As people share their stories, everyone felt inspired. People felt, relaxed, chilled, like families, touched, they want more of this, they want to do it again, they were inspired. It was like collective orgasm- exchange of inspirations and outburst in celebration of vitality of life. We found ourselves being the source of inspiration for others by sharing the commitment we hold which brought us together 2 week before exam.
We had alumni - Amy Chang coming from work, long time partner- Alaw from CUHK, new members and current members, and Chan Yau!
Thanks everyone for being here, being you, being part of this movement for a better world.
Posted by Serena
Event Details:
A chance for new members and volunteers of Climate Chance (who applied before Nov 9th Monday), current members and alumni to gather together to have fun, get to know each other and set out vision and mission and plan for the network from Nov 2009- Sep 2010.
$100 per person, Elisa Cafe
Please confirm your attendance here at this facebook event page before Nov 10th.
MEET 11:30 AT MONG KOK MTR EXIT E1 Elsie cafe is next to UA Cinema in Langham Place. Call 61770953 if you have any questions!!!! =)
On November 14th, a group of us represented States and NGO and Business of India to attend the Copenhagen Climate Change Negotiation Simulation.
During the Simulation,eight universities in HK (plus the University of Richmond in VA and UIC in Zhuhai) each represent one of the eight countries in the simulation. Their task was to reach agreement among the ten countries about a post-Kyoto Protocol climate change regime.
It’s hard. It might be painful. It might be a certain moment of doubts on what we are doing. But, we finally made it! A revolutionary model UN negotiation— to speak up for the world we would like to see, to make us remembered, to hold on to what we believe is the right thing to do. So three cheers for US!
Thank you for working hard as a team. Thank you for creating this memorable moment full of vitality.
Summery of Stastics on which our proposals are based on:
- World Military Expenditure & UN Constitution
- Post-Unipolar World(Dominance of Multi-national Corporations and rise of China)
The world spent about $1,500 billion annually on the military. (2008) 48% of which by US. ($711 billion) Made of 44% of US Tax Payer’s money.
US is the biggest seller (38%), India being the largest buyer - 13%.
The top five countries profiting from the arms trade are the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council: the USA, UK, France, Russia, and China. the UN’s entire budget is approximately 1.8% of the world’s military expenditure,
Good news is: We live in an era dominated by corporate powers.
Out of the 100 largest economies in the world, 51 are corporations while only 49 are countries. The Top 200 corporations’ combined sales are bigger than the combined economies of all countries minus the biggest 10.
U.S. corporations dominate the Top 200, with 82 slots (41 percent of the total). Japanese firms are second, with only 41 slots.
Of the U.S. corporations on the list, 44 did not pay the full standard 35 percent federal corporate tax rate during the period 1996-1998. Seven of the firms actually paid less than zero in federal income taxes in 1998 (because of rebates). These include: Texaco, Chevron, PepsiCo, Enron, Worldcom, McKesson and the world’s biggest corporation - General Motors.
Good news is: We live in a post-unipoloar future.
US has a 10 trillion dollar economy and close to 300 million people, while China has a 7.199 trillion dollar economy (3-4 trillion if excluding Taiwan and the autonomous regions ), with more than four times the population. But those 7 trillion dollars can buy 70 trillion dollars worth of goods in China – where one dollar can buy what 10 or more dollars can buy in the West – and many other places in the world outside of the so-called “developed” countries in the West. Yes, if we compare the economies in terms of US dollars, China seems weak. But if we compare them in terms of buying power and productivity, China has many times the economy, and power, of the US. (http://www.lewrockwell.com/orig6/kelly1.html)
However, need to be noted - Rising middle class and upper class of China youth grow up in American Dream, many are educated in US and pro-US. They could either create another US, or lead the world towards a less egocentric world by cooperating with US.
Conclusion I do believe, now, more than ever, a social structural transformation towards a world united, as importance of nation-states decline, multi-national corporation rise.
I do believe, now, more than ever, power is decentralised , as the dissemination of information , by virtue of the social media network and corporate structure, are decentralised.
