Going slow

I've woken up to a layer of snow and a mass of down-beat news reports. Negotiations are certainly going slowly. UN Secretary General, Ban Ki Moon said so himself yesterday (I managed to get in to the speech), but he remains hopefuly for a deal.

But reports in the Guardian, the BBC and the New York Times aren't so optomistic. The general consensus is that there may not be a deal this week.

Yesterday morning I was in line, freezing cold, with lots of other people for a few hours. Our NGO was sharing one 'secondary pass' (which is now required for entry) between four people and trying to pass it around over the day. I managed to get in and thaw at around 11.30 - the police and Danish army were friendly - I was offered coffee a few times - but it's a shame that relations protestors around the city didn't go so well. There were a number of reports of violence and pepper spray was used.

Inside the Bella Center you are completely isolated from this. While queuing I watched more and more police vans arriving, but there was no sign of any problems.

I still feel incredibly lucky to be here to witness these talks. It's incredible that you can get so close to world leaders. I managed to sit right at the front for Senator John Kerry's speech (just behind Dr Pachauri and members of Kerry's family), just by getting there a bit early and not worrying about walking up to the front and sitting down. Senator Kerry basically said that if there were an agreement in Copenhagen it would really help to spur on an agreement in the US. He also proposed that developed countries make a real effort to provide finance to enable developing countires to create renewable sources of energy, so that they are able to develop rapidly without damaging the environment to the same extent.

I also managed to see a panel of global mayors (Sydney, Delhi, Seatle, Johanesburg etc) on how cities can do their bit to combat climate change, before national leaders come to a deal. It's encouraging to hear that cities all around the world have started to make an effort.

For more detailed coverage of the conference, have a look at my friend Joe's blog. He is updating regularly and has some pretty good stuff.

As I knew that I wouldn't be able to get into the Bella Center today (or tomorrow), I decided to stay late into the night (well, until 11.30). It's interesting, the atmosphere seems to change as more and more people wander out of the door. It's also good for wandering around and seeing small conference rooms, delagtes speaking in corridors and journalists broadcasting for the evening news. Interestingly, Fox news are coverering the proceedings - well, not really - they chose to cover a man dressed in a polar bear suit - still denying climate change!

Just looking at Fox news' website - this story about no Christmas trees just isn't true! (photo included)

The only encouraging thing that I've heard for a while is that the US is backing a $100bn plan to help developing countries adapt to climate change. I hope there is more encourgaing news by the end of the day, but so far I've been unimpressed by speeches from world leaders. I realise that these statements are mainly meant for the press, but it's a shame that there seems to be so little substance. They are meant to last for 3 minutes, but go on for much longer!

In from the Cold

I've finally got back in to the Bella Center. I waited for two hours this morning before being moved on - it was snowing and absolutely freezing. People from a Polish Radio station even interviewed me (I must have looked very cold!), but thankfully the Danish army was on hand with hot coffee. The UN has issued secondary passes to limit the number of observers during the last few days. Today, we're sharing a pass between four people, tomorrow there will be even more restrictions and on Friday only 90 people from ALL Non Governmental Organizations will be allowed in!

So on Thursday and Friday I won't be inside the conference, but will watch the live feed on the internet. You should watch too!

There is lots of talk of a big demonstration today so there are police everywhere outside the Bella Center - I know that lots of NGOs are planning on walking out to protest the lack of observer passes, and there are rumours that some groups are going to try to break in to the center.

Yesterday I saw a great speech by Rajendra Pachauri at Copenhagen University (that's two Nobel peace prize winners in 2 days!). He was really impressive and presented his information clearly - but there were lots of climate change deniers present. Lord Monkton (a former Thatcher adviser who sits in the House of Lords) stood up and accused Dr Pachauri of a massive global conspiracy! things got pretty heated - and it was really interesting to see how passionately some people oppose efforts to combat climate change. In the UK, the press treat climate change in a relatively sensible way, but in the USA the media coverage can be far more negative.

I also managed to see a talk by the US delegation - Republicans and Democrats on the panel both agreed that the Climate Change debate is unfairly influenced the media by a vocal minority on the right who want to derail efforts to the talks. What I don't understand is why moderate republicans don't get together for a joint press statement and say that people on the radical right are telling massive untruths which are harming negotiations.

