Power Shift ended a successful weekend with a bang, with two hundred young people descending on the London Eye and Parliament Square for a flashmob highlighting the urgent action needed to combat climate change.

Coverage of the event was good, with the Guardian, Channel 4 and the Evening Standard all giving it a story. Although reporting that "[t]he lovely thing about teenagers and 20-year-olds is that they don't really see why it can't just all be sorted out" is pretty lame, when the various youth delegations attending the UN conferences are part of a global campaign formally recognised and fully integrated into the climate negotiations and process.

The flashmob, originally planned to be performed solely in front of the London Eye, was given an impromptu second act, after Greenpeace supporters occupied the Parliament roof, and the entire Power Shift group taking the opportunity to show their support. The fortunate coincidence provided a good contrast of the diversification of protest. The flashmob, although not new is still a product of social networking, and is tailor-made to go viral on YouTube. It is also a far more community based and inclusive way to get a message out. Although given the extensive media coverage of the Greenpeace action, climate change activists will not be dropping direct action from their toolbox any time soon.

It also provided the opportunity to reflect on the ability of the UK political system to deal with an issue as complex as climate change. Power Shift participants enthusiastically took up the Greenpeace protesters slogan "CHANGE THE POLITICS SAVE THE CLIMATE". Indeed it remains to be seen whether a system geared towards short-term results to win elections, is even capable of acting on an issue that will primarily affect people not even old enough to vote. The political parties and their associated ideologies have had enough trouble dealing with social justice, without having to suddenly consider inter-generational justice as well. Of course this issue is not exclusive to the UK Parliament, and the legally binding carbon-reduction targets in the Climate Change Act are an encouraging start. But the battles of Kingsnorth and Heathrow, suggest that without continued civil society pressure the government is likely to default to its old carbon habits.

This weekend I will be attending Power Shift, an informal summit for young people on climate change in London. It is organised by the UK Youth Climate Coalition (UKYCC), part of a growing international youth movement that is taking the climate change issue into their own hands.

These movements are united by common feeling of frustration with the delays, disinformation, and denial that characterize the traditional political system's response to climate change. In the USA moderate Democrats from coal dependent areas have weakened the Waxman-Markey Climate Bill to the extent that many environmentalists wonder if there is any point passing at all, while the Republicans can barely bring themselves to even admit to the existence of climate change. Australians had to undergo the embarrassment for years, of being the only major country along with Bush's America that did not sign the Kyoto Protocol.

Now, here in the UK, young people are directing their climate efforts into organisations like UKYCC. Especially because, compared to the rest of Europe, there isn't a dedicated "Green Party" represented in the legislature and so there are few formal political outlets for young environmentalists.