? a year by 2050, whereas they need to fall and stabilize at
under 15 billion tonnes annually. This establishes the size of
Experts agree that there is no silver bullet, that no single the triangle, which is then split into different-sized ‘energy
source of energy can be pressed into service to replace the wedges’, each representing a partial contribution to meeting
fossil fuels that give rise to the emissions. Instead, the job the target.
can only be done by employing a whole range of solutions
– including using energy more efficiently wherever it is Organizations and governments are increasingly using
needed. Ecologist Stephen Pacala and physicist Robert wedge analysis to address the CO2 emissions problem. The
Socolow have come up with a simple way of describing this, ‘Climate Solutions Model’ is an example developed by WWF,
known as ‘wedge analysis’. the global conservation organization, and based on existing
low-carbon technologies. It recognizes that some will be
Key to wedge analysis is the ‘stabilization triangle’. The able to expand faster than others: by the time hydrogen
triangle is formed by drawing a line on a graph representing starts to make a difference in 2040, for instance, wind and
how CO2 emissions will rise if the world continues on its geothermal energy would already be firmly established.

8 TUNZA Vol 7 No 2
 venues with easy access to public transport. On its website,
it asked audiences to avoid flying, to carpool or take public
transport where possible. And it went so far as to post an
online carbon calculator allowing fans to enter the starting
point of their journey, the concert date and venue, and then
explore different transport options – car, bus, bike, plane,
train, underground railway, walking, even ship – to find
those with the lowest impact.

The worst offender for the band’s own emissions was

shown to be international air travel and air-freighting their
20 tonnes of gear – sound equipment, lighting and so on –
between countries. So Radiohead set itself a ‘no air-freight’
policy, but then discovered that shipping – while 93 per cent
more energy-efficient than air freighting – meant it would
take too long for crucial equipment to reach its destination.
So they hit on the idea of assembling two identical sets of
equipment on either side of the Atlantic and planned the
tour so that the US equipment could be shipped to Japan
while the band toured Europe.

Radiohead has also pledged to use rail and road when-

Katie Friesema
ever possible and to avoid unnecessary flights. Instead
way that tours are structured now is a ridiculous consumption of making a live television appearance on the popular US
of energy,’ he said. ‘I think touring is a necessary part of what show Late Night with Conan O’Brien, for example, it sent a
I do, but I find the consequences unacceptable.’ pre-recorded clip from London. Even the light show uses
energy-saving LEDs, and on the band’s social networking
The band took up the challenge. Before embarking site, a crew member reports to fans on each tour venue
on a tour supporting the 2008 album In Rainbows, it from a green perspective, including recycling facilities,
commissioned Oxford company Best Foot Forward to transport links and so on.
perform a carbon audit on two past tours. It turned out
that more than 80 per cent of Radiohead’s emissions The results of all this have not yet been assessed, but
resulted not from its own travel, but from the thousands Radiohead says it will continue to keep its operation as
of fans flying and driving (and idling in traffic) to and from low-carbon as possible, and hopes that the investment in
shows. So Radiohead took the tour mainly to city-centre greener touring will inspire and pave the way for others.

In this model, around 40 per cent of the task to 2050 will have Wedge analysis: a simplified diagram based on WWF’s
to be achieved through improvements in energy efficiency Climate Solutions Model
across industry, buildings and transport – for example by 60 billion tonnes
heavily insulating all new and existing buildings, upgrading
s
power plants with energy-saving technologies and increasing d ing
al uil
the number of kilometres that vehicles, including aeroplanes su nb
su cyi
and ships, get from each litre of fuel. sa ie n
rt
nes ffic o
si ye nsp
yb
u
ne
rg tra
b E nc y in
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WWF reckons another 43 per cent could come from renew- ict eff
ed y try
pr erg dus
able technologies. Producing hydrogen this way could provide as En y in in
ing ienc
11 per cent, while 10 per cent could come from wind, and ris effic
rgy
ns Ene powe
r
io Solar
solar technologies could contribute 8 per cent. Geothermal, iss
em
biomass and hydroelectricity could also have a significant Wind power
2
l CO
n ua
role, with ocean power making a much smaller contribution. An STABILIZATION Hydrogen
2009 TRIANGLE 2050
Geothermal and biomass
Ann
Fossil fuels continue to be the single largest source of energy ual
CO2 Hydroelec
emi tricity &
in 2050 in the WWF model – with a wedge one-sixth of ssio
n s fal
ocean pow
er
the stabilization triangle. But the fossil-fuelled power plants ling
as m Foss
ore il fuels
included are assumed to be fitted with carbon capture and ‘wed with
ges’ CC S
com
storage (CCS) – which, it is expected, will reduce their CO2 e into
play
emissions by 90 per cent. 15 billion tonnes

The road to Copenhagen 9

Facing extinction

Spanner Films
‘We could have saved ourselves, but we didn’t… What
state of mind were we in, to face extinction and simply
shrug it off?’

