I am attending COP 15 and it is a foggy and cold day, not too windy but the wind chill is still significant. The chill though is way overshadowed by the enthusiasm and commitment of the people trying to get in to the Conference Center where the action is, at least for the non-governmental organizations NGOs). They had come from around the globe to attend this potentially historic event. Many of course were not used to the weather but stood in line for long periods of time anyway. they wanted to be a part of the process. Was COP 15 unprepared to help them? As far as registration procedureswere going, I’d have to say …yes.
The commitment of the members of NGOs was quite clear outside the conference hall, as they had to stand outside in long lines waiting to register. There were groups along side the line acting out so to speak, trying to draw attention to their specific message; they chanted “stop the warming”, showed a video on climate change is ultimately about people, free coffee in support wind power,and greenpeace supporters mingling with the crowd.
OOOPs. Apparently someone thought it was appropriate to postpone COP15 registrationfor NGOs until noon on the first morning of the first day. Not sure why, but the general feeling was that the organizers did not want any distractions from the opening ceremony for COP 15. I wonder if the hardy, used-to-the-cold-Danish-weather Danish COP 15 organizers gave any thought at all to the thousands of people from around the world who would have to stand outside and in a slow-moving line to register.
The group I was to register with gave up trying to register today, when a policewoman informed us that the line would likely take us about 4-5 hours and we would likely not get into the Center because registration would close at 6pm. We decided to try again tomorrow.
We went into the city center and we could see many huge posters supplied by the Danish or other governments, corporations, NGOs andcivil society that covered the sides of large buildings.
This gave us the feeling that many citizens, especially young people, were sincerely engaged in pursuing a voice in climate change policy making. Their collective actions throughout the city drowned out the words a Danish climate change skeptic, Bjorn Lomborg — at least for the next couple of weeks.
Comments
5 responses to “Mickey Glantz, “Bloggin’ from Copenhagen: Day 1 at COP15””
Thanks for sharing with us your on the ground experiences of COP15. I hope the organizers will accomodate the registration of every one. Good luck with the registration tomorrow.
thanks tsegay. but, i have learned that the entrance situation is worse than I knew. it was reported last night that the conference center has a capacity of about 14,000 but there is an estimate of 34,000 people waiting to attend. this is a big screw up given that the Danish government knew about this problem months ago, same for the UNFCCC. well, we hope to get into the meeting. i am chatting by phone with people inside the center from UN groups. i heard there are 5 competing versions of agreements floating among the delegates. not sure whose version will survive. the Saudis are apparently calling for an independent body to review the science and recommendations of the IPCC. apparently, the IPCC and the UK are not looked at favorably for involvement in an independent review of the science. what a mess. and as i have suggested earlier in editorials the concern is really not about the warming — most believe it — but it is about the fact that science has lost its apparent integrity, rightly or wrongly. the scientific community should be more concerned about perceptions of science within civil society. civil society elects its political leaders for the most part.
It is obvious that the sceptics won out in convincing decision-makers that the models of the increase in people attending COP were all wrong. They did not believe the science, assumed that there would be no increase and, even if there were a slight increase, it would be easy to deal with. Besides, it would be too costly and would destroy our economies to try to deal with the projected large increase, especially given the large uncertainties in the models.
hey Mickey
What’s the inside word on the so-called “Danish text”. is something rotten in the city of Copenhagen? Please do all of us kiddies proud.
And Ilan – I get what you mean. But only you could come up with that!
Hi mark. It is noon indenmark at cop 15 wed. The Danish text is only one of several floating around. On the blog I showed large buildings sized signs to act against global warming. There are also signs saying controlling carbon dioxide won’t work. Lots of Views.
Little real news. Lot of youth and justice NGOs. Mickey