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Greetings friends, family, and interested citizens!

I hope everyone had a fabulous Turkey Day and is looking forward to the rest of the holiday season. I do love holidays. This year I have a particular holiday wish I’d like to present to you.

As many of you know, this December will see me traveling to Copenhagen, Denmark to participate in the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), 15th Conference of the Parties, or COP-15. I have been a sustainability advocate for my entire university career and began to focus on climate change issues this past summer. Some of you may have followed my summer climate activism efforts as part of the Europe Climate Action Factory. As part of my time in Europe as a Youth Climate Fellow I attended some UN pre-sessions for COP-15 – attendance that not only sparked my interest but highlighted the need for youth involvement in the UNFCCC.

Youth are now a recognized constituency at UNFCCC events, joining environmental non-profits, businesses, and research institutions. This gives international youth a voice, a way to formally interact with negotiations that will be deciding our future. As a constituent I am outraged by the crippled pace of the negotiations and the utter lameness of proposed emission reductions. I want the UNFCCC member nations to know how I feel, especially the US. In speaking to my fellow youth constituents I found my peers to be just as affronted by the “progress” of the negotiations. In response to this I’m working with a core team of UC Santa Cruz students to run an outreach campaign on campus. This campaign culminates with the hand delivery of hundreds of postcards from California youth to the US delegation at COP-15. That’s right, I’m bringing my UCSC team to Copenhagen and we’re geared up to give our national delegation a hard time.

In addition to this I’m helping the entire California Student Delegation, of which the UCSC team will be part. I’ll be spending sleepless nights in Copenhagen organizing meetings with delegates, protests and marches, political actions, and media stunts. I’ll be writing press releases and policy recommendations, creating multimedia projects with political intent. I’ll be coordinating with international environmental and social justice non-profits, business coalitions, and the delegates of poor and underrepresented nations. I’ll be training my peers as youth climate activists and I will be learning a myriad of new skills along the way. My peers and I will all work tirelessly to ensure that COP-15 results in a bold, just, and equitable global climate deal which ensures the survival of all peoples.

Now for my holiday wish. The total cost for me to attend COP-15 is about $2,500. This is way out of my budget, even with the help of my University and sponsoring non-profits. I cannot afford this opportunity without your generosity. You will be funding my work at Copenhagen as I fight for my future and for the lives of those most in danger from climate change.

I thank you for anything and everything from the bottom of my heart.

With love and optimism,
Jenny