Hi Folks!
2009, if you remember, was the year of the Copenhagen Climate Summit, where world leaders were going to solve climate change problems and stop environmental destruction forever. Unfortunately, for a number of reasons, things didn’t quite pan out that way. In fact, most of the solutions went down the pan. It was almost as if politicians had hidden agendas that weren’t in the interests of the people or their planet at heart, but I could just be a fusty old cynic.
Sadly, I wasn’t rich enough to get to Denmark to protest myself. I didn’t really want to do any unnecessary travelling to increase my carbon footprint or be threatened, beaten and incarcerated by feisty Danish police (“For sure, we are doing the beatings around the headsh of the peashful proteshtorsh! They are probably all vegetariansh, and sho don’t eat any of our tashty bacon, sho they desherve it, for sure!”) either. Still, I wanted to do my bit and show the people making decisions that we, the concerned people, were watching them, so I toddled along to the Big Wave event in London, where a wave of people surrounded the Houses of Parliament, and waved.
It was a good day out. I was on my own, but there were a lot of other people there, it wasn’t just me holding a small banner. That would have been slightly embarrassing. There were thousands who turned out. People were generally in good cheer, and I exchanged a few words of support with my fellow activists as we strolled jovially around. "What about that global warming, eh? Gets me hot under the collar!", "Carbon emissions, they're not just a load of hot air, are they?", that kind of thing. Beforehand I had found it a little difficult to find the actual start point, these hippy dos being a bit vague as they are on start position and time, the sort of things you’d think needed to be arranged in advance, but not according to the activist community. Don’t want to be caught by the fuzz! The mood, like the weather, was slightly subdued, and nobody smashed anything, so we didn’t get in the papers. Clearly thousands of people marching against botched government policy isn’t newsworthy enough, somebody has to break or burn something first before it’s relevant to the national press. There wasn’t really that much singing or chanting either, it was rather overcast and actually quite gloomy, as if we didn’t need a weatherperson to predict which way the wind was blowing. Usually spraying drizzle in our faces.
There was one thing being mentioned regarding the climate talks going round about there being an Elephant In The Room. I didn’t see any actual elephants in any rooms at the talks, but I actually think it could’ve been a good idea. Large, wrinkly grey creatures trampling all of those wealthy politicians who were helping to decimate elephant populations and the natural world seems like some kind of poetic justice to me. Somebody pointed out that it could have just been a metaphor for the way that climate change issues were never brought up in business meetings, but I prefer my version. Elephants aside, there were, however, people dressed as polar bears who staged a ‘Die In’ in the main reception area, which left quite a startling impression. At the end of the talks nothing particularly got decided, except that politicians should probably do something about protecting the environment and reducing carbon emissions at some unspecified point in the near future, somehow. Well done, leaders of the modern world. Your jobs and pay packets are well earned, and I’m sure future generations living underwater will appreciate your efforts.
Still, at the end of 2011 another set of talks about the climate took place at The African Climate Connection in Durban, Africa, from 26th November to 3rd December, to try to decide some of those things that they didn’t decide at the last talks. A number of events were arranged as part of the Stop Climate Chaos Coalition to raise awareness about what these things should actually be. You can find out what went on here - www.the-african-connection.org
The talks went reasonably well, but world leaders are still pondering whether they ought to act on urgent Perhaps one day, politicians will decide something.
On another note, someone I know told me about a housemate they once had who used to leave their lights on all the time. When they were asked why they did this, as it wasn’t good for the environment, the guy said, “No, don’t worry – they’re energy SAVING lightbulbs!” He thought that they saved energy by being on. Kind of got the wrong end of the plutonium rod.
Talking of bulbs, now is a good time to start thinking about planting some spring vegetables, if you’re lucky enough to have a garden to plant things in. Growing Your Own can be a great way of helping the environment, and making tasty soup!
Stay free!
Tom Read, Norwich Greenpeace Member
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