Events

Young people around the world will hold peaceful assemblies in support of definitive global action on climate change, under the banner "Seal the Deal!" The Climate Petition will be made available online in a print-friendly format to allow campaigners to hand over a meaningful statement to their national and local authorities, urging governments to reach an agreement in Copenhagen.

The petition was developed online and finally agreed to in Daejeon, South Korea at a Global Townhall for young people on climate change. 

Organized against the backdrop of the world wide campaign on climate change "Seal the Deal!", the petition aims to ensure the voices of youth reach, and hopefully inspire world leaders to sign a definitive climate deal in Copenhagen.

 Young people from around the world will be invited to join a Global Action Week on Climate Change from 20 to 25 September 2009. The Action Week is being organized in partnership with the world’s leading environmental NGO’s and coincides with the UN General Assembly Summit in New York on 22 September 2009.

Seal the Deal! Global Action Climate Week Activities

•  Saturday 19, Global Tree Planting Drive

  • Mass tree planting activities may actually help save the planet! Beginning on 19 September, each tree pledged or planted during Global Climate Week will symbolize a direct call for political action on climate change.
  • Register online how many trees you plan to plant and where. The planting can be part of your Clean up the World activity and contribute to the UN Billion Tree Campaign.
    Also send photos of you planting your tree(s) and get your friends and families and members of your organization to join you and do the same.
  • Felix, our JB member plans to be in New York to have an event on this day on his “stop talking: start planting” campaign. Please let us know if you plan to do something on your part. www.unep.org/billiontreecampaign
    

• Sunday 20, Climate Petition Day

  • Organize public events or online activities to encourage as many people as possible in every corner of the world to sign the Climate Petition.
    
  • We need millions to sign the Climate Petition at sealthedeal2009.org and add their voice to the urgent call on world leaders to seal a fair and effective climate deal in December 2009.
    
  • Ask people in your organizations, your friends and relatives to sign the climate petition on this day. It takes just a few minutes to sign this on the website. If each of us spreads the information and get people to sign, we can together get millions of signature.

• Monday 21,  TUNZA day - Seal the Deal Climate walk and other Tunza Activities
  

  • Under the Seal the Deal! banner, young people around the world held peaceful assemblies in support of definitive global action to combat climate change. Young people added their voices to the global chorus by presenting the Climate Petition and the Youth Statement to their national and local authorities.
  • We proposed the following:
    • Young people who participated in the Conference, boys scout and girl guides organizations to link up and work together.
    • Young people to contact us with their intentions, arrange a meeting with their ministers and other senior government officials before the rally.
    • Liase with us if they need a letter from us explaining the objective of the rallies (meant for dialoguing and to promote awareness on climate change);
    • Share information about your plans on the uniteforclimate platform.
      
    • Engage in other activities to promote climate change awareness

• Tuesday 22, Seal the Deal! Go Green Day

  • On the day the United Nations Secretary-General, Ban Ki-moon, hosts a high-level summit in New York:
  • We are pleased to announce that Yugratna, our JB member from India will be presenting your statement to this Summit.
  • Other things that you can do:
    • WEAR something green
    • DO something green
    • DRESS your town green
      
    • This is a simple way to show solidarity and encourage world leaders to Seal the Deal! on a new global climate change agreement.
      

• Wednesday 23, Go Climate Neutral Day
  

  • Power down! Go climate neutral for the day in a personal show of support for a definitive agreement on climate change. Find ways to offset your carbon footprint.
    
  • Countries, cities, businesses and organizations:
    • Pledge innovative action to lessen your carbon footprint
    • Join the UN Climate Neutral Network
    • Communities and individuals:
  • Ride your bike, car pool or take public transport
  • Enjoy a candlelit dinner while you turn off the lights
  • Share your ideas on how you plan to go Climate Neutral with other like minded people on
    uniteforclimate.org and unep.org/climateneutral

• Thursday 24, Climate Voices Day

  • Join millions of organizations and people calling on world leaders to act now to protect people and the planet. Make your voice heard on climate change and share information on some of the impact of climate change on people and also about positive actions that individuals and groups are taking to combat climate change in your communities.
    
  • Visit sealthedeal2009.org to:
    • Nominate your local climate champ
    • Record your testimonial of how climate change is affecting you
      

• Friday 25, Climate Solutions Day
  

  • Even though our climate is changing more rapidly than expected, it is not too late to change our habits and stop harming the climate. From low energy bulbs to environmentally-friendly cars, solutions for a low carbon future are evolving every day. Tell others what you are doing to reduce your negative impact on climate. Log in and share on your unite for climate account, my.uniteforclimate.org

Other Seal the Deal activities

 “Seal the Deal!” Youth Action includes a number of consolidated activities, that will be given high visibility through the media and online, during the course of the campaign.  

• Children and Youth Conferences on Climate Change, Daejeon, South Korea (17 to 23 August 2009)

The Conference brought together 750 participants comprising 550 children (10 to 14 years) and their chaperones and 200 youth (15 to 24 years). The theme of the conference was "Climate Change - Our Challenge" and included two high profile events (a global townhall and a Global debate on climate change). The Conference resulted in a plan for promoting individual actions on climate change.

• Global Debate on Climate Change with political and business leaders (20 August 2009)

The participants of the Conference had the opportunity to discuss climate change in a debate with political and business leaders and explore scenarios for the global community as well as the individual participants to adopt actions to address climate change.   

Political and business leaders as well as senior UN dignitaries joined 1,000 participants of the Tunza International Children’s and Youth Conferences to discuss climate change and the various scenarios that governments, businesses and individuals should adopt to combat climate change. The children and youth had an opportunity of debating with the leaders, why serious actions were not being taken by political and business leaders and what young people can do to engage their communities and leaders for serious actions on climate change.

Partnerships with major broadcasters and parallel online events will maximize the reach and impact of the events.

• Global Townhall (20 August 2009)

The Global Townhall meeting included 1,000 participants of the Conference and virtual participants from over 20 cities around the world connected via webcasting. It was organized with the support of UNICEF. 

• UniteforClimate Online Campaign

UniteforClimate is an interactive social networking platform developed by UNICEF in collaboration with UNEP. It provides a platform for young people to learn, interact and share their thoughts about climate change and the action needed to combat global warming. 

The soft launch of the platform took place in April 2009 while the main launch took place on 20 August 2009 during the Global Townhall.

Young people were encouraged to interact with scientists and decision-makers in an attempt to build their capacity and knowledge.                                                                                        

• Virtual Climate Wall

A Virtual Climate Wall will allow young people to articulate their concerns on climate change so the world can understand why the next generation feels it’s imperative to reach agreement in Copenhagen. This Climate Wall will be projected at UN headquarters during the General Assembly meeting on 22 September, and at the Climate Conference in Copenhagen in December.