I Can’t Get No Satisfaction December 21, 2009

As I headed home from Copenhagen yesterday afternoon, I left with a feeling of dissatisfaction and exhaustion, not much unlike many of my IFLRY colleagues and NGOs. I’ve been feeling rather muted and paralyzed since my arrival in Denmark and it’s not only because of my little to no internet access (I must apologize to all of those who were following me on my voyage as I feel like I may have let them down). I’ve been extremely frustrated and upset with the little voice I’ve had thus far, but I will promise that this will not set a precedent as there is still much work to do.

I arrived last Sunday afternoon filled with enthusiasm and hope, ready to jump right into the thick of COP15. Arriving on Sunday was both a blessing and a curse. The Conference was not open for business, which meant that I could settle into my accommodation and catch up after my flight. That evening, we enjoyed a conversation with the Right Honourable Paul Martin to discuss our role at COP15, how climate change is affecting Aboriginals around the world and his work in the Congo-basin as part of a developing country NGO (see previous posts for more detail).

The curse of arriving Sunday meant that I could not register at the Bella Centre until Monday morning – the start of the second week of negotiations and arguably, the most important week of the Conference with the arrivals of heads of state and the ramping up of talks. I was ready to wake up early and wait in line, but little did I know that I would have so much difficulty. I got lucky (which speaks volumes of how disorganized the Conference was), after arriving with my YLC co-delegates who had previously registered, I was told I needed to move into another line as I did not have my accreditation yet. This line was outside the gates and was at a standstill. Many of the registered delegates were flowing right through, while I got stuck at the front of the line for registration. We waited for nearly an hour there, before joining a larger and slower line into the Bella Centre. We waited there for nearly 3 and a half hours before security, at which point my toes felt like they were going to fall off. The disorganization of the UN was already apparent here, but I was relieved to be inside. I registered myself, received my badge, checked my coat and found a place to sit and charge my laptop so that I could contact my delegation to meet with them. It took me a couple hours to settle in, recoup my energy, dethaw my limbs and buy a cell phone. The next thing I knew, it was time to leave and go to an IFLRY networking event. What should have been an early warning sign of total disorganization on behalf of the United nations, was overlooked. That afternoon, word broke that the UN would now require secondary badges for at least Tuesday and Thursday to limit the amount of people into the Centre. It was later revealed that this limit actually discounted about two-thirds of NGOs from COP15.

The bad news continued as the hours passed and we found out that these secondary badges would be required for nearly the rest of the week, with the exception of Thursday and Friday, which would have extremely limited access to 1000 and 90 delegates, respectively. Tuesday, I was slated to have a badge from early afternoon onwards. I received my badge just after 1, too late to get tickets to an event with some Ministers and politicians from the US and Canada, but still optimistic about going to some cool events. On our way in, Will and I were given tickets to an debate hosted by CNN and YouTube. Miranda, Will and myself attended and enjoyed the debate with former U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan, journalist Thomas Friedman, U.N. Executive Secretary Yves de Boer and author Bjorn Lomborg (blog post to follow on this event). That would be my first and last event I attended at the Conference, as I looked through the schedule and got my bearings around the Bella Centre, time crept away from me. I spent the next hours checking out the countries’ delegation offices and waiting to watch the Opening Ceremonies (which didn’t end up being screened there, so we ended up watching them at the EU Pavillion). At this point in the day, I was exhausted and thought that it would be best to check out for the day and recuperate for Wednesday. I really felt that Tuesday was my one day to warm up to the Bella Centre and get the feel of the Conference. Unfortunately, I spent the next 3 days of COP15 outside the Bella Centre, with almost no internet access to stay tuned to the going-ons inside and around the world. Needless to say, while I was on the ground and supposed to be part of the NGO delegations to the UN Conference, I felt ironically out-of-touch (and still do).

I will try to have a couple more posts on my experience in Copenhagen and thoughts on the outcome in the coming days before Christmas. Additionally, there will still be news filtering out post-COP15 so there is still much commentary to come. I hope as well that climate change will remain at the forefront of people’s minds leading into the New Year and COP16 . Let’s try to keep the focus and enthusiasm everyone! This is not the end, merely a tipping point for the climate crisis.

Cooperation not Co-dependency, please November 25, 2009

The Toronto Star’s Editorial Cartoon today sums up some of my recent frustrations with Harper’s [lack of] initiative on climate change and contained enthusiasm (my nice way of saying total apathy and dissent) for acting as a major player on the international stage during COP-15. Stephen Harper, you are one lame, co-dependent, weakling of a leader. Even before Obama committed to attending the summit last Wednesday, he had fully acknowledged his role as commander-in-chief of the most powerful nation in the world and pledged to take on this role through a spirit of cooperation. Talk about a completely different approach from our North American leaders: one epitomizes collaboration and leadership, the other is an embarrassing example of weak leadership and co-dependency. I don’t have to tell you which is which.

While it’s not surprising to most of us that Mr. Harper does not care, it’s unbelievable just how much he has managed to erode our global reputation as trailblazers on a number of fronts, notwithstanding the climate change and environmental files. And so, on Thursday (just like clockwork) Harper announced that he would also be attending the Conference. A very muted response by our Prime Minister to what ought to be and IS considered the most vital (literally) issue of our time, both politically and personally.This would be a prime opportunity to raise his profile, to prove his commitments to climate change action (despite Kyoto being a socialist scheme) and start digging Canada out of this pitiful hole we have plummeted into under this Conservative government.

Alas, we are still playing catch-up, pretending we are just as “cool” as the U.S. We can sound like we’re in the in-crowd as long as we ride on the coat-tails of Barack Obama’s climate action plan. As Don Newman so simply puts it, Canada will do whatever the U.S. will do – the if-your-friend-jumps-off-a-bridge, you-should-too strategy. Real mature Scradley.

His plan is to reduce greenhouse gas levels in the U.S. by 2020 to 17 per cent below what they were in 2005. Other than suggesting a “cap and trade” system, in which polluters could buy and sell emission credits from each other, the details of the Obama plan have been scarce.

However, that proposal fits closely with the approach that the Harper government has been planning to take. And that is the way the Conservative government wants it.

After coming to office as global warming skeptics, the Conservatives now say that Canada’s greenhouse gas emissions will be curbed by 20 per cent from 2006 levels by 2020. And a cap and trade system with the United States is part of their plan, too.

In fact when you come right down to it, whatever the United States wants to do is part of the Canadian plan.

When they were in opposition, the Conservatives resisted Canadian ratification of the Kyoto protocol. They said its adoption would put Canada at a competitive disadvantage with the U.S., because the Bush administration was not going along.

Now, with Obama ready to adopt greenhouse gas standards, the Harper government understands that Canada will have to do the same.

Particularly if U.S. legislators enact penalties on countries with less restrictive regimes — much like some in the EU are threatening to do.

The problem Harper still faces is that imitation may be the most sincere form of flattery, but it is just barely enough for other participating countries. This is still giving far too much credit to Harper for bringing forth a very superficial climate action plan and intent for legislation. In fact, we’ve impressed our sister-nations so much so that they are seeking our suspension from the commonwealth family!

Harper is fearless. Or should I say more concerned with short term political gains and the Conservative Economic Action Plan. He may be able to ignore calls for action away from home, but could he really give his fellow Canadians the cold shoulder too? Yes. Don’t worry Harper, you have no responsibility to listen to the cries of woe from the very people who elected you to the highest office in the land. Forget about these guys too.

As Jack Layton said today in the House of Commons Question Period, Stephen Harper may as well not go since all we will receive is a slew of Fossil Awards. If only we could be more Quebec.