I
t’s a question from the future that
is on-screen today, asked by a
bewildered lone survivor (played
by Oscar-nominated actor Pete
Postlethwaite) in a tower high above
a scorched Earth in 2055, as he flips
through archival footage from 2008:
news reports about freak storms
and heat waves, melting Arctic ice,
floods, droughts – the all-too-familiar we can continue to live on our planet. adaptation, because it basically means
evidence of global warming. Nothing else counts. we are committed to runaway climate
change. And we will all be facing those
In The Age of Stupid, film maker TUNZA: What do you think is the most horrors together.
Franny Armstrong explores the effective thing for young people to do?
human side of climate change TUNZA: Some say the film isn’t posi-
through the stories of real people Franny: Politicians are the people tive enough to encourage action.
– among them a mountaineer in charged with making the right deal
the Alps who has watched the ice at Copenhagen, which will decide all Franny: They might be right. But we’ve
receding over decades, and an oil our futures. So it’s very important been seeing hundreds of emails, if not
palaeontologist in New Orleans who that all people put pressure on their thousands, from people inspired into
lost everything to Hurricane Katrina. governments – however they are able action – everything from cancelling
But despite its bleak view of the or feel inspired to do so – and let them flights to insulating houses to changing
future, the film shows that humanity know that unless they make the right jobs. Lots of people sit around, don’t
still has a choice. The world now deal, we won’t vote for them anymore. they, being negative about everything,
has the science and technology to At the moment, the best deal on the saying: ‘This won’t work, that won’t
avoid the film’s apocalyptic scenario Copenhagen table – that proposed work...’ But we did our best to make
– but seems to lack the will. It is by the European Union – would give our film as inspiring as we could.
this, as Armstong explains to TUNZA, us only about a 50 per cent chance of Somebody said the other day, ‘It’s a
that the film sets out to galvanize averting runaway climate change, but film that makes you ask: “What is my
as the world approaches December’s we could give ourselves a much higher role on this planet?”’ I think that’s a
crucial climate change negotiations in chance. We’re not waiting for any new good way of looking at it.
Copenhagen. technology or greater understanding
or anything – the only thing holding TUNZA: Can you tell us about the Not
TUNZA: Who does The Age of Stupid us back is ourselves. Surely our elec- Stupid campaign?
try to reach? ted leaders should be maximizing our
chances of survival? What else are they Franny: We want the film to reach
Franny: Our ultimate aim is to keep the there for? millions who wouldn’t otherwise be
planet habitable for future generations reached, inspiring them to become
– for ourselves, even – and to be part TUNZA: What about efforts to plant active citizens and involved in the
of that massive change. To do that, trees, or reduce personal emissions? Copenhagen process. So, in answer
we need to influence policy makers to the question ‘What can I do?’, we’re
and concerned citizens – intelligent Franny: There are a million solutions. providing information, tools, ideas and
people who can see what’s happening, Obviously we need people planting strategies on our Not Stupid website
and want to be part of turning the ship trees, designing new wind turbines, (www.notstupid.org) – everything from
around before it’s too late. We don’t campaigning, walking their kids to reading lists to how to talk to climate
care about the sceptics. school rather than driving them, and sceptics, from direct-action protest to
so on. Everybody needs to rearrange rethinking consumerist behaviour, and
TUNZA: What would success look their lives to deal with this new reality. spreading the word on the internet. The
like? But in these months leading up to aim is to turn 250 million viewers into
Copenhagen, the number one priority activists, all focused on Copenhagen.
Franny: Success to me is that we, the is to pressurize the politicians, be-
species, come together, make the right cause this is our last chance to make TUNZA: The Age of Stupid cites suc-
deal in Copenhagen, and then start an international deal. If we don’t, cessful direct action campaigns – civil
making massive emissions cuts so that it’s going to be much more about rights, votes for women – asking for

10 TUNZA Vol 7 No 2
 The Age of Stupid/Spanner Films

something positive. What positive out-

come does the Not Stupid campaign
seek?
ACTION! Distribution
‘Because of deforestation, floods and
Franny: I think the wasteful consumer
society we’ve ended up with is very
landslides were killing people in my
region of Bondowoso, East Java. So
revolution
unhappy. One where we share the I asked myself, what can I do? First I Missed The Age of Stupid at the
world’s resources fairly and don’t bought seeds, prepared and planted cinema? In May 2009, Team Stupid
overconsume – but live within the them. Then I wrote to the Government, launched Indie Screenings. Individuals
ecological limits of the planet – would who sent money for more seeds and and groups anywhere can purchase an
be happier and much more fulfilling. to develop an education programme. inexpensive one-time licence to screen
Aspire to happiness and less suffering I partnered with the Government the film (subtitled in 32 languages)
for more people – you can’t get more and social organizations to help in any venue – even their own living
positive than that! raise environmental awareness in the rooms – giving everyone the oppor-
community, including teaching chil- tunity to spread the word.
TUNZA: But life needs to go on, and dren and young people how to plant www.indiescreenings.net
people want to enjoy it… trees. Since 2005, I’ve initiated the
planting of 30,000 of them, with help
Franny: Does it? If you are aware that from family, social organizations and
this is the only thing that counts, I think
it’s quite depressing to feel you’re doing
owners of unproductive lands. With
education and help, people can learn
ACTION!
something completely pointless – or to change their attitudes.’ ‘While researching sustainable trans-
contributing negatively. If, basically, Veni Sevia Febrianti, Indonesia port for the Green Campus Initiative
we’re all running over a cliff, what’s the at the University of Capetown, I
point of spending these last few years, discovered that 52 per cent of
when we can still act, doing anything the resources used in the city are
except helping us to stop? Obviously
your response will vary depending on
NOT stupid! spent on transport – and that many
students commute alone in cars. So I
whether you’re 15 in Mumbai or 60 In January 2008, Jake Voelcker gave up coordinated RideLink, a secure, web-
in London, and who you are and what his job as a web designer and started based carpooling tool, for students
resources you have. It’s up to everybody a business refurbishing and selling and staff. They simply log on and
to reassess their own lives. But all the second-hand bikes. It wasn’t just his enter details of where they’re going
happiest people I know are working on lifelong love of cycling that prompted and when, and RideLink hooks them
climate change. Personally, I feel very him to open his shop Jake’s Bikes in up with a lift. We launched the site in
optimistic. I think these months lead- the British city of Bristol. Once a January 2009, and it’s been a success,
ing up to Copenhagen will define our volunteer at the Centre for Alternative with more than 600 users. However,
generation, the way other generations Technology in Wales, Jake is fulfill- many still haven’t signed up, so we
were defined by ending slavery, getting ing his passion for energy efficiency, continue to promote it. We also
the vote for women, or civil rights. In recycling, low-carbon transport and promote cycling with ads that can
the West, our generation has grown up raising environmental awareness. Even be attached to bikes, saying things
in a time of plenty, with no world wars. the shop is low-carbon: staff work like ‘Petrol price hike? Ride a bike!’
Earlier generations had bigger things mainly with hand tools, use low- Offering practical alternatives while
than we did to overcome. But now we’ve energy light and no heat, reuse and raising awareness seems to be a good
got the biggest of them all. This is our recycle materials, and move things strategy.’
moment. We can still turn it around. around using bike trailers, not vans. Simon Sizwe Mayson, South Africa

The road to Copenhagen 11

Loud and clear
Imagine the cacophony if the world’s 3 billion people under 25 years old – nearly half its population – spoke up
together. Young people all over the world are preparing to do just that as momentum builds towards the 15th
Conference of the Parties (COP-15) of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC)
in Copenhagen, Denmark, in December 2009. At COP-15, world leaders will meet to negotiate the successor to
the Kyoto Protocol, with the goal of agreeing to new binding agreements to prevent runaway climate change. As
those with the most to lose, youth are gathering forces to let their leaders know that their future – and that of
Earth – must not be compromised.

