SES to COP15: The Journey in Photographs

Now that the travels of the SESEF student delegation are officially over, I feel it is the ideal time to recap the events which have come to pass. The photographs below tell much more of our adventures than I could ever share through use of words alone. It is my hope that through the application of powerful visuals, this incredible experience might be allowed a greater sense of reality to the community back home.

After seemingly infinite hours of travel, we arrived at the Copenhagen Airport in a state of severe disorientation.

Pictured: Luke & Ashley

The first experiences we had in Copenhagen would ultimately foreshadow the entirety of the trip. That goes to say: experiencing public transportation was one of the key aspects to this field study.

Pictured: Jessica, Luke, Tara, Deon, David, Katie, & Ashley

Our first full day in Sweden we traveled to meet the hospitable Mayor of Landskrona who provided us with informational books about the city.

Pictured: Ashley, David, Beth, Mayor's Wife, Mayor's Grandchild, Mayor, Beth, Jessica, Tara, Deon, Alex, & Katie

At the introdutory luncheon, Mr.Johnson offered the Minnesota flag to the Swedish students as a token of our appreciation.

Pictured: Katie, Beth, & Mr.Johnson

I spent much of the first day of the conference exploring various parts of the Bella Center. The area displayed was one of the busiest in the center, serving as a path between the large forum center and more specialized meeting rooms.

This is one of the two huge plenary rooms where the official business of the Convention was carried out.

This is the largest of the open delegate working spaces. I often found myself typing furiously in this sea of laptops with individuals from at least four distinctly different world regions surrounding me. It was an incredible place to sit in awe and soak up the sheer magnitude of the conference.

The official SESEF Delegation Photo.

Pictured: Beth, Alex, Katie, Jessica, Deon, Tara, Ashley, Beth, Luke, & David

This is a display of a usual morning at the COP15. We congregated in the forum, discussed the exciting events of the day, updated the blog, checked email, and scampered off to whatever side events or plenary sessions provoked intrigue.

Pictured: Deon, Jessica, Mr. Johnson, & Mr. Johnson

The conference encompassed a huge variety of side events from all ends of the earth. At this particular event, I was able to witness a traditional dance from a woman of a small island nation. Her performance, rich in cultural identity, was a powerful mechanism for reminding people just what is at stake if we don't work to combat the effects of climate change.

I also had the chance to hear the powerful words of the Intergovernmental Panal on Climate Change (IPCC) as they discussed plans for their Fifth Assessment Report.

One of the most influental people attending the conference was Rajendra K. Pachauri: the highly regarded chairman of the IPCC.

Some of the other delegates and I attended various scheduled youth events. This particular event in diplay entailed the creation of a "rainstorm" to call attention to the youth's demand for climate justice.

Throughout the course of the conference, interviews were collected from a wide variety of people wherever the opportunity presented itself.

Pictured: Katie

Occasionally we became the subject of an interview as well. At this time, Deon and Katie were being interviewed by people who wanted a youth perspective on the controversial riots at the conference.

Pictured: Deon

We had the opportunity to skype with students back at SES during their classtime. In this photo, David is conveying something of importance to classmates back home.

Pictured: Jessica, Tara, Ashley, & David

The last day we attended the conference, riots broke out around the perimeter of the conference center. One of the Swedish students named Amanda exemplified the general mass of people attempting to exit the building with her look of anxious confusion.

Pictured: Amanda

We learned how to effectively pass time while riding trains, waiting for trains, or simply waiting.

Pictured: Tara & Jessica

I (clearly) took pictures to pass the time on our various adventures with public transportation.

One of the days not at the conference was spent in the beautiful city of Lund. We toured a cathedral, roamed the streets, and enjoyed the festive sounds of the Santa Lucia concert.

Pictured: Ashley & Luke

The holiday spirit could be seen everywhere we went in Sweden. In the transit center, we stumbled upon a group of students singing the traditional holiday music.