Americans For Prosperity got completely owned by a bunch of active, dedicated American college kids in Copenhagen. I have a soft spot for civil disobedience, especially when it works in an overwhelming fashion – as seen in the video below.
Utah’s very own Ashley Anderson, a friend mine, was there and got perhaps the best quote of the summit so far:
“When the US delegation stood up,” remarked Ashley Anderson, a Utah activist who is attending the Copenhagen climate negotiations, “it became immediately obvious that the deniers were outnumbered at their own open gathering. In desperation, Lord Monckton called us horrible names–names I’d rather not repeat. We were fighting for a more intelligent, more humane, more thoughtful future; Lord Monckton, and those that organized [the denier convention,] are fighting for their perceived right to steer the reckless speedboat of callous capitalism right into a crowd of future generations who are gathered at the shore.
“We rejected that today, and sunk their selfish and scarcely populated ship,” Anderson went on. The young attendees view the interruption of the conference as an enormous success for clean energy and climate advocates worldwide.
And, let’s not pass over the behavior of the Climate Deniers themselves. Again, evidenced in the video below.
The students entered the event in small groups, joining a paltry audience of five conference attendees, who had come to hear climate denier Lord Christopher Monckton speak about the Copenhagen climate negotiations. After the first five minutes of the event, student representatives from SustainUS, the Sierra Student Coalition, the Cascade Climate Network, and other American youth NGOs displayed banners reading “Climate Disaster Ahead” and “Clean Energy Now.” After security agents at the event took the banners, the young attendees began a chant of “Real Americans for Prosperity are Americans for Clean Energy.” The chant lasted five minutes, as the youth took the stage and displayed their message for the live video feed being sponsored by Americans for Prosperity, despite evasive action by Americans for Prosperity President Tim Phillips and his camera crew. As they left the stage, Lord Monckton repeatedly called the activists “crazed Hitler Youth” and “nazis.”
You can see Ashley in the crowd – he’s the good looking one with the serious look on his face.
The whole press release after the jump:
PRESS RELEASE:
US Youth Crash Climate Denier Event in Copenhagen
Young Clean Energy Advocates Take the Reigns at “Americans For Prosperity” Conference
COPENHAGEN, DENMARK – Fifty young Americans, including at least one Utahn, took over a climate denier conference hosted by a prominent conservative organization this evening in Copenhagen, rushing the stage and telling the live TV audience that a clean energy future is the real road to prosperity in America. The young people, merely a fraction of the US youth who are in Denmark for the UN climate negotiations, entered a session of the Americans for Prosperity “Hot Air Tour” speaker series, and were able to drop two banners and gain access to the conference’s stage. The live event was webcast to over forty climate denier rallies in cities across the United States.
The students entered the event in small groups, joining conference attendees who had come to hear climate denier Lord Christopher Monckton speak about the Copenhagen climate negotiations. After the first five minutes of the event, student representatives from SustainUS, the Sierra Student Coalition, the Cascade Climate Network, and other American youth NGOs displayed banners reading “Climate Disaster Ahead” and “Clean Energy Now.” After security agents at the event took the banners, the young attendees began a chant of “Real Americans for Prosperity are Americans for Clean Energy.” The chant lasted five minutes, as the youth swarmed the stage and displayed their message for the live video feed sponsored by Americans for Prosperity, despite evasive action on the camera crew’s part. As they left the stage, Lord Monckton repeatedly called the activists “Hitler Youth” and “nazis.”
“When the US delegation stood up,” remarked Ashley Anderson, a Utah activist who is attending the Copenhagen climate negotiations, “it became immediately obvious that the deniers were outnumbered at their own open gathering. In desperation, Lord Monckton called us horrible names–names I’d rather not repeat. We were fighting for a more intelligent, more humane, more thoughtful future; Lord Monckton, and those that organized [the denier convention,] are fighting for their perceived right to steer the reckless speedboat of callous capitalism right into a crowd of future generations who are gathered at the shore.
“We rejected that today, and sunk their selfish and scarcely populated ship,” Anderson went on. The young attendees view the interruption of the conference as an enormous success for clean energy and climate advocates worldwide.
“Clean energy creates jobs,” says Rachel Barge, a 24-year-old entrepreneur from San Francisco, CA who was the first young person to raise her voice at the event. “These climate action delayers and science deniers are stealing bold new economic opportunities from the American public.” Laura Comer, 21, of Strongsville, OH, seconded Barge, saying, “We’re representing the majority of Americans on this, particularly young Americans. The real America wants clean energy–not more fossil-fuel-funded lies about the science.”
