On the eve of the South Carolina Democratic primary, some battles are being fought on stage, and others in the parking lot.

This primary season, leading up to arguably the most important presidential election in recent history, has been a circus. Even outside the candidate events, voters waiting in line to cheer Huckabee or Obama might see confederate-flag-jacket-donning Ron Paul supporters espouse southern pride, orange-shirted volunteers collect petitions about Darfur, and PETA organizers dressed up as pigs holding puzzling signs that say “Stop Global Warming, Tax Meat.” And while all the presidential campaigns try to capture the media’s attention by printing more and bigger signs, and turning out louder supporters, they can’t quite keep the menagerie at bay.

In a way, this is all good for democracy — it shows that volunteers and organizations are pressuring candidates on specific issues, many of which the candidates have not sufficiently addressed on the stump or in debates. Politicians have a knack for beating around the bush. But, when a corporate-funded group joins the cast, as the euphemistic Americans for Balanced Energy Choices has, the parking lot battles really begin.

The Washington Post reported in an article on January 18 that ABEC — which is funded by companies including Arch Coal Inc., Peabody Energy Corp., Duke Energy, and Southern Co. — is waging a $35 million “astroturf” campaign to convince the public and candidates that “clean coal” is a viable alternative energy. The group is running TV and radio ads in primary and caucus states and has hired organizers to disseminate its materials at candidate events and outside debates.

Just yesterday, in the shadow of the famous Myrtle Beach sand castle — a Mt. Rushmore-like mound, in which are carved the faces of all the candidates — our coalition of committed clean energy advocates encountered more than a few ABEC operatives. They passed out literature to media and to the crowds who came to ogle the sand sculpture. We decided to combat their corporate-sponsored campaign on behalf of the dirtiest of fossil fuels by telling the truth. We have the facts on our side, right?

After a great media event sponsored by South Carolina’s Coastal Conservation League, complete with music from a local songstress and speeches by concerned youth, we declared (sticker) war, and sicced Frosty the Snowman, a polar bear, and two dozen green, hard-hatted volunteers on the clean-coal reps. We collected hundreds of signatures on a petition to stop a proposed coal-fired power plant from being built in nearby Pee Dee, talked about green jobs and clean energy, and made sure to let the crowds know what ABEC’s interests are.

As the day wore on, the phalanx of paid ABEC representatives multiplied; they called for reinforcements and were joined by a trio of recent public relations majors, flown in from Los Angeles, wearing backpack billboards extolling the virtues of “America’s most abundant energy source,” and giving out countless T-shirts and stickers.

Despite the coal industry’s efforts to convince the American people and candidates that coal is a clean fuel, most South Carolinians can withstand the spin — and armed with the facts, will not vote to put future generations in danger and poison our air and water. In an exit poll conducted during the South Carolina Republican primary just a few days ago, more than 90 percent of those polled supported energy efficiency measures and renewables, and a majority were against building new coal plants in the state unless they are able to prevent pollution.

The fact that the coal industry is spending millions of dollars to convince the country that they’re not putting our future at risk is testament to the hard work many national, regional, and local organizations have put into the coal battle. Though there are roughly 100 coal-fired power plants slated to be built in this country, let’s not forget the 59 that have been scrapped because of public pressure. The industry is running scared, because they know that no matter which candidate wins the general election, their dollars will not be welcome in the White House. Frosty and dozens of green hard hats will battle ABEC on the ground, but let’s all make sure our candidates and the public know the truth: that there’s no such thing as “clean coal.”

Nusa Dua, Bali. We have been sitting outside the closed conference rooms where delegates from around the world engage in the grueling process of working out an international climate policy, line by line. Campaigners, delegates, and journalists mill about, trading rumors and whispering strategy. Everyone has been working nonstop for two whole weeks, and it all has come down to this one long session.

The milling crowd reflects nothing of the nuance of the international negotiations, which will determine the future of international climate change policy. Instead, the din reveals the clanking of glasses and the milling hubbub of various national representatives, sound and fury, signifying nothing. The air may be charged, but what exactly are we all waiting for? Everyone is as edgy and nervous as an expectant father banished from the maternity room, yet there will be no agreement born today. At the moment, all we hope for is a plan to negotiate another plan.

