messages of solidarity

Watch the video here

We also called on our cyberactivists to email the Canadian Prime Minister to urge the Canadians to up their targets after being voted Fossil of the Day the day before.

Wednesday was a busy day all round for FoEI. The launch of our 40% report in the morning was followed by a 'target action' where Young Friends of the Earth walked the halls of the conference centre holding up large red targets calling for a commitment to emissions reductions of 40 percent without using any offsets (see video above).

Later the media team released a statement from our Chair Nnimmo Bassey directed at President Obama, who will be in Norway on Thursday (11th Dec) collecting his Nobel prize. The prize was awarded for the President's 'vision for a better future and his ability to inspire hope that bold change is possible'.

In the words of Nnimmo:

"We congratulate him on this honor, but he has not kept true to the vision he articulated during his campaign....he pledged to solve climate change, but the United States is now playing a harmful role on the global stage."

• Read the full statement here
  

Listen to the report on Real World Radio

The study prepared by Stockholm Environment Institute (SEI) in partnership with Friends of the Earth Europe proves for the first time the feasibility and affordability of achieving at least 40% emissions cuts in Europe by 2020 compared to 1990 levels, without offsetting.

Dr Charlie Heaps from the SEI set out the methodology used in the report and his graph clearly showed that the current targets being proposed by Europe "leave little room for non-Annex 1 countries to develop."

Sonja Meister from Friends of the Earth Europe set out the case for why Europe really has to push for 40% and laid out some of the benefits too:

"The EU should recognise the benefits of making such cuts. Investment in renewables and energy efficiency would create seven jobs per every one in fossil fuels. There are also many health benefits."

Read the report here [pdf]
Read the press release

Our magician try his best to magic away carbon emissions but it just doesn't work.

Young Friends of the Earth promote the Angry Mermaid Award

Offsetting protest in the Bella Center atrium

 

Take me to your climate leader


Indigenous protest

REDD protest

Desperate to get any kind of deal, the Danish Prime Minister has been leading meetings with rich country negotiators to agree the wording of agreements before proposals are even on the table.

We need to make it clear to the Danish government that this isn't acceptable. And as the hosts of the talks, their responsibility is to ensure a fair and transparent process , not to broker a deal at any cost to the millions of people in developing countries who will suffer most.

Email the President of the Conference of Parties now.

This action is hosted by Friends of the Earth England Wales and Northern Ireland.

The day began at 06:30; a rushed breakfast followed by a crowded metro. We arrived at the Bella center to find Friends of the Earth Germany (BUND) had installed a melting ice sculpture of the Mermaid statue, calling for climate justice at the entrance.

The atmosphere inside the centre was intense, and one of excitement. It was a huge transformation from the empty atrium I had seen the night before, into something akin to a train station at rush hour. It was entirely possible to spend the day exhausting yourself running around like a headless chicken, rushing from one spot to the next, without achieving anything.

The communications and media teamed discussed their strategy, although judging from the huge number of journalists and camera crews marching around the centre, it seemed there would be no difficulty getting coverage; we just had to provide the spokespeople – something FoEI has no shortage of, representing 77 countries.

I left after lunch in order to head to the Klimaforum – the global civil society counterpart of the official UN conference in the Bella Centre – where the second half of the FoEI communications team were based.

After a brief unintended detour through the centre of Copenhagen, past the Hopenhagen concert arena – a huge corporate sponsored initiative – I arrived at the Klimaform just in time to help out and take pictures at the FoEI opening press conference, with our chair, Nnimmo Bassey.

Nnimmo was then rushed in front of Associated Press, and German, Danish and Swedish TV channels, before taking the stage at the opening event for the Klimaforum. I passed through, en-route to a coordination meeting to watch the Danish Chime Transform - Lisbeth Diers playing on instruments sculpted out of ice. An enchanting performance, compounded by the fact, that near the end of the show, whether by design, or accident, the instruments began to shatter in the musician’s hands – melting under the hot stage lights.

A simple message: climate change waits for no-one. Act Now!

The official launch of the Klimaforum took place in the evening with music and speeches from Henry Saragih, general coordinator of Via Campesina, Nnimmo Bassey, chair of Friends of the Earth International and Naomi Klein.

Nnimmo called for an end to backroom deals in the Bella Center - the venue of COP15 - and urged the delegates to listen to the voices coming from the people's summit.

The Kilmaforum was for "real people, talking about real problems, getting together to create movements and share the real solutions to climate change" he said.

On carbon offsetting he issued a red card to REDD, the carbon offsetting mechanism supported by many industrialised countries.

He finished his speech by calling on the audience to join him in one of his chants: "Keep the oil in the soil, keep the coal in the hole, keep the tar sands in the sand." Warmed up with Organic beer the audience were happy to oblige.

Following on from Nnimmo Naomi Klein the Canadian author of No Logo and the Shock Doctrine took to the stage and stated that “There is a difference between a deal and success and Klimaforum09 needs to be the lie detector when the politicians come out with a deal.”

This chimes exactly with Friends of the Earth International's demand that a deal is not what we're after it's a just climate agreement. This means emission cuts in developed countries, and money for developing countries to grow cleanly and adapt to the effects of climate change – but it also means a change in our consumption patterns.

As Naomi Klein put it, "Klimaforum is not about giving charity to the developing world it's about taking responsibility and the industrialised countries cleaning up our own mess.

Go to the Klimaforum website to find out what's taking place over the next two weeks.

Read her update here

Call on him to sign up to:

• Emissions cuts of at least 40% by 2020 on 1990 levels for all developed countries.
  
• A new financial mechanism to support developing countries in tackling climate change.
• Offsetting to be scrapped - including the the use of carbon trading in tackling deforestation. Offsetting is unjust and fundamentally flawed.

