New steel cages await unruly protesters in one part of Copenhagen, while in one of the city's main squares a giant orb, symbolizing the earth, glows. Denmark’s capital is primed for today’s kickoff of 12 days of United Nations climate negotiations.

Where does Canada stand?

On Sunday, I sat down with Amber Church, the national director for the Canadian Youth Climate coalition, to get her take on our nation's negotiating team.

The 28-year-old calls Canada a "lost lemming" in the global climate negotiations, which has fallen behind the U.S. in its inaction.

"Right now Canada is not leading — it’s not even following very well because Environment Minister Jim Prentice’s line is 'We can't do anything until the U.S. does something,'" Church says.

Her advice for Canada in Copenhagen: "Canada should lead, follow or get out of the way!"

Church, who lives in Whitehorse, is heading Canada's youth delegation at the talks. Made up of 35 activists from around the country, the delegation is one of the largest youth groups at the conference, not counting another 50 or so young Canadians attending with delegations from universities such as U of T.

Church says her team will lobby hard for strong reduction targets, holding the Conservative government’s negotiating team accountable for not supporting a climate bill, which called for specific emissions targets, in the House of Commons earlier this year.

"The Canadian public along with the House of Commons supports these goals and so we’d like to make sure our government is actually speaking for our people," Church says.

With this in mind, Canadian youth will be meeting with a growing list of our country's politicians while in Copenhagen, including Jim Prentice, NDP leader Jack Layton, Green Party leader Elizabeth May, environment ministers from the territories, and Canada’s chief negotiator, Michael Martin.

A meeting with Prime Minister Stephen Harper is still in the works.

Church says these lobbying sessions will not be soft photo-ops, since her group will be driving home their message. "Canada needs to stop being obstructionist and to come to the table and actually start participating."

Check back soon for more reports from Copenhagen.

Liana B. Baker, a former intern with the magazine, is a Canadian Geographic climate policy correspondent in Copenhagen.

Photos: Liana B. Baker