I S
n March 2009, 12,000 young people from each of the ustainUS – a non-profit organization of young people
50 United States as well as other countries flooded advancing sustainable development and youth
into Washington, DC, for Power Shift ’09, demand- empowerment in the United States – is sending
ing green jobs, a rapid transition away from dirty a delegation of 24 US youth to Copenhagen, as well as
energy, and climate legislation in line with scientific helping Arctic explorer Will Steger take another dozen.
requirements that we could bring to Copenhagen. To encourage other international youth, we have written a
The gathering, organized by Energy Action Coalition, training manual (www.sustainus.org/docs/Youth%20Guide.
included a 3,000-person rally on the Capitol Lawn pdf) to help prepare young people from any developing
and the largest climate change lobby day in US history. countries who have not yet been able to send a delegation
Since Power Shift, the participants have returned home to to the climate change negotiations, especially
continue organizing activities around climate legislation important because some of the negotiation is
and green jobs. In the months leading to COP-15, Energy about adaptation funding for their countries.
Action Coalition will keep urging youth to push for a bold, We try to raise money to fund youth delegations
equitable, science-based international climate treaty, both from developing countries, and offer support to
with a delegation in Copenhagen and at home. We feel them both in Copenhagen and beforehand.
a distinct obligation as US youth to take responsibility for
climate change at home and on the international stage. KYLE GRACEY, UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,
SUSTAINUS
WHIT JONES, UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, ENERGY
ACTION COALITION

W
ith a group of youth activists belonging
to different organizations – such as

I
n the summer of 2009, my father Charles GEO-TUNZA Ecuador, Energy Ethics,
Scott and I are riding connected bikes CAJU Peru and others – I am working to engage a
the length of mainland Japan, from the committed group of South American young people
northernmost point of Cape Souya to the in the months leading to COP-15. We aim to gather a
southern tip at Cape Sata, a 4,700-kilometre, Latin American youth delegation to attend COP-15,
two-month journey. Working with UNEP, the and exchange information and skills needed to make
aim is to generate publicity to encourage awareness and a difference there. Before and up to COP-15, we also
action on climate change, especially in these months leading plan to reach out to the public in South America to help
to COP-15. Along the way we’re also raising money to support increase general understanding about the international
the Billion Tree Campaign – UNEP’s effort to plant 7 billion climate change process.
trees by the end of 2009, one for each person on the planet.
JUAN CARLOS SORIANO, PERU
SHO SCOTT (8), JAPAN

B
ritish rower and UNEP Climate Change Ambassador

I
am working together with East African youth to Roz Savage is rowing solo across the Pacific to inspire
secure better representation at COP-15 by taking people to walk more and drive less. The campaign,
a team of African youth leaders to Copenhagen called Pull Together, challenges supporters to match her daily
as part of the Energy Crossroads network (www. 10,000 oar strokes with 10,000 steps, logging them online.
energycrossroads.org). Our goals are to spread Then, on 24 October, Roz and thousands of supporters will
awareness, develop solutions and empower youth to start marching the more than 967 kilometres from London
take the lead on implementing mitigation and adaptation to Copenhagen to deliver the results, a symbol of their
measures in local communities. commitment to reducing global CO2 levels.

MICHAEL PLESNER, DENMARK, ENERGY CROSSROADS www.rozsavage.com

12 TUNZA Vol 7 No 2
I A
n 2008, five members of the Australian Youth Climate t COP-14 in Poland, the Alliance Of Small Island
Coalition (AYCC) – including me – travelled 23,500 States (AOSIS) proposed strong emissions reduction
kilometres from Australia to Poznan, Poland, and we did it targets and called for serious action. When this show of
by land rather than flying. We crossed 11 countries in 40 days leadership went largely unheard, the 500-strong international
by train, bus, taxi, tuk-tuk and boat, eventually joining 500 youth delegation developed Project Survival, a major campaign
other international youth climate activists at COP-14. that added our voices to theirs and supported these often
under-resourced government delegations. We shared the
It wasn’t just a stunt to save carbon emissions plight of these nations with the media, engaged with
– though we did save about 40 per cent by not the negotiations and offered policy and administrative
flying. We wanted to demonstrate that not fly- support. As we worked, we learnt more about the dire
ing is difficult, time-consuming and expensive, situation faced by these countries.
emphasizing the need to improve our low-
carbon infrastructure. The project continues around the world. In the
Pacific, Australian youth are working from Pacific
For COP-15, we’re mobilizing for 5,000 youth and others islands like the Solomons, especially focusing on climate-
from all over the globe to travel overland to Copenhagen – an change policy. Our work is bringing greater equality to
action we’re calling Convergence. To start, there’s a zero-carbon the Copenhagen negotiations and a greater chance for a
bicycle caravan (www.zerocarboncaravan.net) from the United strong agreement on climate change.
Kingdom, and youth from Japan catching the trans-Siberian
railway. We’re also seeking funding for youth from Africa and WENDY MILLER, AUSTRALIA, AYCC
South America, discussing free transport with rail organizations,
and investigating cargo ships. Youth from Togo to Canada to

T
Costa Rica to Sweden and beyond are volunteering. he African continent is the one most
vulnerable to climate change. Yet of 500
Once in Copenhagen, we will as usual be involved in the youth delegates in Poznan, just four
Conference – meeting with government delegates and report- – including me – were African, a noticeable
ing on progress via blogs and social networking – as well gap at high-level meetings to which youth
as participating in external social-movement mobilizations, representatives were invited. So I have started
such as Friends of the Earth International’s ‘Flood for Climate to work with 350.org to help get more African
Justice’ (www.foei.org/en/what-we-do/un-climate-talks/global/ youth involved in the international climate process.
the-flood-is-coming).
350.org is hosting a worldwide series of summits where
Copenhagen will be the greatest convergence of young youth climate organizers can learn all they need to know to
people on any political issue in history. As we ask our leaders mobilize their own communities and hold their politicians
to make decisions that reshape our way of life, let’s take this accountable. Within this, it has made a special commitment
opportunity to prove youth really care. to empower young Africans to work as climate advocates
and activists, and to send a strong African delegation to
ANNA KEENAN, AUSTRALIA, AYCC/CONVERGENCE Copenhagen. Efforts have included a summit in Johannesburg
anna.keenan@YouthClimateCoalition.org in June 2009, attended by hundreds of sub-Saharan African
youth, followed in Turkey by a three-week Climate Advocacy
Institute, attended by hundreds more from North Africa and

W
ith the goal of doing something the Middle East.
concrete – and FAST – the Indian
Youth Climate Network has We hope this work helps build capacity and allows African
organized Agents of Change to get students youth to spread the word that climate change is not just a
and young professionals involved in serious rich countries’ issue.
lobbying, campaigning and direct action to
influence political decisions leading up to Copenhagen. ELY KATEMBO, DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF THE CONGO,
350.org
Right now, in partnership with UNEP’s South Asian Youth
Environmental Network, we’re also assembling delegates
to join the Asian subcontinent youth delegation to COP-15,
which will have representatives from Bangladesh, Bhutan,
India, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. Once chosen,
UNEP is organizing 1 million young people to march
through 100 capitals in September 2009 to
deliver a petition to global leaders. The petition asks – on behalf
delegates will learn how to develop policy priorities, lobby, of the world’s 3 billion young people – for a definitive climate
and engage others in international climate policy. We’re deal in Copenhagen. The petition was developed online and
also assembling a team in India to keep local and national finalized in August 2009 at UNEP’s Global Townhall, which
media outlets informed, run constant campaigns in schools convened 750 children and 250 youth in Daejeon, Republic
and communities, and organize regional and national days of Korea, to discuss climate change problems and solutions.
of action and a petition campaign, generally creating a The Townhall also saw the launch of Unite for Climate (www.
groundswell of awareness and urgency around COP-15. uniteforclimate.org), a social networking platform where
young people can learn and share thoughts about climate
RUCHI JAIN, INDIA, INDIAN YOUTH CLIMATE NETWORK change and the action needed to combat it.

