Scenes from Copenhagen - Part 1
I thought I'd divide the blogs into two sections. One section devoted to the "experience" of being in Copenhagen, and one about what the Conference is doing. For those of you not interested in hearing about the former, skip to the next blog. For those of you who want a little bit of what it's like to be on the ground, read on.
Today is our first full day in Copenhagen. We arrived last night to a crowded airport and a city fully ready for Christmas - hardly a storefront is not done up with garland (the real stuff), fairy lights and tasteful ornaments. Climate change is a big deal here, but clearly so is Christmas. It's very pretty.
The Conference is being held at Copenhagen's Bella Conference Centre. In order to gain access to to the Centre, you have to be (a) accredited by the UNFCCC and (b) registered. Accreditation happened before the Conference began. Registration for accredited individuals this morning was an absolute zoo. Thousands (and I truly mean thousands, see attached picture) of people queued (which would seem to suggest it was relatively orderly - it was only for a while) to gain access to the registration tables. Most people in the queue are not part of official government delegations, but are rather here as conference observers through various NGOs.
There were activists hanging climate change banners, others handing out flyers and a few wandering through the crowd speaking to anyone who would listen to them about a multitude of different sins humankind has committed against Mother Earth. The "livestock is causing climate change - become a vegan" signage was particularly....interesting. Some had erected "art" devoted to climate change. A couple of enterprising individuals were serving americano coffees at points along the line up. One activist group was giving it away for free, provided you took the proffered flyer.
It was freezing out; not quite the same as it has been in Edmonton the last few days (where apparently the International Airport was the coldest place on the PLANET on Sunday night), but still mighty cold if you're lined-up waiting for access to the Conference. Did I mention that it's a "wet" cold? I saw one girl take off her leather boots and wrap newspapers around her calves and feet and then slip her boots back on. It was not warm. The poor girl from Equador standing in front of us (who had left her hostel with wet hair of all things), could hardly believe her bad luck.
It was pretty calm, cool and collected at the Bella Centre. Not so in a downtown Copenhagen Street later in the day. There are meetings within the Bella Centre and a number of other activities going on in other locations. We were downtown and happened upon a street which was being blocked by police to traffic. The cross street was a pedestrian only thoroughfare and people were being held back and prevented from crossing. I thought something really interesting was going to happen - like someone's motorcade was going to pass by (the helicopter hoving above the street was curious) until I heard beating drums coming from around the corner and a full scale protest/demonstation materialized.
The protesters were all 20-somethings who were protesting capitalism. They were linked arm and arm chanting something I couldn't understand, beating drums, dancing around and generally making it difficult to cross the street! The press were everywhere and there were a huge number people in the demonstration, but what they are really accomplishing, I do not know.
Back to the Bella Centre tomorrow and more from there.