Copenhagen bound

Ryan Sullivan is ready to do his part to solve a feared, pending climate-change crisis.

This December he’ll travel to Copenhagen, Denmark as a delegate with the International Federation of Liberal Youth to the United Nations Conference on Climate Change, which runs from Dec. 7 to Dec. 18.

"I believe climate change is something that does affect us all and it’s something we’ll be seeing a lot of in the future," said the 23-year-old Wasaya Airways pilot. "It may not affect you right now but as the human society, worldwide in the next 20, 40, 50 years, we’re looking at some serious, serious issues."

Sullivan is one of 25 Canadian youths heading to the conference that will see 200 countries send government officials and delegates. Forty national leaders are expected to attend. However, Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper has declined to make a commitment to attend.

Environment minister Jim Prentice will attend the international conference and Sullivan said he and other Canadian delegates hope to meet the minister while in Copenhagen.

In June of this year, the World Wildlife Federation ranked Canada last of all the G8 countries when it came to climate change initiatives.

"We have been given a failing grade of F in the international community," Sullivan said. "We need to raise these serious issues with people who can create change."

Prentice is one of those people and he can help, Sullivan added.

"I think Canadians in general want to succeed in the environmental movement, but when you have government officials not willing to act upon it, it’s just greatly disappointing," he said.

At the conference, Sullivan and his fellow delegates will be meeting with government officials, observing presentations from other countries and working with non-governmental organizations and think tanks to achieve a worldwide deal that all countries can agree upon to combat climate change.