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Local volunteer still plans to attend conference in Paris

INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) – An Indianapolis group is still planning to attend the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Paris. Thousands of people are expected to attend, including world leaders.

A volunteer with a group called Earth Charter Indiana booked her flight to Paris less than a month ago, but the idea of security never crossed her mind until now.

The videos and photos coming out of Paris, France are hard to watch for Amanda Shepherd.

“Obviously when I first heard about the attacks it wasn’t even in my mind, my trip to Paris,” said Shepherd. “It was really more about the people and the devastation as it was ongoing.”

Shepherd said she learned about the attacks on Twitter while attending a concert last Friday.

“I was watching my Twitter feed as more and more reports came in and it’s devastating that this is what was happening,” said Shepherd.

Shepherd is just one of several people from Indiana traveling to Paris to advocate for climate change.

While the group is not part of the delegation, they are hoping to take part in different activities across the city to raise awareness.

“We’re really focused on going and speaking voice to power from Indiana,” said Shepherd. “Because we feel this is an incredibly important issue.”

The issue is expected to attract thousands of people, including world leaders, to Paris just weeks after the deadly attacks.

World leaders are hoping to reach what they’re calling “a new and universal climate change agreement.”

“My whole philosophy is to go into this as I would have before, you know, with the passion and the mind set you know that you know change has to happen,” said Shepherd.

While changes have not been made to the location of conference, Shepherd knows that security will be at an all-time high.

Shepherd told 24 Hour News 8 she hasn’t made any changes to her itinerary. Her flight is scheduled to depart in about three weeks.

“I think it’s probably only human to maybe be a little more aware just because you know what happened, but at the same time I also think that it’s probably going to be safer than it would have been otherwise,” said Shepherd. “You hate to say that it’s so incredibly sad that we’re in this position where these questions even have to be asked.”

The conference is scheduled to start at the end of the month and should run until the second week of December.