The road to Copenhagen 13

TUNZA answers your questions
Q Why is the involvement of young people in the
Copenhagen meeting important, and how can they be
involved in its decision-making process?

A Copenhagen is the last government-level meeting in

the calendar before the world climate agreement must be
renewed and the strength of worldwide measures to tackle
global warming will be determined. Young people and future
generations are the ones who will either suffer or benefit
from the decisions made, and it is crucial that their voices
are heard. Though they will not make the final call, youth
will play a role and will become involved by sharing their

Q&A
thoughts and ideas with the ministers and delegates present.
We can only hope that the governments will listen to these
opinions, will take them into consideration when negotiating
and will make sincere and meaningful decisions.

Q What concrete actions should young people be taking to

show the world that they want a deal in Copenhagen? What
should they press governments to do?

A It is important that the young people participating in

the Copenhagen meetings show that they are committed:
if they aren’t, they won’t be taken seriously. They must
show that they are actively involved by getting acquainted
with the negotiations and preparing for them. They should
discuss their points of view with each other and within
their communities to raise awareness and mobilize others
at school, in clubs, and at religious or community centres,
etc. Once they have shown that they want a deal in the
December meetings, they should become part of government
delegations and press them to reduce carbon emissions by People can do small things to reduce their carbon footprint,
agreeing to strong measures on tackling climate change. to save energy, and also to save money, such as buying
organic and local food products, unplugging ‘stand-by’
Q What is the relationship between poverty and global appliances, recycling, choosing to use public transport or
warming, especially in developing countries, and how will biking or walking, and finally, energy-proofing their home
the Copenhagen negotiations address this? by insulating it well, closing windows, shades and curtains
when it’s cold, turning off lights and heating when they are
A Although climate change does not directly cause poverty, not needed, and switching to energy-efficient light bulbs.
it will impact the poorest disproportionately. Most of the Indeed, personal action can reduce up to half humanity’s
world’s poorest people rely on their environment to survive. emissions.
But as extreme weather, changing temperatures, floods
and droughts increase, crops will fail: in some African Q What will be the consequences for today’s young people
countries yields could fall by 50 per cent by 2020. So survival, if strong measures on tackling climate change are not
particularly for the poorest, will become more difficult agreed this year?
and more urgent. This extremely important topic will be
discussed in Copenhagen and, it is hoped, will be addressed A Today’s young people, along with future generations, will
by setting strict targets for emissions cuts to reduce climate be those most affected. Even if strong measures are taken to
change and introducing measures to promote economic substantially reduce emissions, the greenhouse gases that
development through adapting to it. have already been released will remain in the atmosphere
for long periods, and some global warming is now inevitable.
Q Taking care of our beautiful planet starts with individual So what will happen if strong measures are not taken? The
action. So, what actions should individuals take to make it consequences of global warming cover a broad spectrum,
a better place? including extreme weather, rising sea levels, diminished
harvests, spreading diseases, disruption of water supplies,
A Individual action is the starting point for reducing our loss of biodiversity and much more. The longer we wait to
negative effects on the environment, and if everyone does establish strong measures, the harder it will be to tackle
their share, it will be easier to mitigate climate change. climate change.

14 TUNZA Vol 7 No 2
Plastiki
Explorer and environmentalist DAVID DE ROTHSCHILD (pictured) – the youngest
Briton to have traversed both poles – thought up the Plastiki after reading a UNEP
report on the problem of marine waste. Recently named a UNEP Climate Hero, he
plans to sail this 20-metre catamaran, made of 12,500 reclaimed plastic bottles and
recyclable plastic, approximately 10,000 nautical miles from San Francisco, California, to Sydney, Australia. He wants to
demonstrate how rubbish can be a resource, draw attention to ocean ecology and help people rethink how we currently
use, reuse and ultimately dispose of plastics. MARTIN METZ, a university student from San Francisco, has spent a year
helping to construct the craft and spreading the project’s message to his peers.

I first heard of the Plastiki in 2008 when David pitched the idea to San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom,
for whom I was working as an intern. The conversation made me ask: ‘When I throw something away,
what am I really throwing away?’ I immediately volunteered for the Plastiki team.

Upcycling
We built the Plastiki’s rigid skeleton, ribs and bulkheads using a fully recyclable material called self-
reinforced polyethylene terephthalate (srPET), which is made from virgin plastic (something we hope
to soon change). But, as srPET isn’t buoyant, we also filled reclaimed 2-litre plastic bottles, collected
from San Francisco recycling agencies, with dry ice, sealed them to make them seaworthy and
fastened them to the hull.

The Plastiki interrupts the typical life cycle of a product

that ends up in landfill, creating a new role for one-
time-use items by ‘upcycling’ them as valuable
resources. With innovation and creativity, upcycling
can be as simple and beautiful as making a kite from
sewn-together crisp packets (an art piece conceived
by a fellow student), or as complex as the break-
down and recomposition of chemical compounds
for reuse in what David calls ‘smart products’, those
that can be either indefinitely recycled or returned
to nature without harm.

Whirlpool of rubbish
Seeing ‘waste‘ as a resource is only common
sense at a time when we are drowning in our
own garbage. Increased production, efficient
distribution and high consumption have led
to the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, an area
of floating trash in the middle of the Ocean
estimated to be twice the size of Texas.

The Plastiki will visit this patch, which is

just one of the world’s many concentrations
of marine debris. The waste – 80 per cent
of which has been washed into the sea from
land – is trapped by strong ocean currents,
and ranges from plastic bags and bottles
to refrigerators. Once in the water, plastics Photos: Luca Babini
harden in the sun and eventually shatter
into microscopic bits. In some areas, these
‘blooms’ of plastic particles are denser than the
natural ones made up of plankton. The particles
are eaten by sea creatures, so chemicals from
plastics also end up in our food.