Why on earth are we here at 2:00 a.m.? We know that in the end, despite all our efforts at the conference and over the last year, the White House delegates will ignore the will of the American people and even the plight of their own children. The sad truth is that while we have done so much over the last year and won so many victories, when we try to get our own government to represent us it is like we are the nagging conscience they have grown comfortable ignoring.

Earlier, before the negotiations dragged into the wee hours, we moved the assembled delegates to tears with our plea and call for action. We shamed the U.S. delegation for lying to us before the world. We told the stories of young people losing their homes, their livelihoods, and their human rights; how we felt betrayed by those that refused to protect us when we needed them. Finally, we simply, quietly, begged them to act.

The U.S. delegates only smiled and continued on. They are blithely acting as if our collective future, the very fate of our society, is nothing but another diplomatic chessboard to advance the narrow economic issues of one industrial sector. It is no longer shameful, it is beyond embarrassing, it is a moral outrage.

It is time for accountability. We cannot trust this generation of “leaders” to safeguard our future. We have no choice, but to rise to the challenge ourselves.

At this conference, we have talked about building a global youth climate movement and how it could help our regional or national organizations coordinate. But we can no longer think just in terms of organizational development — we must galvanize our generation. We must communicate, in as stark terms as possible, the two paths that lie before us.

Down one path lies a world where we have overcome the shame of global poverty, the terror of rising conflict, and embraces sustainability to uplift humanity. The other is almost too terrible to contemplate, where nations war over declining resources, the world’s most vulnerable pay the terrible cost of inaction, and we play Russian roulette with our very future.

With the choices so clear, our duty is even clearer: we are the ones that must act. We must act to make this generation, which represents almost half the population of the Earth, the one that rises to the climate challenge. We have but one chance, one future, and one climate.

As I wrote this post, I was listening to Al Gore give his speech at the U.N. Climate Negotiations. It had been a long trip here, and despite the schedule and the heat I was still excited. As we sat in the audience, we spoke with Kevin Knobloch from UCS and watched Kelley trying to talk with U.S. representative Paula Dobriansky … but we were all here to listen to Al Gore.

I was surprised to hear him lead with a reference from the Holocaust, but it hit home. How can we ignore those who are the harbingers of the threat of climate change. People can’t ignore stories of people like Claire Antrea, a young nun from Kiribati whose home is being flooded. These threats are coming for us, and the sense of urgency must come from the fact the science is changing so fast that none of us, even in the developed world, can assume we are safe.

This is a powerful idea, and one that seems to be coming true.

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Along with 10 other young Australians, I traveled to Bali to bring the voice of Australia’s youth to the U.N. Climate Change Conference. We have been reminding world leaders that our future is threatened. However, my personal concerns about my future were eclipsed when a young woman named Claire from the small island nation of Kiribati stood up in front of 200 international youth and told her story. For Claire, climate change is more than a future concern. It is right here, right now.

Youth from all over the world, including Australia, had come together to share their stories and successes in raising awareness and taking action on climate change in their home countries. Every participant was humbled by Claire, who offered her heartfelt thanks to all of us for our efforts. Her home, only two meters above sea level, is rapidly being inundated by the rising ocean. Two islands that make up Kiribati have already been submerged. Claire’s island, home, culture, and future are all under imminent threat from climate change. It is likely that her entire nation will have to be evacuated in the near future. Where do you go when your country simply vanishes?

Claire’s voice, and the voices of the Pacific, are largely absent from the U.N. Climate Change Conference. These nations are small in terms of their size, population, wealth, and greenhouse-gas emissions. That’s the irony: those who have contributed the least — and benefited the least from the extraction and burning of fossil fuels — will suffer first. Kiribati will be underwater before the bulk of the Australian population realizes that climate change is the most serious issue on the planet.

Claire’s experience also illustrates the fallacy in calling a two-degree rise in temperature "dangerous climate change." Climate change is clearly dangerous for people like Claire right now.

Global temperature has risen 0.7 degrees, leading to dangerous consequences for people all over the world — whether it was the European heat wave killing over 35,000, or the drought that has devastated the lives of Australian farmers. A two-degree rise in global temperature is not where things get dangerous — two degrees is falling off a cliff into global climate catastrophe. It is accepted that a two-degree warming is where we can expect to see irreversible changes in natural systems that support human life. Two degrees may trigger “runaway climate change” where natural systems will contribute to global warming.

