Witness to Change – Day Two in Copenhaggen

Rachel Weil (CAS ’10) and Athena Laines (CAS ’10) are holding it down, this week, in and around the UN Climate Summit and Klimaforum09, in Copenhagen, Denmark. Rachel and Athena have sent daily reflections back to Comm Ave, and we want to make sure you check them out on this blog. Check back  for more dispatches.

DAY TWO
Day two allowed us more daylight, but only marginally. Our ventures brought us first to the IISD(International Institute of Sustainable Development) Development & Climate Days, a series of panels about issues and concerns related to the COP15. As the delegates of the 21 and under generation, Athena and I listened to discussions about adaptation; a reality many countries will have to deal with in the near future. Project leaders from Bangladesh spoke about the problems of having extreme droughts in some areas and intense storms in others. The Nepalese representative spoke about the fires due to lack of melting glaciers in the Himalayas. (Thats right- they’re already gone.) The countries all shared the need for refuge for their soon to be refugees. NAPAs and LAPAs, national and local adaptation plans of action, are now being negotiated and in some cases enacted in these countries already facing their worst nightmares.

Later, we met up with Inge, a Danish friend of mine I met studying abroad in Madrid. She was offered a position as an attache for the COP, but could not, as she is currently writing her thesis. Nevertheless, she gave us her perspective on things- noting how lively the city was for a Sunday night and the heavy population of tourists. She works in a fair trade shop/cafe, and gets endless questions about the COP goings-on. As she searched for the word vigil, she expressed some cynicism about the huge environmental footprint the conference is making. I have questioned this many times personally, considering all the people flown in this weekand the increased pressure put on this relatively small, waterlogged plot of land. While I will battle with this eco-guilt for awhile, it will all be worth it for a solid, binding emissions target.

We’ve already witnessed many different perspectives of climate change and approaches to solving the crisis. To me, this is the best thing about being here in Copenhagen: observing and interacting with different groups and individuals, seeing the top down (government) and bottom up (grassroot peoples movements) approaches, while not forgetting those in the middle (the regional level emphasized in Prof. Selin‘s Global Environmental Negotiations class). This is systemic change being addressed here, and we can’t afford to forget anybody.

Rachel Weil

Sunday, December 13

I was still adjusting to the time change while I was sitting at the cutest tea shop ever, sipping on some herbal tea and eating a chocolate scone. We took a bus to the first stop of the day, the COP15 Development and Climate Days conference set up by the International Institute for Environment and Development. Public transportation is very expensive here, with buses costing 21 kroner (~$4) and metro and trains costing a minimum of 31 kroner (~$6) The conference was pretty interesting and at times intense. The theme of the day was adaptation to climate change. I struggle a lot with this topic because up until recently I feared that the world would focus too many resources on adaptation and not enough to prevent the worst effects of climate change from happening. The talk helped me realize just how much was already happening and opened my eyes more to the struggle of third world countries that are battling droughts and floods. This became very evident in the second session with “high level” panelists from organizations such as the World Bank and UNEP. They had a representative from Bangladesh who ended up stealing the show when he discussed the people who are suffering in his country already and he hopes that other countries will help those who are having trouble helping themselves. His words were the most inspiring especially when he talked about how the UN is made up of nation-states, not “water states” and that whole countries will disappear and completely lose representation because they will be underwater unless countries make a strong commitment to curb carbon emissions. I was moved and so was everybody else in the room. He was the only one from all the talks to get several rounds of applause while he spoke.

After the conference we walked around the city some more on our way back to Klimaforum09. We entered a church where we found out former Archbishop Desmond Tutu had spoke earlier. The church had a beautiful clean look to it. Although the walls were a plain cream color, the inside perimeter was lined with giant statues of saints. Afterwards we got some crepes and entered an exhibit on the arctic set up by the WWF. In the center was a mostly melted sculpture of a polar bear. I was excited to see it because my sister had told me about it and told me to go see it. The ice sculpture was melting away to show the skeletal frame they had inside, another symbol of the loss we’ll have if humans continue on our destructive path.  Next we walked passed the city square again with its giant globe. This time I noticed their tree was being lit by bicycle power, or at least it is part of the time. As a side note, that is another thing about this city; it is very bicycle friendly. Bicycles have their own lane throughout the city and even their own stoplight. Since the lane is often raised a bit, it led a few trips and almost falls during my often clumsy walks in the city. I spend most of the day wishing I had a bike to ride around because it would make traveling so much easier.

To end the night we rode Copenhagen’s Ferris wheel, a big feet for me since I tend to be terrified of heights. It was worth the extra stress for me because at the top was a beautiful view of a city teaming with people, even on a cold night Sunday night. On a quick stop over to see the last event at Klimaforum09, we heard a woman from eastern Uganda talk about how climate change had totally changed the way the women farm there. No longer did they have two regular growing seasons. Instead, they are replaced by flash floods and months of droughts. At first she though it was God’s work but after attending a seminar in Kampala, she learned about climate change and wanted to come to Copenhagen on behalf of Oxfam to share her story about the effect it has had on her life. When we checked into our room on the boat later that night we realized that we would be in very tight quarters for the next few nights. It did not matter how small the room though. I passed out after a very long and tiring day.

Athena Laines

Thanks for holding it down Rachel and Athena! Looking forward to your next post.