I knew I had to come to COP15, the UN Conference in Copenhagen Denmark. As the journey continued this was part of my call, and I am so eager for the countries of the world to reach an agreement for our future. We posted an actual counter with “The Countdown to Copenhagen” UNFCC COP 15 on our World Team Now’s home page, over six months ago, but my personal countdown to this time began a long time ago. The leading environmental airlines, Scandinavian Airlines, (the official sponsor of COP15) supported the journey.
When I was young I wrote a letter to the President of the United States and asked him what he was going to about the environmental problems that would affect our future. That is why I’m truly here at COP15. I realize that the President alone didn’t have the answer but from an innocent point of view, one could believe all the World Leaders together might, as a team. This is one reason why I am here. Yes—I could be here as a founder for our non-profit, World Team Now, or our emerging World Team project, but I’m actually on assignment for Environment News Service which has quite an extensive distribution and allows the freedom to work in all the other capacities too. But it truly comes back to that core question, “How will humanity live in better balance with our environment?” and that is the question I’m willing to focus my life force into, as it is a question for our time, and our world now.
I am often asked where the passion for the environment and social issues began. Perhaps before I was born, but I remember significant moments from my youth that demonstrate that the seeds were planted long before I was aware of them. For example at boarding school, in 5th grade– I was 10 years old. It was one of the days when the morning bell rang and we were informed at breakfast that the whole school would have an outing together. This time it would be to hike along the roadway for the day to clean up the trash dumped alongside the road. Although this was so much fun being outside and out of the classroom- I was troubled. I reflected on Manhattan where I was born, and how the garbage was piled high on the sidewalk, something upset me about garbage stacked taller than my height, pollution city skyscrapers and crowds of people that made walls. But I really could not understand why there was so much liter along this gorgeous Adirondack road? How did it get there and why? With gloves and garbage bags in hand, I asked my teacher, “Who is like the parent of the flowers, the grass, the air, and our earth?” My teacher understood that I meant, I wanted to know if there were humans in charge of this situation. She explained, “The mayor is the boss”. I persisted to ask, “Who is the mayor’s boss?” My inquiry continued until the conversation escalated to my inquiry, “Is it possible to write a letter to the President of the United States?”
Fortunately, North Country School is the kind of place that inspires experiential learning, so I wrote the letter. Back then I didn’t know what a constituency was, but I knew I was afraid to send the letter alone to the USA President, so I asked a classmate to sign on with me. With the guidance of our teacher, we could do it as an “exercise” to see if we could be heard by people who might be able to do something about our concern in government. We asked the President of the United States of America former President Gerald Ford, “What are you planning to do about the environmental issues, and all of the problems with our water, and air, with pollution?”
Every day, for what seemed like forever, I waited for a reply from the White House. Many said a reply would never happen, to forget about it. I was told, “The White House doesn’t respond to letters from kids, they have more important things to do.” I realized it was important that I wrote the letter.
I don’t know why I had to write this letter, but I did back then– it was from my core. Just like I knew I had to go to Rio for the Earth Summit Global Forum in 1992 and why I had to participate in the Earth Train for Peace project and go to yet another UN conference, this time on: Human Rights, in Vienna 1993. It was a very simple letter; I have it still somewhere in storage. It felt so good to write that letter and actually send it someone older, who had credibility, with authority, who I believed had the power to change our course. By taking action it gave me a feeling like that was bigger than being just me, as one, or my age in years.
Our environment was what our whole class had discussed and researched for a year but we just learned mostly about the problems. By thinking that my action might help be a solution for others, our animals, and trees made my life different, and that was enough.
It really caught me by surprise when the Head Master of our School, the late Harry Eldridge along with my teacher, told me I had received a letter from the President of the United States. Then they requested I read the letter to the school after lunch. A combination of utter fear in equal portion to elation hit me like a wave. Caught in the undertow of being terrified I surfaced to breathe into my first public speaking role, and read the letter out loud. I could not believe that I was met by the applause from all school mates; kids older and younger. I realized my inquiry was the question inside their hearts too. Although the President’s reply was more of a “thank you letter,” and what I thought was a real signature was probably a rubber stamp, I didn’t know that, at the time, and believed it was real.
I believed we had made a difference, and at least it gave me and my friends hope for our future. The value of that is priceless, and that hope inspired action, was motivation to do countless activism projects and has fueled me to be here at COP15 and write my first piece, “Youth Captures the Attention of World Leaders”. I could relate to their passion for “Our Future”.
World Team: Notes from the Base Camp 