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Monthly archives: December 2009

Climate marching in Copenhagen

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demonstration

I can still hear sounds from the big demonstration here in Copenhagen – the world’s largest ever protest about global warming, in fact – from where I am sitting in the boat we have hired. My feet are tired after walking for hours through the city of Copenhagen and out to the Bella Center, surrounded by thousands of persons, dancing, chanting and shouting, all with the same message: Stop climate change.
According to the organisers about 100 000 persons gathered. Such an enormous crowd is difficult to grasp when you are in the middle of it, it all amalgamates to a stream of languages, banners from environmental organisations, trade unions, indigenous people from all over the world, people coming with their children, people on bicycles, people standing in their windows waving with banners… it’s powerful. And far from the clashes between police and some activists in the centre of the city, that I now read about in other media.
Lots of speakers such as Vandana Shiva from India, the Danish model Helene Christensen and Greenpeace International’s general secretary Kumi Naidoo held fervent appeals.
Inside Bella Forum environment ministers are starting to arrive for informal meetings. On Monday it’s time for the politicians to engage in the negotiations.

sami protesters
Sami protesters.

Sara Jeswani - Sustainability

December 12, 2009

A world of its own

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Freeze
Adriana Savin, acting as one of the slick consultants in the climate farce Freeze. Photo: José Figueroa.

As negotiations are proceeding in the plenary hall and meeting rooms of Bella Center, the activities revolving around the meeting seems more and more as a world of its own. Every now and then I realise I’m not really aware of what country I am in. These days Copenhagen must be one of the most international places in the world. Today I have listened to delegates from the Solomon Islands, Kape Verde and Grenada talk about how their low lying islands will be affected by rising temperatures and higher sea levels. I have met activists from India, bringing 10 000 signatures from Indian children asking for climate justice, and I have spoken to an American journalist writing about how culture deals with climate change.

From contemporary art to climate farce

Culture is present in many aspects of this meeting, hopefully helping to create a deeper understanding of why we are all here. There is an impressive programme at the museums to put focus on the climate meeting. One of them shows how contemporary art has dealt with the issue. And can also be ween at the online gallery www.rethinkclimate.org.
At the alternative conference Klimaforum09 there are free films and theatre plays every evening. For example the Swedish theatre group Barbara comes over the strait to perform their play Freeze – A Red Hot Climate Farce on Saturday. I saw it earlier this year in Stockholm and liked it a lot. With the framework of a lecture they show how climate change is often being portrayed as nothing but an opportunity, but as the lecture runs out of hand it gets more and more obvious that the problem is far bigger than the three consultants have thought.
It’s a wonderfully comical play, and extremely thought provoking. So if you happen to be anywhere close to Copenhagen I warmly recommend it.

Sara Jeswani - Sustainability

December 10, 2009

Arriving in Copenhagen

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entrance

So, I have arrived! Getting off the train from Sweden at the Örestad station we had just a few minutes walk to Bella Center, where the UN meeting is being held.
So far we have just got our accreditation badges and installed ourselves in the house boat where the climate magazine Effekt will have its temporary office during the ten coming days. But speaking to people who have been here a few days, it seems lots of things are happening, from seminars and side events to grass root actions and different rumours about what is happening in the closed negotiations.
Tomorrow I will dive into the gigantic programme of both COP15 and the alternative conference Klimaforum09.

Sara Jeswani - Sustainability

December 9, 2009

Young films for climate action

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filming
Young filmers from all the Nordic countries have spent the autumn making films about climate change and sustainability. Photo: REClimate.

A delegate gets into a taxi to go to the climate meeting in Copenhagen and falls asleep. But in his dream he ends up in a cold cellar, being put on trial, accused of cowardice, protectionism and contributory to the end of the world.
This is the story in one of the Swedish contributions to the young film competition REClimate. Film makers aged between 15 and 19 years from all the Nordic countries have participated, using everything from real film cameras to their mobile phones. The film “Be Brave” and the other contributions can be watched at REClimate’s home page.
The winner will be announced at a ceremony in Copenhagen tomorrow, where the climate meeting starts today.

On my way to Copenhagen 

I am about to pack my bags to leave for Copenhagen on Wednesday, with mixed feelings. Just being able to go to a place where such an enormous amount of people gather to talk about important issues is amazing. At the same time: This is a meeting that so many have looked forward to during the last few years, hoping it will lead to a good and fair deal. But as time has passed, expectations have being lowered dramatically. The Right Livelihood award – also known as the “alternative Nobel Prize” – held its annual ceremony last Friday. There one of the award winners David Suzuki said he hopes there will be no deal in Copenhagen. His reason for this is that the proposals which are being discussed are still too far away from what would be needed.
David Suzuki was awarded for his achievements as a scientist, but even more for being able to communicate his knowledge, informing an audience of millions about climate change and how it can be reduced. Read more about him and the other award winners here.

The coming two weeks I will be reporting directly from Copenhagen. Return to this blog to read about my meetings with delegates and activists, endless negotiations, interesting seminars, mass demonstrations and everything else! 

Sara Jeswani - Sustainability

December 7, 2009

Trying to negotiate with Nature

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climate-stunt
Two activists outside the Swedish Parliament building, wearing masks with the picture of Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt. “Stop vacillating, Fredrik! How many Reinfeldts do we need to get a good (binding, just and ambitious) climate deal?” says the sign to the right. Photo: tcktcktck

The heat is getting more intense, not only in the seas and in our atmosphere, but also in the discussions about the approaching climate meeting in Copenhagen.
Outside the government chancellery in Stockholm different parts of the Swedish climate grassroots movement make a new stunt every day, urging politicians to increase their level of ambition.
Opera singers dressed in raincoats have been singing “I’m dreaming of a white Christmas”, clowns from Clowns Without Borders have made performances and one day people will be playing poker with the climate as stake.

“Good outcome would be a conincidence”

Other organisations and institutes are also mobilizing. Yesterday I went to a presentation of a booklet written by the Tällberg Foundation. The name of it is “We cannot negotiate with Nature” and in it the scientist Johan Rockström and the former EU politician  Anders Wijkman argues that nevertheless this is exactly what we are trying to do right now.
– The models of negotiating that we are using right now aim at giving everyone what is best for them. And if a compromise coming out of such negotiations would be the best solution for Nature, that would be a pure coincidence, said the founder of Tällberg Foundation, Bo Ekman.

Big risks

One of the points in this paper is that the risks that humanity can face should be made clearer to the public.
¬ This summer in Italy the G20 leaders announced that they were all behind the goal to limit global warming to a maximum of 2 degrees. But the measures they have set up to reach this goal actually only gives a 50 percent chance to stay below 2 degrees. Who would get into an airplane if there was a 50 percent risk of crashing? said Anders Wijkman.

The paper so far only exists in Swedish, but will soon be available in an English version. I’ll post it.

Sara Jeswani - Sustainability

December 3, 2009