I do believe, now, more than ever, individuals have a power to make a change, as we are consumers, share-holders, who hold the ultimate vote to corporate fate and the world order we seek to create.
I would never imagine myself witting this or you reading this a few month ago, but once I have experienced what it feels to be part of something bigger, to relate to another human being in a way which reflects the interconnectedness of our realities, to be in service of others, I can no longer deceive myself.
Two Chinese students, Serena Gao from Climate Chance Network HK Headquater (University of Hong Kong), and Amanda Lee, Regional Coordinator from Macau attended the 350 Asian Youth Climate Workshop on October 2-5, in Bangkok, Thailand, which coincides with the United Nations inter-sessional climate meetings in Bangkok, one of the most important meetings this year before December’s Copenhagen summit, when world leaders will create an international climate treaty post-Kyoto.
The workshop was organised by 350.org, an international grassroot campaign, and together with China Youth Climate Action Network (CYCAN), they will organise a Chinese Youth Climate Action Day on October 24th as part of the Global Action Day where people from all over the world rally together to show their concern for climate change. Together with about 50 other young leaders from across East Asia, they organied various campaigns and talked to officials and delegates.
They represented a Chinese youth climate network based at the University of Hong Kong called “Climate Chance” (formerly known as Hong Kong Climate Change Coalition), which was founded upon their delegation to the UNFCCC COP 13 in Bali, 2007. The network is a party to the Youth Constituency officially recognized by the UNFCCC Secretary. They believe that climate change offers many chances for a new generation of young leaders to be empowered to make the world a more equitable, fair and just place.
Indeed, traditionally, Asian youth have played a small role in climate negotiations. (For example, at the 2008 UN Climate Meetings in Poland only one youth from China attended, compared to the nearly 100 youth from the United States.) The meeting in Bangkok, however, was proven to be an unprecedented opportunity for youth from across Asia to participate in the international climate negotiation process, to make their voices heard to world leaders, and to ensure that their people, who are often very vulnerable against climate change induced impacts, like typhoon and flooding, or sea-level rise are supported by the global community.
One of our members, Stephanie Wong, participated in the World Leadership Conference 2009 in Singapore from 15-19 June.
Organized by ECO Singapore, the inaugural World Leadership Conference is a landmark 5 day international conference gathering youths from all over the world to engage in meaningful discussions on the ethos of leadership, and the central tenets of how the world works through predominant current affairs, inclusive of the environment and the economy.
Stephanie had had an insightful experience in Singapore, the green-est city she has even been.
The feeling just flooded my heart when I stepped out of the Singapore airport, a boundless green. The green-ness of Singapore could be traced back to a lot of historical reasons, most importantly because of the top-down policies and support from the president of it. They shared a common dream, to make Singapore a “City in a Garden”.
In the 7-day long conference, I had actually produced very tangible and fruitful products. We were divided into 6 groups:
Environmental Law
Alternative Energy Sources
Education and Environmental Awareness
Green Technology
Waste Management
Resource Depletion
I was in the group of “Environmental Law”, where we had a lot of parallel sessions and group debates. We finally completed a final paper with concrete solutions to the current flaws in environmental law and presented at the end of the conference. Basically, under the state sovereignty, we tried our best to come up with solutions as to judiciary matters and execution.
As always, friendships that we could gain was priceless. Up till now, we still contact each other for updates. Some of us even cooperate on Climate Change issues like thinking of setting up branches else where and embark on our international chapters.
Louis Yam represented Hong Kong and Chinese youth to attend The IDEA Climate Advocacy Institute three-week summer program which offered expert training on Debate and Argumentation, Journalism and New Media, Performance and Art Advocacy in Decemco, Turkey, in a resort on the Aegean coast.
In the year 2009, March 25th – April 6th, 60 students and recent graduates from 20 countries and 30 prestigious universities (e.g. Oxford, Cambridge, MIT, Stanford, Peking University , University of Hong Kong etc.) embarked on a 12-day expedition to Antarctica, led by the polar explorer Robert Swan O.B.E. and the organization called 2041. They were called upon to collaboratively explore the paradoxes and potential solutions to the issues of energy and climate change in the most pristine land on this planet, and to experience first-hand how Antarctica is changing as a result of one of the biggest challenges of the century.
