It's not about changing the talks – It's about changing ourselves

This post is written by Chironjit Das of the Malaysian Youth Climate Justice Network about his experience at the Climate Talks in Bangkok last month.

Youths at the Sessionals

The conference started on a high note and one of urgency. As the prime minister of Thailand, Abhisit Vejjajiva, put it, it’s either plan A or plan F for fail. Being a little green in the ears when it comes to these talks, the strong words used evoked the sense that the urgency would lead to action.

The first few days were not particularly fast-paced for the observers or the negotiators. Of course, I chalked it to settling down, but by the end of the week, I was jaded. One week into the talks and daily progress were measured by yardsticks of countries not doing or saying something unhelpful(read: euphemism for stupid) that would result in a deadlock.

If progress were to be measured in school-standard marks, a fail wouldn’t be too low a score. Yet there was progress and by real world standards, it did move forward. I also learned that as observers, we do not hold much sway in the talks, at least not at the short negotiation sessions. Most of the decisions are made back home and the talks are where such decisions are laid out and compromises formed. That is after all what an agreement is – a compromise.

Now if all that sounds a little pessimistic, it probably is. But really, the hope shows not at the face value of truth.

As youths and part of the observers, if we aren’t there to change the course of the talks, what then are we there for? As I met and interacted with my peers there, I realized that it is not about changing the talks. It is about changing ourselves.

If you can’t change the mindsets of people in power, then put the people whose mindsets have been changed into power.

We are the leaders of the future. The faces that we interact with today might go on to be the movers and shakers of tomorrow. Awareness of climate issues amongst this group is paramount. And starting young is best as we’re open to ideas and innovation and ultimately CHANGE.

There were about 50 youths in Bangkok; there will likely be 40 times that many in Copenhagen. Some will have a great time and then go home and forget about it. Some won’t. But all will know that mother earth and all her children are in dire need of help.

One of the country delegates noted, maybe the solution is to skip the current generation and focus on the youths(of course the problem is pressing, and at the very least steps need to be taken now to at least mitigate the problems). How true.

Unfortunately, we have a fight that we have to take. It is the fight for our future. The antagonists: our elders. It is the very people that sometimes harm the environment for our benefit that we have to stop. We have to tell them not to destroy it so that we, and generations ahead, can savor the beauty of creation. From an Asian perspective, many find it unthinkable to stand up against them. Yet we do have to do it.

I do have to stress: it’s not war. We aren’t going to change their mindsets with mere facts or threats. We have to change their minds AND their hearts. There is no easy way to achieve that. It would make you think the spies in the cold war had it easy.