Creative reuse
Part of my job is to take the Plastiki’s ideals into the community. At the University of San Francisco, my professors, fellow
students and I founded a group called Help the Plastiki Set Sail. Community design and architecture students are building
their own miniature one-man Plastiki to race in San Francisco Bay. Environmental studies students are researching
ecological and environmental issues for each of the islands along the vessel’s route. And we hosted an exhibition on the
‘Art of Reuse’ to showcase projects exemplifying waste as a resource. I hope the project will help lead to people valuing
natural resources and becoming thoughtful and creative about the waste they create.

The road to Copenhagen 15

Beyond learning
‘Generating energy sustainably is critical in
today’s world of increasing population and
climate change,’ said Hans-Dieter Hausner,
Bayer Australia/New Zealand Senior Country
Representative, to the 25 students (from

Eco-Minds/Bayer
Australia, China, India, Indonesia, New Zealand,
Philippines, Republic of Korea, Singapore
and Thailand) gathered at the University of
Auckland, New Zealand, for the UNEP-Bayer Eco-Minds 2009 Pathfinder Award recipients, from left:
Eco-Minds Youth Forum 2009. Gerard Penecilla, Alex Readford, Cindy Marattanachai,
Desideria Murti and Daniel Scott.

UNEP’s Regional Director, Dr Young-Woo Park, agreed: added: ‘Although very conceptual, our strategy would ensure
‘Sustainable energy use represents perhaps the greatest the minimum environmental impact from energy supply in
challenge to the world right now for two reasons: climate the future.’
change and the fact that 2 billion people still don’t have access
to electricity. Both, left unresolved, represent a serious hurdle Gerard Penecilla from the Philippines takes up the story: ‘We
to the UN’s poverty-related Millennium Development Goals.’ had to develop a strategy for a low-carbon future based on
sustainable technologies, while thinking about the economic,
The Eco-Minds Youth Forum, as Mr Hausner pointed out, social, environmental, technological and political challenges
‘is not just about learning’. Participants were divided into and opportunities.’
multiple-country groups to come up with sustainable energy
solutions, not just for their own countries but for the Asia- ‘I learnt a lot from Eco-Minds,’ said Desideria Murti from
Pacific region as a whole. Indonesia, another member of the winning team. ‘I’ll stay in
touch with my fellow participants. Through networking and
Pathfinder Award-winning team member Dan Scott from friendship we can help foster a spirit of sustainability.’
New Zealand told TUNZA how his group’s strategy ‘consists
of three components: diversifying energy sources to include ‘This requires a coordinated effort across the international
more renewable technologies; moving to a long-term mix community,’ added Australian Alexander Readford, ‘so it’s
of them; and pushing for increased energy efficiency.’ He critical that we understand the concerns of other countries.’

REDD for go!

W hat forests take from the air,
they can also put back. As trees
grow, they absorb CO2 and store it as
while Indonesia has promised to stop
turning virgin forest into plantations in
Sumatra.
International negotiators are now work-
ing on a mechanism to ‘reduce emis-
sions from deforestation and forest
carbon. But when felled and burned degradation in developing countries’
or allowed to rot, they release it back Many of the world’s forested countries (REDD) – to be included in a new
into the atmosphere: some 20 per are poor. They need to generate wealth international climate treaty – which
David Larsen/africanpictures.net/Still Pictures

cent of all CO2 emissions result from and reduce rural poverty, and find it would involve developed nations pay-
forest degradation and destruction. So hard to police conservation laws. But ing developing ones to conserve forests
reducing these twin perils is a vital part Costa Rica points a way forward. It and the services they provide.
of combating climate change. was once a deforestation hotspot: its
forest cover fell from 80 per cent in Youth involvement in REDD
And there are some signs that this is the 1950s to just 21 per cent in 1987. Gemma Tillack (Australia) and Kyle
being addressed. Paraguay has slashed But it has reversed the trend – and Gracey (United States of America) are
deforestation by more than 80 per cent got it back to 50 per cent – by paying members of the International Youth
since the 1980s and is committed to farmers to protect the forests, and Delegation, a growing coalition of
zero net deforestation by 2020. Brazil generating income from the millions young people from around the world
says it will cut deforestation rates in of tourists who come to see the forests who participate in international climate
Amazonia by 70 per cent by 2020, and their wildlife. negotiations. ‘The next climate treaty

16 TUNZA Vol 7 No 2
 As temperatures rise, life is changing for all the

ALL Arctic’s indigenous peoples, including the 150,000

Inuit who live in Alaska, Greenland and Canada. Devin

CHANGE Aviugana, a 17-year-old Inuk who grew up in the Canadian

territory of Nunavut, describes what it means to him.

REPULSE BAY, a small northern community of about 900 people on the Arctic Circle, was a great place to grow up. Children
wander the town freely and the view is spectacular – no trees in the way. The tundra and ice is where my traditions and heritage
come from. I appreciate all the land gives me, be it food, shelter or clothing.
But climate change is affecting the Inuit lifestyle. This is very traditional: our main means of survival are fishing and hunting
caribou, seal, and whale for food and clothing. About three years ago, I noticed the ice taking longer to form and melting faster.
Only a few years ago, when hunting, we never worried about the ice being too thin, but now we have to be careful, whether we’re
walking or travelling by snow mobiles. Then, last summer, the ice in the Bay, which usually breaks up and floats away, melted
before the currents could take it.
Our community is being affected by these changes. No one can trust their knowledge about ice or weather conditions,
making hunting, fishing and travelling to other communities difficult. Only the most experienced elders can tell when the wind
will pick up or that a storm is coming.
Biosphoto/Halleux Dominique/Still Pictures

I’ve talked to two of our elders about this: Semi Malliki, who teaches us survival skills and how to make traditional Inuit tools,
and Cecilia Angontialuk, who teaches Inuit singing and is also a good storyteller. ‘In my youth, the seasons were different,’ said
Cecilia. ‘Today, the land does not smell the same because of the oil and gas.’ Semi told me how Inuit were more environmentally
friendly when he was younger. ‘We hunted more instead of buying expensive imported food. We used dog teams, not polluting
snow mobiles. We didn’t waste anything. Dog teams don’t need oil or gas. You just feed them, and they reproduce – you don’t
have to buy a new one.’
The elders find the concept of climate change difficult, but they do know that it’s different from when they were young,
especially the changes in ice and temperature. They worry that Inuit will someday not be able to hunt on the ice.
My generation worries about the future. We understand that, for our people, climate change doesn’t just mean physical
change to the environment. Everything changes with time, of course – but while the people of Repulse Bay may now work in
offices or garages, our traditions are so culturally and emotionally significant that without them, we would not survive. If carbon
emissions are not controlled, the landscape and wildlife will continue to be affected, and the Inuit culture could die.

must help developing countries reduce countries give financial support to dev-
their emissions from deforestation and eloping ones to protect their healthy
forest degradation while also helping in- forests and allow their degraded ones
digenous peoples and other communi- to recover, while also making deep,
ties who live in and depend on forests,’ early and long-lasting cuts in their own
they explained. ‘A REDD mechanism emissions. REDD should also protect
could make this happen. So in April, the integrity of ecosystems and the
our Youth Forests Group – whose mem- rights of indigenous peoples and forest
bers work on forest protection at home communities – especially in preventing
or have studied forest issues – submitted them from being displaced from their
a position paper on REDD. forest homes.