On Monday there was a surprise announcement from Canada that they were going to make big cuts in their carbon emissions - everyone was a bit shocked. Sadly, it turns out that it was a hoax (they fooled the Washington Post) by 'The Yes Men' - a group who have made lots of false, but hopeful, statements on the behalf of polluting companies in the past. Take a look at some of their videos on Youtube .

I heard (though I wasn't able to get in) that there was a big meeting of world Mayors yesterday and Boris Johnson was there - one of my friends managed to get in to see Arnold Schwarzenegger who is here for a big meeting of Governors. World leaders started arriving yesterday - hopefully they will help speed up negotiations so that there will be a deal by Friday.

Now I'm off to see a speech by US Senator (and former Presidential candidate John Kerry). I'll let you know how it went later!

Live from Copenhagen Climate Conference

I'm writing this after being in a session on melting ice caps in Greenland with Al Gore and ministers from the Danish Government. It is incredible to be here with so many things going on and so many people from all over the world who want to do something to limit the effects of climate change.

We were shown some very recent scientific research which shows that estimated sea level rises and ice melt rates are way too low. You can see a copy of the report I picked up here.

I've also been to some sessions on deforestation in the Amazon (REDD - a word that I've seen a lot here means Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and forest Degradation - basically trying to protect forests) and how different UN agencies are working with indigenous people to help protect the forests. In some areas they are using new technology like Smart phones with Google Maps to send quick images of illegal deforestation.

I found out that one talks have been suspended after some of the delegates walked out.

The venue, the Bella Center, is massive - but it's still not big enough to hold everyone who wants to attend. I managed to get in early this morning, but by around 8.30 the doors were shut and people had to wait in line outside in the cold. I've just heard that some people waited for 4 hours in the queue, but then gave up. Later on this week fewer and fewer people are going to be able to attend. The place only has enough space for 15,000 people - and with all of the heads of state arriving soon - they are trying to make it less crowded.

If the Bella Center is closed, lots of people will head over to the People's Climate Conference 'Kilmaforum' in central Copenhagen. There are some great people there and some really interesting events - yesterday I spoke to some people about different ways of getting young people interested in Climate Change (we put different ideas together on massive sheets of paper) - making things fun and attracting people who wouldn't usually be interested.

That's certainly what the people who run 'The Stupid Show' and 'The fossil of the day' are doing. Have a look at their sites for live streams and the latest videos.

Also, I have to recommend the film '8'. The Danish Film Institute are showing films with an environmental theme every night during the conference and having discussions with great speakers like Al Gore and IPCC Chairman, Dr. Rajendra K. Pachauri . '8' is a collection of short film (by some famous directors) each based on one of the UN's millenium development goals.

Off to see what else is going on!

The Wave and Copenhagen: Day One

The Wave

Around 40,000 people joined in with 'The Wave' on Saturday. I was there along with a good number of UNYSA-UK and UNA-UK members (including Executive Director Sam Daws). A special thanks has to go out to Morris Marah who managed to get a massive crowd chanting our slogan 'SEAL THE DEAL in Copenhagen'.
We walked from Grosvenor Square to circle the Houses of Parliament. The atmosphere was incredible - there was singing, dancing and lots of blue face paint. I saw people of all ages dressed in blue: elderly people, parents with their young children sitting on their shoulders blowing whistles - someone I know even saw the Environment Minister Ed Milliband joining in! (though he declined blue face paint)

The Thick of It's Malcolm Tucker (Peter Capaldi) also turned up to help persuade world leaders to make an effective deal (anyone who has seen the show knows that he usually gets his way!).
In the papers

First, the Guardian and 52 other newspapers teamed up (for the first time ever!) to deliver a joint front page editorial warning world leaders that they only have 'Fourteen days to seal history's judgement on this generation'.

Next, the BBC has some great coverage of the Copenhagen Climate Change Conference. Keep checking for the latest updates. You can also see live coverage from 12noon every day of the conference on OneClimate.net

Finally, take a look at the winning entries to the 'One minute to save the world' short film competition (3 minutes have passed since the Madonna/Justin Timberlake song ended!).