Last week, I attended the U.N. Climate Change negotiations with 223 U.S. student activists where I found myself confronting corporate lobbyists and singing “Jingle Bells” to U.S. negotiators.

“Hot as hell, oceans swell, warmer every day,” we sang as we handed the United States and the supporting umbrella nations a stocking full of coal, telling them they were being naughty and not nice.

We are one of the richest country in the world, and by far, the largest emitter of greenhouses gases, yet we whined that we NEEDED loopholes in the treaty to ease our burden.

We NEEDED clean-coal allowances and carbon sinks. These vague loopholes and flexible mechanisms would actually allow us to INCREASE our emissions in the end!

And now I listen with outrage at the story they are telling American citizens back home.

The European Union members were not the bad guys at this meeting; they were fighting hard for a treaty that would make a real difference in the warming trends, by cutting real emissions and hitting real targets.

They were the ones who chose to stand up with the rest of the world and not be bullied by the United States and our OPEC partners.

The E.U. is hearing the pleas of the world, listening as Eskimos talk of the melting ice and the dwindling fish stocks. They are hearing the African delegates as they plead for the rich developed countries to act, saying “we are poor, we did not do this, you did. Our people should not have to pay the price.”

They are hearing the small island nations speak of the cultural genocide that will soon be upon them, as ocean waters continue to rise.

I was ashamed to be an American at those talks, watching as my country did everything in it’s power to manipulate, weaken and otherwise block the treaty negotiations.

While we pushed for a strong treaty, our own negotiators were working diligently to protect the corporations and energy industries that are causing the warming.

Our last day at in the center, after days of challenging the nuclear and coal lobbyists, and putting hard questions to our own U.S. delegation and senators, after learning the hard facts from the scientists themselves. We came together in the center of the complex with delegates from around the world.

All 223 U.S. student representatives, joined by delegates and activists from around the world, chanted and sang (not in support of our own nation, but in support of the countries taking a stand for our future), “E.U. stand strong!”

Global Warming is a threat more serious than we have been led to believe. The coal industry and its dependents have done a fine job of fogging the facts and glossing over the fears.

Despite all their comforting words, the warming is still happening and every day we deny this fact pushes us one step closer to sealing our fate.

This is not a problem for future generations, it is our problem and our fight.

We will determine whether or not the children of today will have a world left to live in.

We CAN slow global warming while protecting our economic stability; countries around the world are already proving that.

The rest of the world is shifting into new energy markets and sustainable industries, and we are being left behind. Our corporations and our country are making the wrong choice when they weaken the Protocol. And only a massive public outcry will change our course and our fate.

Rachel Hein

Senior

Graphic design