‘We said that REDD won’t work if it ‘We hope our statement will help
is just used as a way for developed guide our countries as they create
countries to offset their emissions, or plans to conserve forests. Our vision
if it subsidizes logging operations and is that an international deal on climate
the conversion of forests to tree crops. can also improve the well-being of
Instead, it must ensure that developed forest creatures and communities.’

The road to Copenhagen 17

Clean
revolution
Solar photovoltaic (PV) cells, which turn solar energy directly
into electricity, are the fastest growing of all the renewable
technologies. Over the past five years, annual production has
soared sevenfold. In China the rise has been more dramatic:
in 2005 PV cells with a capacity of less than 100 MW were
Last year, for the first time ever, more money was
produced. Just two years later this jumped to 1,088 MW,
invested worldwide in renewable sources of energy making China the world’s largest manufacturer. And it is
than in the fossil fuels that have powered economic expected to multiply tenfold again by 2015.
growth for more than 200 years.
Costs are tumbling, halving in Germany between 1997 and
No one would have predicted this development a few 2007 and continuing downwards. Solar PV already produces
1 per cent of the country’s electricity; some experts predict
years ago. But the investment has soared more than
that it could provide 12 per cent of Europe’s total by 2020.
fourfold in just five years, from around $35 billion
in 2004 to $155 billion in 2008, with a further $35 New technologies offer enormous promise. New ‘thin film’
billion spent on big hydroelectric dams. panels are expected to produce 100 times as much power as
conventional ones at a fraction of the cost. Flisom, a Swiss
‘Recent growth has surpassed all predictions, even firm making them, claims that within a decade the sun
will be producing electricity at half the price of coal, gas or
those made by the industry itself,’ says Mohamed
nuclear power.
El-Ashry, Chairman of the Renewable Energy Policy
Network for the 21st Century. Solar water heaters are already economic. In China, 10 per
cent of households have them. In Israel this rises to 90 per
‘Remember the internet? Green tech is bigger,’ cent and they have recently been made compulsory for new
Jianhua Qiu/UNEP

adds John Doerr, probably the world’s leading ven- homes in Hawaii.
ture capitalist. ‘This could be the biggest economic
opportunity of the 21st century.’
Dammed difficult
Hydroelectric power is much the largest source of re-
newable energy; it already produces about a fifth of the
Wind gets up world’s electricity. But the big dams used to generate most
of it have often caused social and environmental problems,
On average, the world’s wind power capacity has doubled since while failing to be economically viable. People have been
2005. In China it has done so every year for the past five years: displaced and not properly resettled. River flows are altered,
by next year it should have 30,000 MW capacity up and running causing erosion and damage to wildlife; sediments that
– the target it had set itself to meet in 2020. Germany already used to nourish downstream ecosystems pile up behind the
gets almost 15 per cent of its electricity from the wind: its dams, shortening their useful lives; and they often release
northern state of Schleswig Holstein expects to generate all its greenhouse gases as vegetation rots under water.
electricity from wind by 2020.
In 2000, the World Commission on Dams proposed a com-
Texas, traditionally the home of big oil, is now the wind capital prehensive series of guidelines, but too many projects
of the United States of America, with 30 per cent of the disregard them in favour of the quickest and cheapest
country’s total wind capacity; six states now have more than approaches. Small community-scale dams are often much
1,000 MW of installed capacity. more beneficial than large ones, and the World Bank estimates
that 70 per cent of their global potential remains unexploited.
Britain already has the world’s largest amount of offshore wind
farms and aims to add enough to supply every home in the
country. And Unst, its most northerly island, has successfully
used wind energy to produce hydrogen, which supplies energy Time for tide
when the wind is not blowing.
Tides have been producing power for more than 40 years at
La Rance in Brittany, where the world’s largest tidal barrage
has been supplying around 200,000 homes with electricity
Rising sun since 1966. Another, much smaller, barrage generates
power in Canada’s Bay of Fundy, which has the biggest tidal
Every year the equivalent of 90,000 billion tonnes of coal range in the world.
lands on the Earth’s surface in the form of solar energy. It is
distributed free; you can tap into it wherever you are without The United Kingdom is considering building a giant barrage
the need for costly transmission lines – though you have to pay across the mouth of the River Severn to generate 5 per cent
for the installations that capture it. of the country’s electricity, but some environmental groups

18 TUNZA Vol 7 No 2
 are resisting the plans because of their effect on wildlife.
Less intrusive options include building a series of lagoons

Jean Gaumy/Magnum Photos

in the estuary. In fact the country is already generating
power from the tides, using a totally different technology
that, instead of trapping water in a lagoon and letting it pass
through turbines, draws its energy directly from the tidal
stream. Sea Gen, operating in Northern Ireland’s Strangford
Lough, is a bit like an upside down windmill with its blades
turning under water in the tidal currents. It is the first device
of its kind anywhere in the world, but such tidal power could
provide at least a fifth of the United Kingdom’s electricity;
some experts reckon that Scotland’s Pentland Firth alone
could generate enough for a quarter of UK needs.

Other installations are being developed to harness the

power of the waves, but with mixed results. The world’s first
commercial-scale wave-power station – the Pelamis Project
off the coast of Portugal – used three flexible hydraulic ‘sea-
snakes’ which bob up and down on the waves to drive an
electricity generator. But after just two months, it had to be
taken out of service and dismantled because of technical
problems.
Banson

Reflecting glory
In 212 BC, when Roman ships besieged Archimedes’
hometown of Syracuse, he used mirrors to concentrate the
sun’s rays on the ships’ sails and set fire to them. The same
Stuart Franklin/Magnum Photos

principle is now being used to superheat water to produce

steam that drives electric turbines.

The first plants were built in California’s Mojave desert 20

years ago, but cheap oil killed off their development. Now
60 plants are being built, or are on the drawing board,
worldwide. Spain opened a plant in the Andalusian desert
in 2007 and plans to finish another two by 2011. Another is
operating in Nevada, United States of America.

