In the first step of our BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India & China) outreach, the Agents of Change had an amazing falafel dinner with the Russian youth delegation, including discussions of culture, dress, dance, dating, and of course climate policy. We talked about the motivations of these two major nations and their rapid industrialization and their possibility to choose clean development pathways free of coal and reducing use of natural gas. Most importantly, though, it was incredible to see that we - as youth - can create cooperative and collaborative dialogue between two of these roadblock nations.

The Indian Youth Climate Network Agents of Change delegation arrived in Poland today after months of planning and an epic journey across the world. The journey itself was nothing compared to the year of planning that led up to this delegation, but it also helped us joined together as we spent our time discussing renewable energy policy as we watched wind turbines roll by through the Poland countryside.

Kartikeya Singh, Executive Director of the Indian Youth Climate Network, explained that his experiences at this year’s COP really have taken the story of the Indian Youth Climate Network full circle. Last year, when he was one of the only Indian representatives, present at the COP as a part of the United States SustainUS delegation, Kartikeya had the first visions of an Indian Youth Delegation to the UNFCCC. “It really made things obvious that we had achieved the biggest goals we had set,” he said.

“Meeting so many people from diverse backgrounds was exciting,” said Ruchi Jain, “I have never been to something as big as the United Nations and I am really looking forward to being a part of the COP negotiations themselves.

“This is a sign of bigger things to come,” Chaitanya Kumar explained. “It was an incredible chance to be in a room of so many different people.”

“Let’s go! There’s no time to wait!” said Leela Raina. Avipsa said, “I had no idea just how huge this was going to be. I didn’t anticipate the potential of the youth movement to really change the world, and hearing all the speakers really made me realize our power.”

Meanwhile, as we move through Poznan, we’re all pretty excited about the fact that we can take buses and trains safely and happily around the city. It’s super cold, but very walkable, and our daily rides around town are great bonding map-searching, town-viewing experiences.

I know it seems strange, but it is fundamentally true — while it is said that no man is an island as we are all interconnected in the web of life, no island nation is alone either. The impacts on a small island state are impacts felt on every nation, every state. To be very specific, ignoring all of the ethical, moral, and cultural losses that the COMPLETE disappearance of an entire nation poses to the world, to each one of us, the prospect of millions of climate refugees from small island states, coastal nations, and coastal areas within a given country, poses an enormous threat to global stability and to world peace.

I look at all of the refugees around the world - displaced from their homes because of political, economic, religious or even development reasons - and it terrifies me to imagine the millions more displaced in the future, not only because of complete disappearance of islands but also because of transformation of ecological systems that will make it impossible to farm in the floodplains of the Ganges as it becomes a seasonal river when the Himalayan glaciers disappear.

Here in Delhi, where many seem to think that climate change will not impact their lives, I beg us to look at what India will look like when home to millions of Bangaldeshis displaced by the estimated half meter of sea level rise by the end of the century. This is a change that could occur in our lifetimes! Should your heart be hardened enough not to break at the prospect of millions being forced to leave their homes, their lives, their livelihoods, their stories, their culture and their heritage — think of yourself. Think of how many you would or could take into your home, your workplace, your urban network. Think of your nation and your nations resources. Equitably, these climate refugees would be sent to where the responsibility lies - to the United States and to the EU, where governments would be mandated to give them jobs, houses, and livelihoods, though never able to replace their lives or their cultures. But the world is not just, and the refugees from around Southeast Asia will be here.

We are all interconnected, and it is for this reason that we MUST stand together with the small island states and the coastal nations in their petition to the United Nations Security Council to address climate change as an urgent threat to international peace and security. Previous plans calling on the United Nations to address climate change as a part of the UN’s fundamental right to preserve nations’ existence have not been successful, and polluting nations are fighting against UN action and thus any agreement that the UN Security Council would mandate immediate action for the UN and the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change.

No man is an island, and no island nation is either. Join together and sign the Avaaz petition now. It will be presented by the islands’ ambassadors at the UN next week. The more signatures we raise, the more urgently this call will ring out to protect our common future - the future not only of these nations but of the world.

As news of islands being submerged by rising sea levels, its no comfort that we have a new island on Earth, as of today — the North Pole. For the first time in 125,000 years, the North Pole’s polar ice cap has become a complete island, as satellite images taken by NASA in the United States have documented that the famed Northwest and Northeast passages are now in fact open, allowing water to stretch around the entire Arctic circle, isolating North Pole life from the rest of the continents. In fact, since the start of the last ice age, both passages have been frozen solid - again, they’ve been frozen for 125,000 years. Then again, is this surprising considering our carbon dioxide emissions at 387 ppm are higher than they’ve been for more than 650,000 years?

At this week’s six day “International Symposium on Climate Change and Food Security in South Asia” hosted by Universtiy of Dhaka and South Ohio University, Visiting President of Iceland Olafur Ragnar Grimsson told the audience on Saturday that Bangladesh “has truly become a frontline state in the fight against climate change,” as it suffers and shares its impacts with millions.

Bangladesh has become the frontlines.

President Grimsson described the fact that Bangladesh is stuck between two massive climate impacts, ranging from a consensus that disappearance of the Himalayan glaciers between 2040 and 2070 would be possible. This would transform the yearlong seasonal rivers into seasonal trickles, or more importantly, as with the river’s course transformation (by hundreds of kilometers). The high-speed melting of the mountain ice spelt dangers for the southern Asian countries like Bangladesh that are dependent on the glaciers for sources of water.

More than the drought and glacier disppearance, the major impact of climate change discussed is often climate refugees, though very little of this research is brought to a level of inter-disciplinary success. However, as Mr. Grimsson suggested him a few day ago. Simultaneously, Mr. Grimsson emphasized that the urgency of climate change as a global issue, which will require “a new type of effective cooperation, particularly encompassing politicians, scientists, businessmen and civil associations to deal with climate change and global warming.” He also emphasized on a new scientific policy and technology to combat against climate change and global warming, and in the past Mr. Grimsson has mentioned a future partnership with India and IYCN to transfer Icelandic geothermal technology to Southeast Asia, if and where possible.

Bangladesh is the frontlines of climate impacts, but of climate solutions as well, where the microfinance model has been perfected and where solar lanterns are being distributed to independent women opening small offices to rent their lanterns when recharged. Mr. Grimsson was right - the front lines of this war are already here and while Bangladesh may be at the forefront, the impacts and the solutions will spread… the race to 350 is also a race against time…