 Attended by campaigners, communicators, coordinators and Young Friends of the Earth Europe it was great to finally have everyone in the same place and put faces to names - over the last year we've had numerous phone conferences and exchanged hundreds of emails.

The day began with an introduction from Nnimmo Bassey the Chair of Friends of the Earth International (FoEI) giving one of his motivational speeches that never fails to inspire whilst at the same time putting a smile on every face.

Then it was the turn of some of FoEI's wisest climate minds to give their take on the critical negotiations ahead.

Meena Raman from Friends of the Earth Malaysia talked about the sky grab

that is taking place by developed countries and the Bolivia delegation's recent assertion that there is "little atmospheric space left for developing countries".

We heard about the European Union's position and the various negotiating groups that have formed around the world - the G77, Africa, ALBA, the Umbrella group and AOSIS to name a few.

We also heard about the tactics that some countries are using to divide unified groups by offering bi-lateral deals rather than dealing with a block as a whole.

One of these strong blocks is Africa who, last month in Barcelona, refused to continue formal discussions about offsetting and insisted that the talks focus on real carbon-reduction targets for rich countries.

Finally Kate Horner from Friends of the Earth United States assessed the US position. Asked whether the arrival of President Obama to the talks was a positive step, she expressed concern that in an effort to stay on the right side of the charismatic President some countries may make concessions that would not be in the interests of the kind of agreement developing countries need.

It was a lot to take on board but the overall message was simple, a just agreement will be difficult to secure but is not impossible.

young friends of the earth just keep on going

During lunch, Young Friends of the Earth Europe (YFoEE), never ones to put their feet up, carried out a teaser action in street calling on people to join the Flood for Climate Justice on Saturday 12 December.

In the afternoon we divided into smaller groups: communications,

actions and lobbying, and we discussed how we could best perform the tasks we had been assigned, which for me is communicating to You.

Just after 5pm we were done, a little tired, but raring to go for two weeks of long days and late nights certain in the knowledge that only a just agreement in Copenhagen will do.

Read our demands in full here.

At 08:00 on Friday morning my colleague and I found ourselves in the waiting room for the Climate Express from Brussels to Copenhagen. We were to be ‘eco-passengers’ on the Train to Copenhagen, and would travel direct, powered from renewable sources, with a plethora of events to entertain us en-route, before arriving in Copenhagen 14 hours later.

After dodging the camera crews, we settled into our seats, and prepared flyers and posters for the Friends of the Earth International ‘Flood for Climate Justice’ to spread around the train. I joined the champagne breakfast, accompanied by jazz, in the dimly lit dining car, as the train sped past the still, grey, sleepy Belgian countryside. During the day, a range of talks and presentations across two carriages would cover a range of topics, from climate science to urban transportation, and would continue right up until arrival in Copenhagen at 23:00.

The Climate Express was not as fast as the name implied: train-spotters in Aachen took the opportunity to film the unique Climate Express as it stopped to give way to numerous freight trains.

I photographed Tom Picken, the international climate campaigner from Friends of the Earth England Wales and Northern Ireland, as he handed over our 40% study, showing that 40% emission cuts are possible in Europe, to the CEO of Eurostar, Richard Brown.

what are we doing in Copenhagen?

The majority of MEPs disembarked in Köln to return to Brussels, and were replaced by more passengers for the stretch to Copenhagen. The media moved from the front of the train to the rear to get a different perspective and the FoEE representatives found themselves in front of an Italian camera crew. The question being asked from the crew was simply,  “What will you be doing in Copenhagen?”

Tom provided a sane and sober response – urgent and deep emission cuts for developed countries, without offsetting; money for developing countries to adapt to the effects of climate change; forests out of carbon markets; public money to fight climate change through the UNFCCC, not the World Bank.

When they unexpectedly turned the camera on me, they received a mumbled, embarrassed and red-faced “demand climate justice”, which will no doubt be edited out. A good reason for all those in the FoEI delegation to familiarize themselves with the official FoEI messages and keep their cool in front of the cameras!

The Climate Express took on a very relaxed atmosphere towards the end of the journey, with the media circus calming down, and those remaining on the train until Copenhagen taking what would probably be the last chance for an evening nap. The same Italian TV crew from earlier debated whether the organic tagliatelle to be served for dinner would have been cooked since Köln, and therefore be well past its best – which was thankfully not the case.

My second embarrassing media interview commenced immediately after stepping out of the train into the Copenhagen drizzle, when a Japanese camera crew filmed me holding the ‘seal the deal’ bag that we had all been given on boarding. I tried to convince them that climate justice was more important than just any old deal, but it was lost on them.

For the rest of the COP I will try and stay behind the camera. Blogging is more my thing.

If you want to read our Copenhagen demands you can do so here. 

Image: Tom Picken presents the 40% study to the CEO of Eurostar. Copyright: Friends of the Earth International

Members of Friends of the Earth International will be in Copenhagen blogging right here on the many events taking place; from the UN negotiations in the Bella Center to the civil society event, the KlimaForum, where the people most affected by climate change will have a voice.

Outside there will be many peaceful demonstrations taking place including the Flood for climate justice where thousands of people are expected to flood through the streets of Copenhagen calling for a just climate agreement.

See you back here soon.

Climate change is very high in the global political agenda at the moment. 15th Conference of Parties to the Kyoto Protocol will begin on December 7th, 2009 in Copenhagen. COP 15 will be a very crucial event in the history of human race. However, we cannot have much hope since the developed countries so far very hesitant to accept their historical responsibility to the climate change and enter to a genuine deal...

Read the full blog entry