More ambitiously, plans have been laid for a chain of con-

centrated solar thermal plants across the deserts of North
Africa that could be in operation by 2019, providing Europe
with 15 per cent of its energy. Unlike PV cells, however, such
plants need to be in bright sunshine, and some people warn
against dependence on other countries for energy.

Super smart
Banson

Some renewable energy – especially wind power – is

variable, and this is often raised as a major objection to it.
But electricity grids can help to compensate for this. ‘Smart
grids’ can adjust and even out demand by varying the amount
of electricity required, for example, by electric appliances.
And high-voltage direct-current transmission lines – which
lose only 3 per cent of energy per 1,000 kilometres – can help
create ‘super grids’ linking up different renewable sources
across a continent, compensating, for example, when the sun
Banson

goes down on Spanish solar installations, with tidal power

from Britain or wave energy from the Atlantic.

The road to Copenhagen 19

 Last resorts

By Fred Pearce

S
unshades in space; man-made volcanoes; giant egg space. But this interplanetary parasol would have to be
whisks cruising the oceans; windmills that clean the hundreds of kilometres across, so it might be easier to send
air… Welcome to the wacky world of geo-engineering. up billions of small super-light sunshades (A), each about
Much of it sounds nuts. But one day, say scientists, we may the size of a newspaper. But the bad news, says Roger Angel
need all these technologies to save the planet. Think of the of the University of Arizona who proposed the idea last
planet as your home: the sensible thing is not to set it on fire year, is that accomplishing Operation Sunshade would take
in the first place. But if does go up in flames one day, you thousands of space launches and trillions of dollars.
must be able to call the fire brigade.
Or how about Operation Volcano? Sometimes, when volca-
The atmosphere is heating up as we fill it with gases that noes erupt, they throw so much dust and other particles into
trap the sun’s heat – gases we create as we generate energy. the stratosphere (the top of the atmosphere) that the sun
We know how to generate energy in other ways, but 20 years is partly blotted out and the world cools down. After Mount
after scientists sounded the alarm, we are still adding more Tambora erupted in Indonesia, 1815 became known as ‘the
of the heat-trapping gases every year, and the warming is year without a summer’.
getting dangerous.
The equivalent of a Pinatubo eruption every couple of years
Nature already soaks up about half of our CO2 (if it didn’t, could cool us by around half a degree, calculates Tom
we would all have fried long ago), and the quickest and most Wigley at the US National Center for Atmospheric Research
obvious way to help nature fulfil its role is to stop destroying in Boulder, Colorado. Nobel prize-winning chemist Paul
the world’s forests and plant more trees. Trees are made Crutzen says tiny sulphate particles scatter the sunlight best.
of carbon sucked from the air, so every tree that grows is Every commercial aircraft could be equipped with a sulphate
cooling the planet. sprayer, and Operation Volcano would make a permanent veil
of dust in the stratosphere.
Clever thinking
Another smart idea is to make biochar. If we grow plants to A neater idea is to make the planet’s surface whiter so that it
suck up carbon, then harvest them and heat them to make a reflects more of the sun’s rays right back into space. One way
kind of charcoal, that ‘biochar’ could be buried, keeping the of doing that is to make more clouds – or even just whiter
carbon out of harm’s way and helping new plants to grow by clouds. Clouds are nature’s shades, and they get whiter
improving the soil. and more reflective if they have more water droplets in
them. Could that be arranged? Stephen Salter of Edinburgh
At the more extreme end, we could shade ourselves from University says yes, we should make fleets of ships equipped
some of the sun’s energy by putting a giant sunshade in to send ocean spray high into the air (B). He has built a

20 TUNZA Vol 7 No 2
 A B
(FREELENS Pool) Tack/Still Pictures

prototype that looks like a giant egg whisk – the real things
would be 70 metres high.

R Angel/T Connors/JL Codona, Univ. of Arizona/Arizona Board of Regents

John MacNeill
Wigley’s colleague John Latham calculates that were
Operation Sea-spray to put 50 cubic metres of water into
the air every second of every day, doubling the number of
droplets in the world’s clouds, the planet might cool by
2 or 3ºC.

But there are some potentially big problems. First,

shading the Earth would change a lot of things apart from
temperature. Past volcanic eruptions, for instance, have
stopped the Asian monsoon, the annual rains that grow
the crops that feed more than 2 billion people in India and
China. Repeating that would not be clever.

Then, you would have to keep spraying for hundreds of years.

If you stopped, the world would warm by several degrees
within a few months. ‘It would be far more dangerous than
the warming it was designed to stop,’ says geo-engineering
expert Tim Lenton of the University of East Anglia.
C
And third, any amount of shading would only buy us a
few years. One day we would have to stop the emissions
regardless.

So why not just get on and do it now?

As well as stopping the heat-trapping gases getting into the
Ken Buesseler/Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution

air in the first place, it might also be a good idea to try and
suck more of them out of the air.

Some scientists think the oceans, where plants like plankton

soak up at least as much CO2 as forests, can be persuaded
to capture more carbon. There is talk of fertilizing the
oceans so that more plankton grows and the water soaks
up more gas from the atmosphere. In some parts of the
oceans, iron is a good fertilizer: when scientists sprayed
iron into the water (C), plants quickly grew. But so far the
evidence is that it is only a temporary effect.

Step forward Klaus Lackner of Columbia University in

New York. He says that for every power station filling the
air with CO2 we need another factory sucking the gas out D
again (D). He has designed a kind of windmill that could
clean the air by blowing it across a chemical like sodium
hydroxide that absorbs CO2.

The technology is being developed to reduce emissions

from power stations before they go up the chimney. So
why not clean the ordinary air, too? One answer is that CO2
concentrations in ordinary air are about a thousand times
lower than in waste gases, so the technology is not so easy.
But it could be done.
Global Research Technologies

Like most of the ‘geo-engineering’ technologies, cleaning

up the air is likely to cost more than preventing the
pollution in the first place. But the bottom line is that if one
day the world gets into a real jam, we are going to need
to reverse global warming fast. Very fast. So maybe we
do need to train up the geo-engineers as an emergency
service for the planet.