The expedition was sponsored by BP, who invited the world’s leading systems thinkers and collaborative change agent to design the entire “soft component” of the Expedition (including 5 days on the voyage to and from Antarctica) which replaced the standard schedule of 2041, the Leadership on the Edge Program.
In a nutshell, it involved having “Contextual Dialogues”, which literally translates to “having no instructions as to how you spend your time other than meals”. Frustration permeates the air. There were too many possibilities and uncertainties. Groups formed, and dissolved as ideas clashes and merges like the stars we saw above us as we camped on ice. Collective and honest public dialogues were difficult and dangerous.
However, in subtle and ingenious ways, as people struggle to deal with the enormity and the emptiness of the space surrounding them, this “program” led many of the participants to choose to “communicate” with penguins in silence while releasing our identities or pre-set objectives in the world we came from as we drifted further and further away from “reality”.
Indeed, any account of this expedition will involve penguins. As people found themselves starting to act like penguins, sitting, lying, huddling, howling to the sky, and throwing deep contemplating gazes into the icebergs or the “bergy bits” floating afar. We marveled how easy we can forget that we are a different species, and started flipping our arms behind us as we walked while staring into the space in awe in, apparently, similarly deep contemplative gazes. Human beings are very adaptive indeed.
Gradually, all of us let go of our great ambitions to create anything, but to simply spend the time to absorb the energy all around us: the graceful curve of the humpback whales, the naughty smirk of the lapin-seals, the elegant dance of paint patrols, the red and suicidal quills, the restless stars in the milky lake.
In silence, as we listen to the pulses of nature, we start to listen to one another, without judgment. In awe, as we immerse ourselves in the vastness of space, we star to create more space for one another. Inspired, as we indulged the stories and dreams of the great polar explorer, Robert Swan to ordinary individuals (Pablo Julian Onyszczuk, the multi-talented Zodiac Driver, the photos in this blog are taken by him, see below for a photo of him), in respect, we overcame any fear of embarrassment and shared our owe personal stories.
From rocky physical challenge of the Drake Passage, to the frustrating mental experience of the “Contextual Dialogues,” to the “trans-human” spiritual experience of sitting amongst penguins in Antarctica, to the intensive emotional experience of sharing a journey with other people in a pre-historical setting (without internet)……there was a personal evolution from being somebody to being nobody, to being everybody, as we gradually released our identities, self-reflected on our assumptions, and collective examined our relations to one another, and ultimately choosing.
By seeing things as they really are.
We have a choice to let our future generations see the beauty of Antarctica untainted, we have a choice to live in a planet not endangered by flooding, and we have a choice to live a life driven by pursuit of our dreams.
In short, the BP Antarctica Expedition was a beautiful miracle paralleled only with that sunset, like wine, spilled all over the peaceful and saintly pure snow caps in Antarctica and that powerful and proud ocean beneath our feet; it is miracle, especially amid the blows of the financial crisis, the end of hundreds of years of industrialization, an era of capitalism where the planet and everything on it are meant to be efficiently allocated to serve for one purpose, and especially when that purpose is not to appreciate our shared capacity for compassion and love for every creature on the planet we call Earth.
Please feel free to edit or point out gramma/spelling mistakes etc., I wish to thank Julian for giving me the photos and please do not use his photos without seeking permissions and thank you everyone for being such good listeners!
The man who resembles the penguin: Roger Burton, the Chief designer of BP Program for the Expedition, is a collaborative change agent and management consultant. integralcoaches.com/advisory_board.php
A community built by passionate students: Hong Kong Climate Change Coalition hkclimatechangecoalition.org now renamed as
Climate Chance, cause
Reality is beautiful, compassionate, loving, interconnected.
12 students representing “Green Advocates” of the University of Hong Kong attended the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP13/MOP3) held in Bali, Indonesia, from December 3-14, 2007 .
