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.