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Let's be friendsStudents flood UK streets to demand real deal at Copenhagen
Thousands of young people joined The Wave protests this weekend demanding tough action on climate change.
The Wave youth ‘bloc’
Image © Lucy Hiscox
P&P intern, Alys, leads the Wave flashdance
Image © Lucy Hiscox
Students go blue in the face over Copenhagen
Image © Lucy Hiscox
Students met with Ed Miliband MP after The Wave
Image © J Warren
The Wave youth ‘bloc’
Image © Lucy Hiscox
As the historic UN climate talks open in Copenhagen today, young people’s calls for “Climate Justice” are still ringing in Ed Miliband and Gordon Brown’s ears after The Wave.
Over 50,000 people dressed in blue flooded the streets of London and encircled parliament on Saturday 5th December. There were Waves of people power on the same day across the UK and Ireland, with 13,000 people joining The Wave in Glasgow to make history in Scotland too. They came together to call on the UK to act fair and fast and protect the world’s poorest when negotiating a global climate treaty at the UN negotiations which open today.
Tonye Babudoh, 17, from the People & Planet group at City Islington College, said:
I thought the Wave was amazing as it was my first time taking part in a public demonstration. It was really exciting and eye opening to see the extent you have to go through to make a point and also the amount of people that showed up which was brilliant! The Wave also showed me how people can stand up for what they believe and actually get up and do something.
People & Planet students travelled from all over the country to attend from schools, colleges and universities. They led the march in mass “flashdances” and rolled a giant Wave machine through the streets of London. See more photos from The Wave and add your own
After The Wave, a small delegation was invited to meet with Ed Miliband, the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, and Prime Minister Gordon Brown.
Tonye, who represented People & Planet at the meeting, added:
The question time with Ed Miliband was awesome. I actually got to ask my question (about how the Government will support young people to cut the carbon in schools & colleges and achieve our vision for a low-carbon future)! I was mega happy with actually getting my question answered and the response from Ed himself.
The Secretary of State was obviously impressed by the commitment and passion of young people on the march. He announced that he would introduce a Young People’s Advisory Panel for his Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC).
Ed Miliband also presented an optimistic outlook for Copenhagen saying:
Not underestimating what we need to do, I think we have come a long way. NGOs have made a big difference already by calling for leaders to go. Please keep up that pressure over the coming weeks. I will do all I can to get the strongest possible deal
He was also asked about People & Planet’s Ditch Dirty Development campaign and how he would ensure that the Government didn’t allow RBS - which is 70% publicly owned - to continue investing public money in dirty fossil fuel projects like the Canadian Tar Sands.
All your hard campaigning work is paying off as Ed Miliband responded:
I’ve been getting asked this question a lot. I am meeting with the Chancellor Alistair Darling straight after this and will ask him about RBS investments.
People power works - we saw it in action this weekend in London, Glasgow and cities across the UK. Now we need to keep up the pressure on our Government over the coming weeks for a strong, fair and legally-binding global deal to prevent climate catastrophe.
To take action throughout Copenhagen and stay tuned on the latest developments, follow @peopleandplanet on Twitter and our special Copenhagen pages