Together with the People’s Council for Sustainable Development (PCSD), which is accredited as an non-governmental organization (NGO) observer, we formed the Hong Kong Delegation.
Our mission was to network with other youth leaders and NGOs from around the world, to add to the momentum of young voices demanding world leaders to take bold decisions, to bring back the messages received from Bali to Hong Kong, and to advocate for the students, people and government of Hong Kong to take more concrete action and form more effective policies regarding the pressing issue of global warming.
The purpose of the Bali Conference was to bring together world leaders and parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) to formulate a roadmap for a new negotiating process, to be concluded by 2009, that will ultimately lead to an international agreement on climate change following the end of the Kyoto Protocol’s first commitment period, which ends in 2012.
We had the privilege of listening to a report made by the Chairman Dr Rajendra Pachauri and scientists from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), which was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2007. They urged world leaders to heed the scientific evidence they had amassed in their reports to prove that global warming was a reality and that we had a narrow window of 10 years to effectively address the problem. Temperature rises need to be curbed, overall carbon emissions need to be cut by 50 per cent by 2050, compared to 1990 levels. They further recommended that rich countries cut emissions by 25-40 per cent by 2020 and 70 per cent by 2050. The scientists showed a lot of statistics, but also a lot of passion.
To me, at the heart of the debates was the building of trust between the developed countries and the developing ones, which brings about the question of distributive or substantive justice. Without consensus, the developing nations would suffer more.
It is not an ordinary negotiation where countries fight over their interests. Global warming is an issue that concerns all of our futures. It is a moral issue that entails a responsibility from which nobody can escape. Rich countries have greater responsibility, as they have caused more carbon emissions and have benefited from doing so for a long time, while poor countries have suffered from the consequences, according to the stories of people from the Pacific Islands at the conference. Unfortunately, those affluent countries, especially the US and Canada, do not intend to abandon their own interests.
In the face of overwhelming problems caused by global warming, many authorities still offer frustrating responses. However, I also saw numerous NGOs, like The Climate Group, Climate Action Network International and Greenpeace, pressuring governments to take action.
We sat through various side events organized by NGOs and plenary sessions organized for government representatives in Bali. They included debates on “Development and Transfer of Technology” and “Reducing Emissions from Deforestation in Developing countries” (REDD).
We took an active role in those events by raising questions for the speakers.
In a side event organized by LEAD International on leadership and climate change, I asked about ways to deal with the alarming trend of rising demand from the middle classes for a quality yet unsustainable lifestyle. I also argued that most political leaders just focused on things during their term of office, while the issue of climate change is played down as it requires a leader to think about the needs of future generations.
In another side event called “US Action to Address Climate Change: Business Views on Policy and Market Development”, our delegation asked Ms. Angela Beehler, Director of Energy Regulation at Wal-Mart, about its actions on consumer education - how customers are educated about the importance of energy saving and other sustainability issues through marketing strategies.
The culmination of the conference came when youth leaders from all over the world gathered to share their experiences in advocacy at a Youth Meeting organized by SustainUS. A girl from a Pacific island which is threatened by rising sea levels due to global warming showed her passionate concern, even breaking into tears.
We invited attendees to join a meeting organized by HKU students for strengthening the connection between North America and Asia.
The significance of this Bali meeting does not lie in any concrete resolutions, but the collective spirit of all countries for future co-operation and commitment in fighting climate change.
My Bali experience strengthened my conviction that a solid initiative on the campus is needed as a base for bringing our voice to the global movement on climate change and for creating a greater impact on other members of the University with regard to energy saving and targets for CO2 reduction. We have built up a Hong Kong Climate Change Coalition, a Hong Kong based Youth Climate Action Network aim to inspire students, to lobby the Hong Kong government on this issue and to extend the network to other universities in Hong Kong and Asia in the lead-up to the Youth Summit in July 2008 for a constructive dialogue among Asian youths on the issue of climate change. I would like to conclude with the words of a youth delegate during the Bali Conference, “The world is watching. The youth are rising. Join us.
