Annapolis Capital Punishment

This is my first international environmental meeting and it has been a learning experience, both as an official delegate for a non-governmental organization and as an observer of all the side activities that occur around this event. I also think that this meeting is probably more inclusive of every group imaginable than any other climate negotiation to date. Certainly, the diversity of people, nations and organizations multiplies the learning and dialog.

I think a meeting like this is a cross between a political science class, a science fair and a math quiz bowl. A person needs a dictionary to wade through all the governmental acronyms that are used, a knowledge of the periodic table of elements would be helpful and there are frequent discussions of parts per million. The problem with this academic or intellectual approach is I am afraid negotiators can lose sight of the people and real life situations that are behind the whole purpose of these meetings.

The government officials are here in their professional clothes and dashing around to meetings. They say at nice hotels and have a government per diem so they eat at restaurants. And when they go home, they have jobs and homes to live in and regardless of the outcome of the negotiations, their lives will go on. I am not being critical of these people, they have a job and they are working very hard to reach an agreement. But there is a different reality for many others.

The contrast is the people who are in Copenhagen because their city, region or country is already feeling the affects of climate change and they don't know if their children will live to be adults or will be able to occupy the same area that their family, tribe or nationality has occupied for hundreds of years. These people are afraid because it is hard to communicate their concerns to someone who perhaps has never heard of their homeland and certainly has not seen the place or the changes that are happening.

On Sunday, I visited the "Climate Bottom" which was held in Christiana, an alternative community in the heart of Copenhagen. In the 1970's a group of hippies took over an old army barracks and created an alternative community that still exists today. The "Climate Bottom" meeting provided a forum for people and organizations who would not otherwise have a voice. There were also practical sessions on alternative types of agriculture, transport and energy. I thought after spending a day at the Bella Center, it might be good to check in with the other 50% of the world, who generally are not visible at these meetings.

One of the speakers was actually a negotiator from Bolivia and she talked about the concerns in Bolivia with water for two of their largest cities because the glaciers are shrinking and the water comes from the mountains. There was another person who spoke of the drought in East Africa, the 6th year in some places and how most of the livestock are dead and there is nothing left for the people . Hearing individuals tell their real life stories made me realize that responding to climate change involves much more than changing light bulbs.

Here is a picture the booth for the island of Tuvalu. Honestly, I never heard of this island before. They made the news because they were advocating a much tougher deal than any of the developed countries were considering. I went over to the booth and looked at the island. It is tiny and apparently their shoreline is already washing away. I thought to myself, in 20 years, they are probably going to be a submerged reef. So where do those people go and who helps them?

I have not heard much discussion on what the world is going to do to help people whose island disappears or who can no longer live in an area that is permanently arid. Do we relocated them to a place with lots of space, like North Dakota? Or do we give them a large boat and say good luck. Or maybe, we just drop a bunch of life jackets out of an airplane. The US and some European countries have not followed through on commitments for more development aid as it is, so it is hard to believe that a world so focused on security would take in people from places they have never heard of.

After walking through the "climate bottom", I had much to think about on the train ride to the home where I was staying. Maybe the protesters that seem so angry have a point. Many of the people who traveled to Copenhagen, the beautiful, modern, energy-efficient city will go back home to a much harsher reality. They will have to think about mitigation of climate effects, if that is possible, and also consider what life will be like for their children as refugees in a world that probably doesn't even know they exist.



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