However, we can’t be sure that two degrees is where we will find the cliff edge — it may be well before. Recent research suggests that a 1.5- to 1.7-degree increase in global temperature is likely to cause the melting of both the West Antarctic and the Greenland ice sheets. If these enormous blocks of ice melt, global sea level is expected to rise by at least 13 meters.

The Pacific Islanders’ experiences offer us a window into our potential future. Seventy percent of the world’s population lives on coastal plains, and 11 of the world’s 15 largest cities are on the coast or estuaries.

The world could become a very different place.

We are walking blindfolded toward the edge of a cliff. We don’t know where the edge is. All we know is that with ever-growing greenhouse-gas emissions, we are getting closer and closer.

The weekend has finished, and countries are diving into their second week in Bali of chit-chatting about what to do about climate change. While we may not be seeing much bold action so far at this round of negotiations, we know that global public pressure for urgent action is beginning to mount …

Saturday was the third annual International Day of Action on Climate Change, which the Global Climate Campaign helped coordinate in more than 85 countries. Local groups and international activists have carried forth the message for urgent action in a big way here in Bali.

Many of the International Youth Delegation were fortunate enough to join WALHI (the largest Indonesian environmental organization) and other community groups for their Saturday event, dubbed the "Cultural Parade for Climate Justice" in Denpasar, the capital of Bali. Imagine a typical march and rally in the U.S., then add 100 degrees, humid weather, high energy, and lots of Indonesian speeches. The 3,000-person gathering was an inspiring display of well-organized grassroots action, and the fun didn’t stop there …

Just hours after the march, a smaller delegation of international youth, led by members of Avaaz.org, staged another event on the grounds of U.N. conference. They carried a banner representing the more than 545,000 global citizens that signed a petition for climate action as part of their virtual march targeting the U.N. negotiations.

The big finale of the weekend was a spectacular aerial photo action on Kuta Beach on Sunday. With aerial artist John Quigley leading ground operations, and a few international youth delegates rallying the community, we managed to gather more than 1,000 people to form a unique aerial message to the U.N. delegates and world leaders. The image of the world awash in rising seas and the call to act now will hopefully penetrate some of the nitty-gritty negotiating sessions and add to building pressure on delegates to commit to strong action here in Bali.

Regardless of what impact the image may have at this round of UNFCCC negotiations, we know it had tremendous meaning for all of us who gathered on the beach yesterday. In many ways it ways it was unlike any action we had ever joined in the U.S. All the participants were thankful for the opportunity to act as a unified, international, grassroots force — spontaneous singing and prayer from the crowd was an incredibly powerful experience. The global grassroots climate movement is building momentum. Now, it’s up to U.N. negotiators and the governments they represent to follow suit.

Click here to see more photos from the rest of the weekend.

35mpg fuel economy standards and 15% renewable energy requirements from utilities may not seem like all that much, but for the rest of the world’s leaders, who have been holding their collective breath, it’s a twitch of life from a government long considered dead on the issue of global warming. The halls of the Bali Convention Center are abuzz with talk of a number of bills going through the U.S. Congress — delegates and NGO folk alike know the importance of including the United States in the post-Kyoto process.

Even the U.S. delegation, with Harlan Watson at the helm, seems to be changing its tune a little bit. No longer the overtly obstructionist, it is hoping to "reach agreement on a Bali roadmap," said Watson in an informal meeting. "We want to get there," he added.

Of course, all is not well at the negotiating table. The United States refuses to budge on setting emissions targets, and continues to advocate the "two track" approach (distinguishing those countries that don’t want binding targets — namely the U.S. — and those that do).

Meanwhile, the rest of the world crutches onwards, debating the specific policy mechanisms needed to make Kyoto and any post-Kyoto treaty efficient and comprehensive.

A few messages resonate above the wonkery and chatter:

1. Kyoto is broken, and needs fixing.
2. A post-Kyoto agreement must be equitable and all-inclusive.
3. Without the United States taking a leadership role, it lets other countries off the hook.

