UBC students Liz Ferris, Megan McKeen and Rebecca Beaton have never met each other, but they all have one goal in common—to make Canada more sustainable.

At least six UBC students will be representing UBC and Canadian youth at the United Nations Conference for Climate Change in Copenhagen, Denmark, also known as COP 15, starting today. They will be adding their voices to over 2000 youth at the 15th annual conference, which runs December 7 to 18.

The 12-day COP 15 will join over 10,000 politicians, world leaders, journalists and activists from over 192 countries to discuss a new global climate deal that will take the place of the Kyoto Protocol when it expires in 2012.

Ferris: ”I’m not proud to be representing Canada, but I’m proud to be representing UBC”

Liz Ferris, a Master’s student who is studying Resource Management and Environmental Studies, is leading three undergraduate students to present “tangible solutions” for reaching global climate targets. It’s part of a separate, two-day collaborative project on climate change on behalf of Yale University and Copenhagen University.

Students from approximately 115 universities from all over the world will be sharing ideas on promoting sustainability in the future. They will be attending this event in addition to the main conference in Copenhagen.

“Our plan is action,” said Ferris. “Currently, the international agreement is to have zero carbon emission by 2050, but we have come to a realization that it’s up to the youths today to ensure that it will happen.”

Selected based on proven commitments to environmental activism, the team consists of Hanako Okano, a fourth-year Food Nutrition and Health student; Krista Olsen, a fourth-year Political Science major; and Daisuke Serizawa, a third-year student in the faculty of Land and Food Systems. The students were sponsored by UBC College for Interdisciplinary Studies (CFIS), Go Global and the UBC Sustainability office.

“I believe that each individual’s effort leads to a bigger result. Without those small efforts, nothing can be changed,” said Okano. “I hope this conference will be a wake-up call for everyone to start caring more about all the resources we have.”

Okano said she’ll be reporting back to UBC to find better solutions towards sustainability on campus. Ferris will be keeping a daily blog at climateactionnetwork.ca.

The team, called UBC COP 15, advocates putting pressure on the Canadian government to take a stronger role in the global agreement. “This year, we need to ensure that Canada will step up and reach their target,” said Ferris.

Ferris added that Canada had refused to meet their Kyoto standards by lowering their greenhouse gas emissions in 2006. Canada was supposed to have cut emissions by six per cent between 1990 and 2012; but instead, they have actually risen by 25 per cent.

“Canada needs to stop being laggers and start being leaders,” she said.

Despite her disappointment towards Canada, Ferris is happy to be representing UBC. She said when the UBC Sustainability office was created ten years ago—the first of its kind in Canada—it was the beginning of UBC’s journey “as one of the leaders of sustainability.”

UBC is expected to become carbon-neutral by January under the provincial legislation outlined in Bill 44. Furthermore, the UBC Climate Action Plan that Ferris co-coordinates has a five-step action plan that promises that UBC will be a net-positive energy producer by 2050.

Another delegate who is proud to represent UBC is Ryan Smith, the development officer of UBC’s College for Interdisciplinary Studies.

Smith said COP 15 will be a great opportunity to “share UBC sustainability success” and “identify the parts that people have to play in the future” to sustain the environment.

However, Smith stressed the importance of a new global climate deal. “If we mess this one up, we are going to be screwed,” he said.

“It’s a global change, it’s a cultural change, it’s a conscious change…it’s about how we want to live together in the same globe.”

Age doesn’t matter

18-year-old Megan McKeen is the youngest UBC representative attending the Copenhagen conference and will be travelling with another UBC student, 22-year-old Ashley Tufts, originally from Nunavut. Tufts said she will bring the “cool” Arctic perspective.

Both are members of the Canadian Youth Delegation (CYD), which is a non-partisan youth organization dedicated “to represent Canadian youth voice, and to work closely with the environment to ensure that the Canadian prime minister is reaching targets.”

McKeen has already been to COP 14 in Poland and the G8 Summit in Japan last year, when she was chosen and sponsored by the British Council. This year’s costs were covered by UBC’s Endowment fund, the AMS, Go Global and fundraisers with CYD.

“We’re in the middle of a youth global movement where we need to make changes for the future,” she said. “We need to make the government listen.”

However, McKeen said that not everyone needs to be at Copenhagen in order to support the cause. “You can do this in two ways: first, by making sustainable adjustments in your own personal life such as taking transit, biking, bringing your own mug…and second, by being engaged in your political world, which could mean calling your MPs and MLAs.”

There’s too much carbon in the atmosphere

Rebecca Beaton is a fourth-year Geography student who may be remembered for her leadership in the “Bridge to Cool Planet” event in October, when over 100 people shut down the Cambie Street Bridge in order to advocate for a reduction of greenhouse gas emissions. She is now the UBC organizer of a student-initiative worldwide campaign called “It’s Time To Listen—Il faut écouter” that currently has over 1000 fans on its Facebook page.

Over the past six weeks, the “Climate Flash Crew” met every Monday in the SUB to raise awareness for Copenhagen. They would spend the first part doing group activities such as “clean energy aerobics” and “building a human wind turbine.” Then the group would phone MPs such as Minister of Labour Rona Ambrose and Prime Minister Stephen Harper.

“Our goal…has been to raise awareness about Copenhagen and also call for a stronger leadership by our government in Copenhagen,” said Beaton. “It’s taking place all across 15 different groups all following the same theme every week.”

Although no one was able to get through the lines to speak directly with the MPs, Beaton said that leaving a massive number of voice messages can make a big impact. “At one point, they told us to stop leaving voice messages because it was full. Next step was e-mail,” she said.

Last week, the group stormed Waterfront station holding large signs and saying, “Canada make us proud in Copenhagen,” and singing and dancing while chanting, “Ooh it’s hot in here, there’s too much carbon in the atmosphere.”

Beaton said that their efforts seem to have paid off. “The success is that Harper is now going to Copenhagen. Although it’s hard to tell, I’d like to think that our phoning had an effect,” Beaton said.

With Copenhagen underway, Beaton is already thinking about her next endeavour: Five for Five, a campaign where people call five friends and families over five days to advocate climate change.

“Students interested in being notified about other climate change actions can text “UBC” to 212121,” she said.

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