9th Day — Climate Change Conference

Meeting with South African Minister at the Moon Palace Hotel (COP16).
A group from our delegation, Sister Jayanti, BK Usha, Sonja and Golo met with Edna Molewa, the Minister of Water and Environmental Affairs. Sister Jayanti shared with her the necessity for ethics and values to be incorporated into the climate negotiations. The minister agreed and said that when there is not trust it is very difficult to come to an agreement.
Sister Jayanti also shared the news of the activities of the BKs in renewable energy and reforestation and then introduced Golo to the minister. He briefly explained with the help of the brochure, activates of the BKs in the field of solar energy. Sister Jayanti also informed the minister of our activities at COP16 and our plans for COP17 which will be held in Durban, South Africa. BK Usha invited the minister to the local center in Durban and explained that we are making tentative plans to hold a Call-of-the-Time Dialogue with leaders in the field of Climate Change before COP 17, in which she seemed very interested.
It was a very lovely meeting in which the minister and the BK delegation enjoyed quality time in an atmosphere of peace, as the negotiations and meetings swirled around them. The meeting lasted for almost half and hour and in-between Sister Jayanti guided a beautiful meditation which the minister enjoyed deeply.
BK Luciana spent the day participating in a workshop called The World in Latin America/ Latin America in the World: Mobilizing alliances for Rio+ 20 and Beyond. The program went from 9am till 6pm, with three very interesting panels and a presentation at the end by Mr. Oded Grajew, honorary chair of Ethos Institute and coordinator of the pre-conference for Rio + 20, will be on 15/16th September 2011.
After each panel there was interaction between panelists and participants and BK Luciana had the opportunity to express the point of view of BKWSU on Climate Change, calling for a shift of awareness, need for applying universal values in practical life, and change of life style.
There was the opportunity to meet several of the members of AVINA, which is a leading organization in leadership building and the environment in Latin America, and various personalities (some of them are BK contacts): Mr. Leonardo Boff, Brazilian author and philosopher( former priest/ founder of Theology of Liberation), Mr. Marcelo Takaoca, respected building contractor; Kirsty Schneeberger, think2050 Campaign and youth activist, Mr. Jorge Abraão, the recently appointed President for Ethos Institute in Brazil; Mr. Ricardo Young, from Ethos Institute; and politician Fabio Feldman amongst many others from several NGOs in Latin America and some respected organizations in the World.
Program with the Mexican Ministry of Environment
The Mexican Ministry of the Environment invited all the heads of the different departments that work with environment and transparency in the country to be in Cancun to work together. Mateo Castillo, who heads up this department had met BK Valeriane in Ahmadabad at the Earth Charter +10 conference, this past November, and had very much enjoyed a meditation that Valeriane had conducted at the conference and had especially invited her to do the same for this gathering.
On arrival Valeriane spoke to an audience, of about thirty people, on the power to change then BK Yolanda, from the Merida center in Mexico, conducted the meditation with BK Piero finishing off by sharing how Yogic Farming as a way to show how the mind has power to influence matter.

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