Building community resilience in the face of environmental injustice (phone)
Sister Usha offered an impactful input at the closing of SAFCEI’s (Southern African Faith Communities’ Environment Institute) policy conference “A new vision for sacred life and living earth” It was held on 5-7 November 2019 in Johannesburg. The purpose of this conference was to create a space where faith leaders from Southern Africa and beyond…
LCOY15 Netherlands (phone)
Report: BK participation at LCOY – the Local Conference of Youth for Climate Change in Netherlands 16th – 17th November 2019, Amsterdam The Local Conference of Youth for Climate Change Netherlands (LCOYNL) 2019 took place from 16-17 November at the Amsterdam University College. The Conference of Youth (COY) is a youth-powered conference which take place…
COY15 Madrid (phone)
Report: BK participation at COY15 – the Conference of Youth for Climate Change held in Spain November 29 – December 1, 2019, Madrid The Conference of Youth (COY) is held annually in the same country and prior to the Conference of the Parties (COP), which is the supreme decision-making body of the United Nations Framework…
LCOY in Germany (phone)
Report about first BK Local Conference of Youth in Germany 4.-6. October 2019, in Heidelberg The Local Conferences of Youth (LCOY´s) are organized in addition to the international COY, which always take place shortly before the UN Climate Change Conference in the same host country. Since the awareness of the need to inform and act…
COP25 – Madrid – Report 11 (last) (phone)
Friday 13th December 2019 Madrid, Spain This is the final day, and slowly the last members of green team leave our lovely BK centre in Madrid. Final on late Sunday morning a very weak and almost useless declaration has been signed. No major breakthrough had been seriously expected but observers had at least hoped to…
COP25 – Madrid – Report 10 (phone)
Thursday 12 December 2019 Madrid, Spain While protesters were pondering how best to make their point as the Friday evening deadline for the negotiations approached, the conference halls were still thronging with business executives and representatives of corporate groups. Many were hosting receptions, cocktails and dinners for financial backers, institutions and government officials. There seems…
COP25 – Madrid – Report 9 (phone)
Wednesday 10th December 2019 Madrid, Spain This morning started with a series of talks in the main plenary hall, moderated by Gonzalo Muñoz. He is the designated climate champion from Chile. The first Speaker was Johan Rockström of the Potsdam Climate Institute and he summed up the latest findings in climate research. The picture he…
COP25 – Madrid – Report 8 (phone)
Tuesday 10th December 2019 Madrid, Spain Opening of high-level plenum at the COP High level delegates from the Governments are meeting in Madrid for the second week of crucial UN talks on the global response to the climate emergency. Campaigners have been frustrated by the slow pace of the negotiations, despite growing public clamour, including…
COP25 – Madrid – Report 7 (phone)
Monday 9th December 2019 Madrid, Spain This Monday morning, we went early to the Conference as Golo had a Press conference along with Solar Cookers inter-national. At the entrance we were greeted by climate protesters chanting: There is no future without a planet. But before our press conference, the Hall was used by Fridays for…
COP25 – Madrid – Report 6 (phone)
Saturday 7th December 2019 Madrid, Spain The climate conference is entering in its second week and soon environment and foreign ministers will arrive to give a boost and finalise the outcome. Interestingly, the overriding issue of how fast the world needs to cut greenhouse gas emissions has received little official attention. “We are at risk…
COP25 – Madrid – Report 5 (phone)
Friday 6th December 2019 Madrid, Spain Half-way briefing This morning, our team met for the half-way briefing. BKs programs and activities have gone well but it appears the conference is not yet on track to deal adequately with the climate crisis. There is still a week to go but experts already voice doubts if the…
COP25 – Madrid – Report 4 (phone)
Thursday 5th December 2019 Madrid, Spain Golo and Sonja brought the eternal COP flame from Chile to Madrid. Sister Jayanti official handed it over to the Spanish Brahma Kumaris (BK’s). Workshop on tracking progress 2020-23 Julia and Maria attended a meeting which was part of a two-day CAMDA workshop on data collection and climate action. …
COP25 – Madrid – Report 3 (Phone)
Wednesday 4th December 2019 Madrid, Spain COP Press conference The day started with our press conference “Climate Emergency needs Visionary Leadership”. Prior to us, the Fridays for Future School strike movement held their press Conference and so the hall was packed and vibrant with the energy when we entered. In our press conference, we discussed…
COP25 – Madrid – Report 2 (phone)
Report on the UN Climate Change Conference COP25 Tuesday 3rd December 2019, Madrid, Spain The climate conference has started and is now in full swing. More than 20,000 delegates have arrived. The civil society is also present in big numbers and even Greta Thunberg has arrived in Lisbon today by sailboat. This COP is all…
COP25 – Madrid – Report 1 (phone)
Report on the UN Climate Change Conference COP25 Sunday 1st December 2019 Madrid, Spain From 2nd to14th December, the 25th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP25) is taking place in Madrid, Spain. It is the 11th Climate Conference where Brahma Kumaris (BK) is actively participating. Our BK…
LCOY Austria 2019 (phone)
LOCAL CLIMATE CONFERENCE OF YOUTH The LCOY Austria took place in Vienna from the 8th to 11th of November 2019. About 300 young people participated. The content was well organized and over 65 workshops were offered. As participants had to be under 30 years old to join the conference, Rainer and Stephanie from the BK…