Youth: I want a Strong Climate Agreement!

Join Chinese, Indian, and United States youth who are united for a strong international climate agreement that protects us from costly and deadly global warming, invests in clean technology transfer and adaptation, and recognizes our countries' unique roles in a climate change accord. We are committed to working together to stop global warming and promote sustainable development, and ask our countries' leaders to unite as we have.

Read the joint statement written by almost 50 of us at:
www.protectingourfuture.org

Join Chinese, Indian, and United States youth who are united for a strong international climate agreement that protects us from costly and deadly global warming, invests in clean technology transfer and adaptation, and recognizes our countries' unique roles in a climate change accord. We are committed to working together to stop global warming and promote sustainable development, and ask our countries' leaders to unite as we have.

Read the joint statement written by almost 50 of us at:
www.protectingourfuture.org

Read our full joint youth statement at www.protectingourfuture.org

We stand at a historic moment in our response to climate change. World leaders will meet in Copenhagen this year to reach an agreement on a global effort to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Our countries' economies represent past, present, or future significant source of the emissions
threatening our planet. While there is potential for strong partnerships between our nations, our leaders are constrained by vested interests in their desire to protect their people, blaming each other's lack of commitment as a reason not to contribute to a global solution that could benefit us all. Youth recognize that we each have a common but differentiated responsibility to contribute to solutions to the climate crisis. We are united in our belief that global emissions reductions must begin. There is no time to lose.

As youth, we will be alive in 2050 to experience the success or failure of our leaders' effort. We are direct stakeholders to this process. We have come together to state our vision for the opportunities that our countries must take advantage of to help mitigate and adapt to climate change, as well as the
support that each ought to receive to effectively participate in a shared solution to the climate crisis. We are the inheriting generation of today's decisions about climate change, and our future is in the hands of our governments' negotiators. At the same time, we recognize that our future is also our own responsibility. We are ready to make the long-term commitments we outline here, not just ask others to do it for us. We are speaking up for our future. As youth, we are united in our belief that joint action to reduce climate change is a singular opportunity to enable sustainable development in communities throughout the world. We recognize this historic opportunity as a unique chance to celebrate our interdependence and realize mutual benefit by effectively and collaboratively responding to climate change.

Although separated by distance and language, and without the money, power, or time that our leaders possess, we have succeeded in agreeing on a vision for cooperation amongst our countries. If youth can share a vision for a secure future and a healthy planet, we hope that our governments can cross the same barriers that we have crossed, and work together on a mutually beneficial agreement for the protection of our climate, our nations, our generation, and generations to come. Divided, we will surely all suffer. United to prevent the inequities of the future, our nations can succeed and prosper.