No-Hopenhagen? COP-out? The UN FCCC-ed up?

It's now just over a month since I got back from Copenhagen at what was the experience of a lifetime. The COP15, the event that was built up to be where world leaders decide whether to save us all, or sign a suicide pact. So, I've had some time for reflection.

Here are the main things I learnt from the mad house of the UNFCCC:

1. Every country is in it for themselves - they just have differing analyses of what that actually means. In the case of China, it appears they believed their economic growth to help them become a superpower in the future was more important than the climate which that will be based on. The US was similar in terms of the minor cuts they were willing to commit to. And countries like the Maldives realised that they needed a deal in Copenhagen to stop from drowning under rising seas. Capitalism is no small player in creating these differing world views, and as always the poor and vulnerable loose out, the rich and powerful who win, no matter how stupid they actually are. We need to keep pushing for a recognition that the collective good being put first will increase all our prosperity.

2. The UNFCCC process could work, and work well, if countries were not subject to the gross illogicalities I just described.

3. Carbon trading is worse than I thought. It could work well if it wasn't subject to the political process - but that's the case with most things! There are so many outs for rich but selfish countries like New Zealand to exploit (Clean Development Mechanism, REDD, and other such flexibility mechanisms) depending on the system (ie the one that the current NZ government supports) emissions could continue to sky rocket. No wonder Minister for Climate Change Issues Nick Smith is so keen on many of these things.

4. The solutions are out there, but it's up to the people to lead. And they are. This is too big to give up on, so lets keep working towards climate justice, and keep coming up with ideas. We're closer than we think, and there's a massive global movement on what Desmund Tutu called "the winning side" - the side where we get to keep a stable climate, and make a more equitable world! It was fantastic to see so many thousands of young people and Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) in Copenhagen supporting this winning effort.

5. There's a lot of smart people out there, but there's also some wackos... Climate change deniers can join the many other crazy conspiracy theorists and retire to their tight-knit communities of nonsense!

6. The Copenhagen Accord said and achieved very little. However, it is political will that is most important if we are to ever reach an agreement for a stable climate. Is there political will? More than we've ever seen. Is this enough? No.

7. But, with the Copenhagen Accord being the only thing to come out of Copenhagen, there seems to be even more uncertainty than there was before Copenhagen - and that was a huge amount. This uncertainty is bad for the climate, bad for us, and bad for business. Who knows what will happen this year?

8. The Green movement is needed now more than ever before.

I leave you with some pictures which contain memories which I will always cherish.

One more day to go for the COP15

Hello people,

Just thought I better give you all a quick update.

It's very cold. Snow starting falling on Tuesday, and it hasn't let up much since. It's -4 with a windchill of -11.

Went to Sweden today as we've been completely locked out of the conference. They accredited 45 000 people with entry for a venue with 15 000 capacity... Welcome to the UN. Long queues, chaotic, hard to figure out what's going on. They started limiting numbers on Tuesday, with our delegation of twelve being allowed to bring in 5 people. Then today NGO numbers were limited to 1000 (allocated through constituencies - my one being YOUNGO or Youth NGO, and I don't think NZYD got any. There are nine NGO constituencies) Tomorrow they are limiting NGOs numbers to just 90 people, with 10 going to each constituency, because of the shear number of world leaders (120 to 135ish, including Mugabe) and their entourages who are going to be at the venue. So many NGOs are very unhappy. There was also a protest going on yesterday, which was my last day at the venue, where they tried to storm the building (without hope - there were so many police, and Danish police are very brutal, so we've steered well clear of them, and kept our conference badges well visible. They did manage to arrest a French Green MP, who they released once they realised who he was.)

Anyway talks don't sound like they're going too well... We'll have to see what world leaders can do when they talk tomorrow. Did the march last Saturday with about 100 000 people at it. It was an incredibly uplifting experience, and we carried the massive NZYD sail (signed by young Kiwis about what they think about climate change) the whole 3 hour walk, which gave us a great reputation - see the photo.

Other things we've done is hijacked the NZers in Copenhagen party when we presented the NZYD sail to Ministers Tim Groser and Nick Smith, and then gave a long speech that really challenged their policies (not being cute youth as they were hoping we were). There we met Simon Upton and Major Kerry Prendergast too (though she didn't react much to the speech...). We got a really long applause at the end though, even though the crowd was a mix of Kiwi NGOs, business people and delegates.

Other famous people I've seen include Desmund Tutu, Senator John Kerry, Helen Clark and almost Ban Ki-Moon (but he couldn't make his side-event due to negotiations). Also went to a Global Greens talk and saw a bunch of cool people talk including Elizabeth May (Canadian Green Party Leader) who absolutely rubbished the Canadian Government (which as of yesterday had the most Fossils of the Day, slightly ahead of the US). The current Canadian Government - which does not have majority support at all but is in power due to First Past the Post - is absolutely abysmal. She also said "Things may be better now that the US has a new administration, but unfortunately they are still the United States," to rapturous applause. Good ol' Canadians...

For the last day we will continue to send love letters to John Key, and try and get a meeting with him. Let's hope he commits to stronger targets - a conditional 10-20% by 2020 is not good enough - especially considering the strong conditions will not be met (such as other developing countries committing to stronger targets...). Plus we're trying to get the message out that the new Emissions Trading Scheme is crap - contrary to what our Government is saying, given it has no cap on emissions and thus will allow them to increase...

Anyway, it's being a crazy ride, and can tell you other things later, but should probably go. Will have to see how the final day of the talks go - which are likely to continue into Saturday before they wrap up - for better or for worse.