12 students representing “Green Advocates” of the University of Hong Kong attended the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP13/MOP3) held in Bali, Indonesia, from December 3-14, 2007 . Together with the People’s Council for Sustainable Development (PCSD), which is accredited as an non-governmental organization (NGO) observer, we formed the Hong Kong Delegation. Our mission was to network with other youth leaders and NGOs from around the world, to add to the momentum of young voices demanding world leaders to take bold decisions, to bring back the messages received from Bali to Hong Kong, and to advocate for the students, people and government of Hong Kong to take more concrete action and form more effective policies regarding the pressing issue of global warming. The purpose of the Bali Conference was to bring together world leaders and parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) to formulate a roadmap for a new negotiating process, to be concluded by 2009, that will ultimately lead to an international agreement on climate change following the end of the Kyoto Protocol’s first commitment period, which ends in 2012. We had the privilege of listening to a report made by the Chairman Dr Rajendra Pachauri and scientists from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), which was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2007. They urged world leaders to heed the scientific evidence they had amassed in their reports to prove that global warming was a reality and that we had a narrow window of 10 years to effectively address the problem. Temperature rises need to be curbed, overall carbon emissions need to be cut by 50 per cent by 2050, compared to 1990 levels. They further recommended that rich countries cut emissions by 25-40 per cent by 2020 and 70 per cent by 2050. The scientists showed a lot of statistics, but also a lot of passion. To me, at the heart of the debates was the building of trust between the developed countries and the developing ones, which brings about the question of distributive or substantive justice. Without consensus, the developing nations would suffer more. It is not an ordinary negotiation where countries fight over their interests. Global warming is an issue that concerns all of our futures. It is a moral issue that entails a responsibility from which nobody can escape. Rich countries have greater responsibility, as they have caused more carbon emissions and have benefited from doing so for a long time, while poor countries have suffered from the consequences, according to the stories of people from the Pacific Islands at the conference. Unfortunately, those affluent countries, especially the US and Canada, do not intend to abandon their own interests. In the face of overwhelming problems caused by global warming, many authorities still offer frustrating responses. However, I also saw numerous NGOs, like The Climate Group, Climate Action Network International and Greenpeace, pressuring governments to take action. We sat through various side events organized by NGOs and plenary sessions organized for government representatives in Bali. They included debates on “Development and Transfer of Technology” and “Reducing Emissions from Deforestation in Developing countries” (REDD). We took an active role in those events by raising questions for the speakers. In a side event organized by LEAD International on leadership and climate change, I asked about ways to deal with the alarming trend of rising demand from the middle classes for a quality yet unsustainable lifestyle. I also argued that most political leaders just focused on things during their term of office, while the issue of climate change is played down as it requires a leader to think about the needs of future generations. In another side event called “US Action to Address Climate Change: Business Views on Policy and Market Development”, our delegation asked Ms. Angela Beehler, Director of Energy Regulation at Wal-Mart, about its actions on consumer education - how customers are educated about the importance of energy saving and other sustainability issues through marketing strategies. The culmination of the conference came when youth leaders from all over the world gathered to share their experiences in advocacy at a Youth Meeting organized by SustainUS. A girl from a Pacific island which is threatened by rising sea levels due to global warming showed her passionate concern, even breaking into tears. We invited attendees to join a meeting organized by HKU students for strengthening the connection between North America and Asia. The significance of this Bali meeting does not lie in any concrete resolutions, but the collective spirit of all countries for future co-operation and commitment in fighting climate change. My Bali experience strengthened my conviction that a solid initiative on the campus is needed as a base for bringing our voice to the global movement on climate change and for creating a greater impact on other members of the University with regard to energy saving and targets for CO2 reduction. We have built up a Hong Kong Climate Change Coalition, a Hong Kong based Youth Climate Action Network aim to inspire students, to lobby the Hong Kong government on this issue and to extend the network to other universities in Hong Kong and Asia in the lead-up to the Youth Summit in July 2008 for a constructive dialogue among Asian youths on the issue of climate change. I would like to conclude with the words of a youth delegate during the Bali Conference, “The world is watching. The youth are rising. Join us.