The road to Copenhagen 21

6 DEGREES
+0-1 degree +1-2 degrees +2-3 degrees

Vu Danh Viet/UNEP/Topham

Damrong Juntawonsup/UNEP/Topham
The United Nations sets +2ºC as the
upper limit, and crossing it could
Many animal and plant species will lead to the Earth’s carbon cycles
not be able to adapt to a rise of this beginning to break down, locking the
magnitude: the humid tropics alone globe into runaway global warming,
could lose up to a third of species. The and moving the world towards +3ºC
oceans, which absorb half of all our by 2050. A rise of 3ºC is predicted to
CO2 emissions, are becoming more bring about intolerable drought and
acidic – endangering the survival of searing temperatures in Amazonia,
species at every level of the marine resulting in forest fires, arid soils and
food chain. Warmer temperatures ultimately its complete destruction.
should increase agricultural produc- Worldwide, up to half of existing
tion around well-watered northern plant and animal species could be-
Roslyn Goodman/UNEP/Topham
regions – as opposed to the dry Mid- come extinct. Rice, maize and wheat
West – but would mainly hit food yields throughout the tropics could
As we move towards the +1ºC world, production in many of the world’s fall sharply. The vital Asian summer
rising temperatures are already ser- poorest countries. Some areas could monsoons could become more ir-
iously affecting sensitive ecosystems, experience constant water shortages: regular – failing to arrive one year,
including the Amazon, while warmer Peru’s capital Lima, for instance, and causing devastating floods the
waters are causing corals to eject the depends on natural meltwater from next. Mountain glaciers feeding the
microscopic algae that live in their the glaciers of the surrounding moun- continent’s key rivers – the Indus,
tissues and keep them alive. Over the tains for its supplies, and these are Ganges and Brahmaputra – are un-
last 40 years the Arctic has lost 400 unlikely to survive. In Europe, water likely to survive, putting many areas
cubic kilometres of ice: replacing its and agricultural problems could grow at risk of serious water shortages.
sun-reflecting whiteness with dark in the summer months as the proba- Melting from Greenland’s glaciers
sea which absorbs heat and increases bility of extreme heat waves sharply and Antarctic ice caps could raise
warming. Many experts believe that increases, reducing river flow, damag- sea levels by up to 1 metre, making
the Arctic has tipped into irreversible ing crops and causing forest fires. extreme flooding around the world
decline: some predict that it will be Global warming approaching +2ºC much more likely. The Earth’s soils
free of ice in summer within the could push Greenland’s glaciers into contain more than twice the carbon
next decade. Sea-level rise threatens unstoppable melting, leading to their now in the atmosphere (about 1.6
half a million people in small island complete disappearance within 140 trillion tonnes) in the form of slowly
states, like the Maldives. And just 1ºC years, which would commit the world rotting vegetation. A 3ºC increase
of warming could cause droughts that to a sea-level rise of up to 7 metres could speed up this decay enough to
would devastate the US Mid-West, the and cause the inundation of some of cause the soils to release more CO2
world’s food basket. the world’s major coastal cities. than they absorb.

22 TUNZA Vol 7 No 2
Stable weather patterns, reliable water sources, healthy rainforests and seas, and a diversity of plants and animals

have allowed our species to flourish. Now, all are threatened as our greenhouse gas emissions warm the planet

far faster than ever before: we have raised average global temperatures by 0.7ºC, mostly since the 1970s. The

United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) suggests that at this rate, global warming of

up to 6ºC is possible by the end of the century. Mark Lynas, author of Six Degrees: Our Future on a Hotter Planet,

uses the latest climate science to show what each step on the way would mean.

+3-4 degrees +4-5 degrees +5-6 degrees

Paul S Masaka/UNEP/Topham

At +5ºC, the Earth would change be-

yond recognition. Rainforests would
have dried up and burned down. The
WILDLIFE/H Schweiger/Still Pictures
seas would rise by more than 5 metres,
inundating vast areas and continuing
Runaway greenhouse gas releases to do so as Antarctica melts and any
from the Earth’s soils could force remaining ice sheets vanish from the Tim Alipalo/UNEP/Topham

4ºC of warming by 2075. Starvation poles. With the tropics far too hot to
could threaten the majority of Earth’s support most food crops or marine life, Scorching heat waves and massive
population as droughts dominate and the subtropics suffering perennial hurricanes are likely to be familiar at
southwestern North America, Central drought, the ‘belt of habitability’ would +5ºC and beyond. Regions that saw
America, South Africa, West Africa, recede towards the poles. Most people agricultural production rise at the
the Mediterranean, Southeast Asia, on Earth would find the struggle for earlier stages of warming would see
Siberia and Australia. Warmer ocean food, water and living space becoming it fall heavily. Warmer oceans would
waters would rapidly melt the Antarctic very serious indeed. The oceans could make further outbursts of methane
ice sheets, raising sea levels by up to begin to release methane – 20 times more likely, continuing to push global
1 metre every 20 years, threatening more powerful as a greenhouse gas warming to great heights. If a large
coastal communities across the world. than CO2. Stored deep in the ocean at quantity of this gas were to somehow
At +4ºC, the Arctic’s ice may fail to very cold temperatures, this methane ignite, it would explode with a force
form even during the polar winter. may be expelled from the sea bed many times greater than the world’s
Ninety per cent of the 9 million square by the warming waters: just a small entire supply of nuclear weapons.
kilometres of permafrost – perma- disturbance on the sea floor could This is very unlikely, but events of
nently frozen soil – in the far north set it racing for the ocean surface this kind are thought to have occurred
may gradually thaw, releasing around with explosive force. Regular methane 251 million years ago at temperatures
500 billion tonnes of carbon into the releases of this kind could easily force similar to a +6ºC world, leading to the
atmosphere and forcing a further the planet towards another degree of destruction of all but 5 per cent of the
degree of warming. global warming. species roaming the Earth.

The road to Copenhagen 23

 In February 2009 the City of Copenhagen became the 100th
participant in UNEP’s Climate Neutral Network, a growing body
of countries, cities, organizations and corporations publicly
committed to creating a carbon-neutral future.

As the United Nations Climate Change Conference draws near,

it’s time to get involved by pressurizing governments and
authorities to join the City of Copenhagen in making their own
pledges for carbon neutrality. But individual lifestyle choices are
also critical if we are to shrink our collective carbon footprint.

What YOU can do

Environmentally friendly homes, with good insulation and efficient
appliances, cut energy use by at least 75 per cent – and using small-
scale renewable sources like solar panels, ground-source heat pumps
and even wood-burning stoves can make them zero carbon.

The best way of reducing transport emissions is to travel less. When

travel is necessary, public transport is best: petrol-driven cars are up
to five times less energy efficient than buses and trains. And avoiding
air travel as well could bring total reductions of as much as 80 per cent
in the average carbon footprint from transport.

It is also possible to make big, if less direct, cuts in the carbon used
to make goods – mainly by buying less ‘stuff’, reducing food waste and
basing a healthy diet on locally produced, seasonal food.

The clock is ticking….