Blog: Bibi van der Zee - Climate Change Conference

I know that the climate change conference in Copenhagen [1]next month is deadly serious business… After all most of the experts say this is our absolute last deadline for a global agreement that can stop us hitting 6°C by the end of the century.

But I have to admit that I’m really looking forward to it too. How can this be? Mainly because almost every activist I know is heading out there; this is going to be the largest ever gathering of climate activists in history, and even if no deal is made there is going to be a lot of chatter and networking about actions for the future. (And, alright, possibly a few late nights out. Activists need to relax too, after all.)

There are groups coming from all over the world, representing every continent, every point of view. Over on the “bad” side will be the corporate lobbyists, the big business confederations, whispering urgently into their governments’ ears not to set targets too high, not to give away too much money to the third world, not to give away too many, advantages.

In the middle will be the governments, all trying to strike a balance between conserving the national interest (“What’s good for us!”) and making a deal. Almost every politician in the world apart from a few freaks now understands the urgency of climate change but the cost of addressing climate change is daunting for them. They’re the ones, after all, who will have to explain to voters why their electricity bills must soar, why the cost of flights must rise, why any activity with a significant carbon footprint must begin to pay the cost of that footprint. Not an easy job, given that, in America for example, more than half of voters don’t believe that climate change is really a manmade phenomenon.

Cheering from the backrows will be the non-governmental organisations like Friends of the Earth [2], Christian Aid [3], Greenpeace [4] and the World Wildlife Fund [5], who are supplying the pols with data and trying to unknit the tiny details of the agreement.

And over on the “good” side are our dear activists, trying to explain the best possible outcomes; a more equal world, a world where the people who have done least to cause climate change are helped to survive it by the people who have done most, a world where we all work together to overcome this global challenge.  It’s like a colossal tug-of-war, and we’re praying that we can all be winners. And I have to admit that a big part of me can’t wait to watch. Ideals, drama, politics, and late night discussions of the best and worst of all possible worlds… it’s going to be a busy couple of weeks.

Take Action on Climate Change! Ride The Wave [6].

Words: Bibi van der zee

Photo: www.iucn.org [7]