I spent today hanging out with Arnold Schwarzenegger.
Well, to be a bit more precise, I spent the day hanging out with a life size, cardboard cutout of the movie star turned Governor of California. The idea to bring “Arnold” with us to COP15 was conjured up in our Santa Monica office some weeks ago. A few phone calls back and forth with Arnold’s production office and voila – there he stood in our office. We thought having this cutout with us at COP15 would be a great conversation starter and would give us a chance to tell the story of what the states and local governments are doing in the US to combat climate change.
Arnold waited patiently in our Seventh Generation Advisors offices while we figured out the logistics of how to get this 6 foot tall replica 5,582 miles to our hotel in Copenhagen. He stood guarding my office door, startling every single person that walked by. Needless to say, the dogs in our office were shocked to see him there and barked at him until he was turned around to face the wall.
Kris was a team player and agreed to travel with “Arnold”. After briefly getting lost at the London airport, “Arnold” safely made it to his destination and today we took him to the Bella Center. He was barely out of his box when people starting coming over to us, asking “what Arnie” was doing at COP15. Most people seemed genuinely interested in our answer, listening intently as we explained the power of action at the state level. It seems Arnold is as well known for terminating as he is for being green.
After a few hours and after several dozen of our pamphlets had been handed out, another group with a great idea stood right in front of us trying to attract attention to their cause. This environmental group from India had a 100 foot banner that had been signed by thousands of children urging action on climate change. We decided to let them take center stage and packed “Arnold” safely away in his box and headed back to the hotel.