Next week will help prove to the world that even if the executive branch is dragging its heels in addressing global warming, Americans are widely in support of tough measures that coincide with the gravity of the problem.

While delegates bemoaned the lack of action in the United States, there was an outpouring of activism and creative organizing — like the launch of It’s Getting Hot in Here — that made many of them think if the young people care so much in the U.S., maybe there is still hope to get them engaged.

Well, the youth are back and badder than ever.

International youth activists are coming with a deep understanding of the policy and political process, skills with digital organizing technology that have shocked the traditional NGO campaigners, and large activist bases supporting them in their home countries. Groups like the Energy Action Coalition, which pulled off this fall’s Power Shift 2007 conference, the largest citizen conference on global warming ever, and the Australian Youth Climate Coalition, have emerged as a major force for action on global warming.

The ability to drive media coverage, pressure governmental delegations, and inspire action back home is a powerful element of why the youth delegation is so strong; another is the fact that the political climate in countries like the U.S. and Australia has changed so much. The shifts over the past year in the U.S. and Australia, two key blockers of progress for an international climate agreement, have driven home how fast the pressure for action is growing. The opponents of strong climate action seem to be dwindling, while climate campaigners are being joined by new allies, such as anti-poverty and humanitarian groups, that see global warming as the biggest threat to the livelihoods of the most vulnerable people in the world.

So while so many cameras are being pointed at the youth activists for their actions around the conference, the real story is playing out in an impromptu space dubbed “The Bunker,” where international youth climate activists are unified in a strategy to force world leaders to recognize that young people have the most at stake and must be heard. They are organizing both online and offline, and working to launch a global youth climate movement that can focus the world’s attention. In the bureaucratic mess that is any large U.N. conference, the seeds are being laid for a movement that hopes to shake the world. After all, it is our future that is at stake — and what could be bigger than that?

Fossil Awards, Bali, Indonesia, December 4, 2007. From stepitup on Vimeo.

Around the world, an estimated 10,000 bureaucrats, ministers, activists, climate skeptics, industry lobbyists, and students are packing their bags and making last-minute preparations for their descent upon the small Indonesian island of Bali, for two weeks of hashing it out on what the world’s going to do next on the issue of global warming.

Anyone who has anything (good or bad) to do with this problem will be there — whether it’s Greenpeace, the Competitive Enterprise Institute, the Confederation of European Paper Industries, the World Coal Association, or … me, a Step It Up organizer.

So where do we stand on the eve of this important moment? In the past few weeks, official reports have confirmed what we’ve known for a long time: climate change is happening, it’s increasingly worse than we thought, and it’s going to hurt the poor and disadvantaged first and hardest. To hammer this point home, Cyclone Sidr — a poster child of global warming — hit Bangladesh just a few days before the IPCC’s synthesis report was released.

In the face of all this gloomy news, there are bound to be some who still refuse to, for lack of a better phrase, step it up. The Bush administration, a long-time stumbling block at the world negotiating table, announced a few days ago its official delegation to the conference, none of whom seem poised to bring the U.S. to a leadership position on global warming (you can Wikipedia their names for yourself). The leaders of the delegation will be Paula Dobriansky, the under secretary of state for democracy and global affairs, who represented the U.S. at COP12 in Nairobi last year and staunchly defended the Bush administration’s calls for voluntary measures and refusal to ratify Kyoto. Also in attendance will be Harlan Watson, long-time negotiator for the U.S., friend of the oil industry, and an expert in delay tactics.

But don’t despair too much. There will be plenty of other U.S. delegates in Bali to let the world know we stand with them, and that we’ll do our best to get our country back to the table. We’ve witnessed an incredible year in this movement here in the U.S., which has been extremely exciting. We’ve still got a long way to go in this country, but simultaneously we’ve got to begin work internationally — we don’t have much time. It’s hard to tell what exactly will come out of these meetings, but the youth in attendance know what the priorities are, even if the delegates don’t yet.

A few of our Step It Up crew and other youth in Bali will be helping to keep you apprised right here on Gristmill of the goings-on, so stay tuned. For more dispatches, be sure to keep tabs on the youth climate blog, It’s Getting Hot in Here, and Bali Buzz. See you in Bali!