Youth leaves COP19 before the end of the conference!

"Polluters talk, we walk" said posters and T-shirts of bitterly disappointed international youth, we left the COP19 stadium on Thursday at 2 pm. COP19 officially ends tomorrow (November 22nd), but the youth opposed participating in the annual carnival of broken promises and empty pledges. The action got quite a lot of media attention, so I expect that it will appear in coverage. Youth followed the example of foreign NGOs such as Greenpeace, Oxfam, Friends of the Earth, 350.org and others who also left COP19 in protest.

Greenpeace, Oxfam, WWF, Actionaid, Friends of the Earth, the International Trade Union Confederation and campaign group 350.org will all leave at 2pm local time. - See more at: http://www.rtcc.org/2013/11/21/ngos-walk-out-of-un-climate-talks-in-protest-at-lack-of-progress/#sthash.VZiqlvln.dpuf

Greenpeace, Oxfam, WWF, Actionaid, Friends of the Earth, the International Trade Union Confederation and campaign group 350.org will all leave at 2pm local time. - See more at: http://www.rtcc.org/2013/11/21/ngos-walk-out-of-un-climate-talks-in-protest-at-lack-of-progress/#sthash.VZiqlvln.dpuf

Climate change negotiations have been going on for so many years, and not many people are familiar with how complex the problem is. For young people who care about environment and would like to have a positive contribution to the world, participation in COP is expected to be a valuable and eye-opening experience. It probably is, but the problem is that youth would like see fair and effective solutions, and climate change conference is not a place to find them. I hope that the action will get public attention and that young people will not stop to be loud and visible about what they believe in.

Best regards from Warsaw,

Monika