Climate Justice Activist Anna Keenan talks to OneClimate at COP15 in Copenhagen

Part 1:

Part 2:

Part 3:

Some quotes from Anna:

From Part 1 of the interview:

"The degree of effect that you have is always quite intangible as an activist, and I think more than anything else we're contributing to cultural change and we're also contributing to the inspiration of the climate activist movement. I've had so many activist friends say to me 'you know, I think what you're doing is inspiring. I was going to leave and take a break after Copenhagen, but your action has shown me the sort of dedication that people are ready to personally give to the climate movement, and that's encouraging me to keep going in 2010, and it's giving me all of this replenishing energy.'"

"It's not a lack of food that we have in our world, it's an inequitable distribution of it."

"Realizing the level of over-consumption -- the over-prevelance of stuff -- that we have in our society has been probably the greatest realizationof being on the fast. The cause of climate change is not just coal, it's not just methane from cows, it's not just deforestation, it's our over-consumption, primarily. And we in the developed world need to reform our habits and our goals in life from being consume consume consume, be hedonistic, be pleasurable, have beer houses, flat screen tvs, better Macbooks, etc. We need to reform those values to know when having enough is enough. And I think that's one of the greatest realizations that I've come to through the fast."

From Part 2:

"This is like a race between scientific and political tipping points, and currently the scientific tipping point is going to come first. But the climate justice fast, and the building of the movement that we've seen in the past year -- it's starting to go exponential. More people are joining the climate movement every minute. More people are deciding 'I'm going to quit my job, I'm going to defer from university to be a climate activist and to work my ass off until we get that political tipping point to happen.' Just like as we add more and more carbon dioxide to the atmosphere at some point we might hit a scientific tipping point, we're adding more and more people, more and more  energy, more inspiration, more love to the climate movement, and at some stage that's going to break down this wall, and it's going to catalyze into the start of the sustainability era, and I am so ready and so waiting for that moment. I'm really excited about it."

"I'm committed to climate activism for life. I understand this transition is going to take 40 years to implement. By 2050 we have to have totally phased out fossil fuels, and I'm ready to spend my life doing that work."

From Part 3:

"While I love political activism, I can't wait for it to be over, so that I can just start planting my permaculture garden and being a fulltime circus activist, teaching kids all about community art, or something like that -- getting into the practical side of sustainability. I can't wait for that day."