Let us get across!

This afternoon I attended a gathering of about 400 or 500 cyclists (from my rough estimate) beneath the Auckland Harbour Bridge.

The gathering was in favour of a cycleway and walkway being added to the bridge when maintainence is carried out on the bridge clip ons in the next year or two. It is an excellent opportunity to do this, but is at this stage by no means a closed deal. At the moment you can't walk or cycle over the bridge - which is absolutely crazy. Nor can you scooter. What do people do who don't have a car, or want a more sustainable option (besides bussing)? Estimated cost of the project is between $20 and $40 million, which "chicken feed" compared to the billions that go into other roading projects, as Keith Locke put it.

Above is me and Xavier Goldie, who is another young Green Party Candidate in the Auckland area.

At the event Keith Locke announced parts of the Green Party transport policy for the election. We want to change the ratio of funding from 5 times as much being spent on roading compared with public transport, walking and cycling to a reverse situation where we spend twice as much on public transport compared with roading. That will ensure that we never have to fight another battle to get a very sensible cycleway built. We also will become more sustainable by using the roads we have much more wisely, rather than spending billions on new ones - which never helps ease congestion, it just creates more.

Hmmm... toxic gas eh?

In April I blogged about a protest action against the spraying of Methyl Bromide in Wellington to fumigate logs (and of course, in other places around the country) due to the potentially severe impacts the gas can have on the health of those living around the ports where it is sprayed, and the impacts the gas has on the environment. Well, after protests by the Greens, lead by Sue Kedgley and Steffan Browning, it seems the Environmental Risk Management Authority (ERMA) will finally be re-considering its usage - though judging by past decisions it is hard to say whether they will take the environmental and health impacts seriously or not.

After the first stage of the review (approximately 18 months) then you will be able to make your submission about what you think. Meanwhile, whilst they are spraying, I suggest you wear similar apparatus around affected areas - especially close to ports - to that modelled by my model (and childhood teddy bear) above.

The Olympic´s Legacy (Banners)

Speaking of events in Wellington coming up that I can´t attend (like in my last post), here´s another one. It´s about the Bejing Olympics, which are coming up very very soon, and there will be a lot of noise being made about China´s human right record.

So, in my place please consider attending the SIGN THE OLYMPIC LEGACY BANNERS event, 12pm - 2pm Tuesday 29 July, Manners Mall, Wellington. They will be hand delivered to the Chinese Embassy 3-4pm.

Just reading another recent example of what the oppressive regime in China might try and get up to while the Olympics are on (TV Signal Cut Under Pressure From Chinese Regime - Epoch Times). It will be very interesting to watch what happens, and fingers crossed this focussed campaign on Chinese human rights will help make a positive difference - combatting the net negative effect the Olympics have had on Chinese human rights so far as they try and "clean up" any dissent before the world´s media decends on China in earnest.

I'm sorry TV3...

It would appear I was wrong in my 5 April post about the Methyl Bromide protest when I said TV3 didn't run the news story about it when they sent cameras. They did, I just couldn't find it. However, I'm still mad at the Dom Post. It was a local story to Wellington - where was the freakin' article?

By the way, I'm not one of the people in white suits - I missed out. I'm a blackish blob in the background with a gas mask on. I'm famous!

Toxic gas? So?

I attended a protest yesterday outside Aotea Wharf in Wellington. The issue? Well, it seems the Wellington Regional Council is turning a blind eye to the spraying of an odourless and highly-toxic gas out in the open at the port, which it has an 85% stake in. Methyl Bromide has been linked with all sorts of horrible illnesses, and has been shown to be dispersed widely when sprayed out in the open - which is especially a problem in windy Wellington. Furthermore, it is an ozone-depleting gas - which you think New Zealand would be much tougher on given our high rate of skin cancer caused by the hole in the ozone layer. Methyl Bromide is used to fumigate logs, and I was shocked to hear it was being regularly sprayed in downtown Wellington when other parts of the country have had a guts-full of it being sprayed in their neck of the woods.

So a group of concerned young folk - including myself - and a couple of Green celebrities - Sue Kedgley and Steffan Browning - stood outside the fence around the logs yesterday to protest, and get some media coverage of the issue. We even donned white suits and gas masks to get attention. All was going well with a TV camera, and a late Dom Post photographer. So where the hell is the report and article about this issue which is incredibly important to the health and well-being of Wellingtonians? Not even a small mention, that I could find anyway.

Well at least someone's fighting the good fight, with Sue Kedgley launching a petition that same day, calling on the spraying of Methyl Bromide to be halted immediately: until such time as they have proper facilities in place to capture the gas, before it can escape into the atmosphere and the lungs of Wellington-peeps.

Don't be a fossil fool: STOP COAL!

Rumour has it that some young hoodlums viciously attacked the wall outside the new Supreme Court construction site on Lambton Quay in Wellington earlier today. Of course I was not there, so I can only go on what I've heard through the grapevine, but their weapon of choice seems to have been paper, glue, and a highly topical and powerful message. The message said "Don't be a fossil fool: STOP COAL." However it was, as these pictures show, promptly torn down by the man. In bright orange. Who was yelling and stuff, from what I hear.

As to whether or not Helen Clark and friends looked out of their office windows, saw the message, and realised that they were allowing a disgusting, dirty and ultimately deadly industry to continue pillaging the environment in New Zealand, and therefore decided then and there to outlaw it completely, remains to be seen.