The annual youth summit on climate change has wrapped up in Auckland. It's the first time New Zealand has hosted the international forum.
To mark its end, those involved celebrated their cause with a flash mob, turning up the heat for an issue important to their generation.
“Young people are going to gather,” says youth leader Christina Ora. “They are going to have fun. They are going to be loud. That's the power of young people, and that's how we're going to solve climate change.”
Seven-hundred youth from New Zealand, Australia and the Pacific broke out in dance in downtown Auckland this afternoon, marking the end of the three-day summit on climate change.
“We're inheriting the social, the environmental and economic costs of climate change, and the cost of preventing it rises every day that we wait,” says youth leader Brittany Packer. “We don't have the time to wait.”
The summit in Auckland coincides with the annual Climate Change Conference in Doha, where delegates voted to extend the Kyoto Protocol until 2020 and New Zealand leaders have been criticised for their stance on climate change.
“New Zealand received the ‘Colossal Fossil’ award, which was presented to the government which did the worst for climate change and stalled the negotiations, refused to take action,” says Ms Packer. “So for New Zealand to get that on that global front is irresponsible and shameful.”
But if the energetic performances from the leaders of tomorrow are anything to go by, the future could be looking a bit brighter.
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source: newshub archive
