On December 11th, the GroenLinks Youth organisation represented by chairperson Jesse Klaver presented minister Jacqueline Cramer (Housing, Special Planning & Environment) with a stopwatch at the UN Climate Change Conference Poznań Dec. 1-12, 2008. The stopwatch counts down to the new climate accord scheduled to be agreed in 2009 at Copenhagen. DWARS representatives were received by the minister at the offices of the Dutch delegation to the UN conference. Minister Cramer took plenty of time to listen to speak with the younger members of GroenLinks.
The main point under discussion was the lack of action by the political leaders in attendance. The minister indicated that all the politicians present were in agreement in the long term, but apprehensive for short-term interests. Jesse Klaver: "It's all about getting your priorities right. Do you want to invest in environmental regulation? Or would we rather prefer to spend those funds, for instance, supplying free schoolbooks? Unfortunately the decisions made at Poznań have opted for the short-term fix".
'Countdown to a new climate deal' is the current theme of the European Green Party.
Visitors to the website, www.stopclimatechange.net, can petition the environment minister of their own country for action and the achievement of an international solution by means of pre-formatted letters.
You can watch a video of the stopwatch being presented to minister Cramer at the website
http://www.stopclimatechange.net/