Alternatives in Copenhagen
When I arrived at Copenhagen station the first gathering I saw was a group of people singing around a Christmas tree. I couldn’t tell if they were religious evangelists or climate change activists. In retrospect they were probably both. The city is filled with a bizarre mixture of government and UN officials, corporate sponsors in all shade of green, global NGOs and eco-activists, and possibly a few locals as well.
The first leaflet shoved into my hand was from a climate change sceptic who was ranting about a conspiracy to create world dictatorship. The next free paper I got had the front page demand “It’s time to act”, and turned out to be full of adverts for the environmental policies of Swedish and Danish companies and local authorities. Everyone, it seems, is climbing on the electric-powered bandwagon.
In addition to COP15 itself (standing for the 15th Conference of the Parties of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change rather than a film about a police rugby team) there is a vast array on offer here. Meetings and exhibitions galore – can education save the planet, sustainability by design, the interreligious climate change pilgrimage, and even meditation and healing for global change. There is a climate camp (run by scouts), and another camp where you can experience what it would be like living in a refugee camp for three days, run by a church group. I am spoiled for choice, but opt to spend my time between the peoples’ climate summit (Klimaforum09) and the various convergence centres finding out about protests and actions.
There are plenty of protests inside the official meeting as well, mainly coming from developing country representatives who are demanding that the rich countries set tougher targets and provide more public money for mitigation and adaptation. There was a demonstration by African delegations yesterday demanding much steeper reductions, but the USA in particular is offering very little in absolute terms.
A new report out yesterday showed that this decade will have been the warmest on record, including nine of the ten hottest years on record. Already rising temperatures and sea levels are causing chaos around the world, mainly in the poorest regions. Bangladesh is likely to be the worst affected country in terms of numbers of people displaced by rising sea levels, and already there are signs of major health impacts from the resulting increased salt content of the drinking water. Unless very radical action is taken now, millions of people are likely to become climate refugees in the coming decades. And we know that when they try to migrate to other countries they face barriers – walls, laws and violence to try and keep them out.
Amongst all the alternative views and strategies on view here, there is not much sign of working class, trade union or socialist perspectives. On Saturday there will be demonstrations here – A Flood for Climate Justice followed by a Global Day of Action demonstration to the conference centre. I hope that socialist and trade union banners are prominent, demanding not just climate justice but also an end to poverty, exploitation and oppression.
see also Copenhagen warms up
Thu 10, December 2009 @ 23:51
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