Today things started out feeling dismal – like they were unraveling.
Over the weekend we got word that the many thousands of people gathered here to participate in the conference will not have access to the conference center because they are massively overbooked.
Today was a pretty crazy day in the world of international climate negotiations that ended at a cocktail party at the Ambassador’s house where the real Arnold was spotted.
What do a thousand jailed demonstrators, President Obama, a dozen Fortune 100 CEOs, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon, and a melting ice sculpture of a polar bear have in common?
I was wondering where they were. I had been in Copenhagen for a week and there was no sign of them. And then, after an early morning walk down to the water, I turned the corner and there they were. The protesters. The skeptics.
Of the estimated 20,000 people converging on the UN climate conference this week and next, half of them are expected to be under the age of 30. My colleague in Copenhagen, Kristina Haddad, reports…
It has been a challenge here in Copenhagen to find a meal that does not involve a sausage wrapped in bacon (seriously – that seems to be a popular culinary treat), something to do with rare roast beef, or a sauté of a hoofed or winged friend from the animal kingdom.
There are a lot of images that are swimming in my head.
It’s a bitter cold day and I’m tired. Though there were some developments today (the EU pledged big sums of money to developing countries to fight climate change and called for 30% reduction of emissions by 2020), I’ve also heard that the Bella Center, where the negotiations are being conducted, has turned into a cesspool of rumors — mostly negative — about what kind of deal could emerge out of Copenhagen.
Today I was baptized into the world of COP 15.
I stood amongst the many activists – flyers in hand – attempting to deliver our message.
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 deal being discussed in Denmark right now, in the name of climate change, is actually a framework for truth in advertising on a global economic scale. Think FASB on steroids.