photo: wwf france/ BY-NC-SA

It is the second day of the climate negotiations in Copenhagen, Denmark, and even as an official delegate of the Sierra Student Coalition, I still get confused about what exactly is happening here. I think everyone here is not exactly clear on what this event is, so I've decided to write COP15 in 5 minutes:

The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change holds a negotiating session every year between the countries of the world in United Nations about how to act on climate change. COP15 stands for Conference of the Parties, and this year is the fifteenth. This one is especially important because the leaders of the world are becoming more open to taking action against climate change. The goal (of environmentalists and climate change activists) is to come up with a legally binding treating that every country will ratify with bold goals to reverse climate change. All these countries are coming together, and there are different ways people can participate in the conference.

1. Governmental: negotiators or heads of state of different countries talk and meet about what their country is willing to do, what initiatives they are willing to take.
2. Business: big businesses affected by emissions, aviation industry, etc....
3. Non-Government Organization: that's me! non-profits like Sierra Club represent their organization's wishes
4. YOUNG PEOPLE!: for the first time young people are an official constituent and get to take part in the negotiations. "YOUNGO" is the group of young people from all over the world, over 2000 people, 500 from the US.
among various other ways...

As I sit here on my laptop in the Bella Center in Copenhagen, the location of COP15, I look out on a collection of people of every color, dress, and language, a mess of meeting rooms and information desks, security blocking people from getting in and official badges giving access. I am intrigued by each and every person that walks by, wondering what their role is here. What is anyone doing at this conference anyway?
I've come to the understanding that we are all here to represent people back home, or the voice of whatever business or government or organization they represent, to the negotiators. Hopefully they will listen and consider everyone here in their treaty. 25,000 people have converged in Copenhagen to address this issue, but all 6.8 billion or so people in the world should be here. Climate change affects everyone, whether you are a high school student from California, a farmer in Kenya, or Secretariate of the United Nations Yvo de Boer. This conference is a collection of symbols and people that will represent every single kind of person, plant, and animal on this planet to make sure all interests are addressed in a fair, equitable, and hopefully legally-binding treaty on climate change.

10:30 a.m. local Copenhagen time