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8- The Oakville Beaver Weekend, Saturday December 13, 2008 www.oakvillebeaver.com the passion The Gift of the Season the dance Youth delegate at climate change conference by Canada's inaction By David Lea www.oakvillebeaver.com OAKVILLE BEAVER STAFF OAKVILLE's #1 DANCE STUDIO latin ballroom 30% off Gift CERTIFICATES when you mention this ad www.blueheel.ca oakville: 905.849.0008 mississauga: 905.272.3262 Refer a friend and save! Safe Start: Beginner Driver Education CLASSROOM 25 hrs in-class Evenings & Weekends Small class sizes Use of interactive tools to keep students engaged - 6 hrs simulation - Adverse Weather effects - Risk free environment - Focused on highway, urban & city driving SIMULATION IN-CAR LESSON - 10 hrs private in-car lessons - Flexible scheduling & pick up - Professional & Skilled Instructors Next Courses December 20, 21, 22, 23 Saturday,SOLD OUT (Xmas Break) 9:30am to 4:1 Sunday, Monday, Tuesday 4:15pm December 27, 28, 29, 30 Saturday, Sunday, Monday, Tuesday 9:30am to 4:15pm Call today to Register! For course information: www.drivewiseoakville.com info@drivewiseoakville.com 905.845.7200 A 17-year-old Abbey Park High School student is returning to Canada feeling a mixture of frustration and wonder after participating in the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Poznan, Poland. Meagan McKeen served as the youngest member of the Canadian Youth Delegation, which attended the conference along with around 10,000 other participants from 190 different countries. "The experience has so far been certainly new for me in that it's a very busy atmosphere," said McKeen, from the conference, earlier this week. "For me, being able to be in the same room with these people from all over the world on such a global level is really amazing." McKeen was selected to attend the conference, which stretched from Dec. 1, to Dec. 12, by British Council Canada for her work with the program `International Climate Champions,' last year. That experience saw her travel to Kobe, Japan where she spoke with G8 Environmental Ministers about climate change. The focus of this year's conference was to find ways for the nations of the world to effectively mitigate greenhouse gas emissions and adapt to the impending global climate change. Financing the development and transfer of environmentally friendly technologies was another key area the conference examined. McKeen's job, and the job of the other Canadian youth delegates, in all this was to essentially speak for the youth of Canada. "We have many outlets to do that," she said. "We've been organizing youth actions, which for the most part are visual images used to target media and delegates to get across the messages youth are trying to send." One visual image McKeen and her colleagues created was intended to draw attention to their belief that the conference negotiations are not focusing on actual scientific reduction targets. The image shows three monkeys, one with its hands over its mouth, one with its hands over its ears and one with its hands over its eyes. The caption above reads `Hear No Science, See No Science, Speak No Science.' McKeen said she also had an appointment to speak with Environment Minister Jim Prentice during the conference to give him the youth delegation's view on what he should bring forward at the negotiations. On Thursday, Prentice addressed the conference noting Canada wanted to work with other countries to cut greenhouse gas emissions in half by 2050. McKeen said this was a far cry from the target recommended by scientists. "The range that keeps coming up is a 25 to 40 per cent reduction on the 1990 levels "It's very frustrating to be here representing a country that hasn't taken any leadership at this point." Meagan McKeen, Abbey Park High School student and member of the Canadian Youth Delegation at the United Nations Climate Change Conference by 2020," said McKeen. "At the rate we're going as far as environmental policy is concerned we are not going to make it." McKeen said Canada has been singled out by other nations for causing delays and impeding the progress of the conference. This perceived inaction was recognized on an almost daily level by a non-governmental organization called Climate Action Network. "They have an award called `Fossil of the Day,' which they give to the three countries that blocked negotiations the most that day," said McKeen. "We've received the most `Fossils of the Day' as of yet." While McKeen said it was an honour to be chosen to participate in the conference and pointed out that she enjoyed experiencing the Polish culture, she admitted being part of a Canadian delegation at a global climate change conference was not as great as it could have been. "It's very frustrating to be here representing a country that hasn't taken any leadership at this point," she said. "I would like to see strategic action taken so that we are prepared to sign an agreement in Copenhagen next year. That's very much the purpose of this conference -- to lay the groundwork for the Copenhagen Agreement (on climate change reduction) and again at the rate Canada is going we're not going to make it, we're not going to get ourselves to that position." McKeen is calling on the youth of Canada and the world to unite and continue working towards a more environmentally friendly world. "We need to be loud. The youth of the world needs to be loud because we're not being heard," she said.