December 2009
9 posts
5 tags
Suicide Pacts and Survival Guides
“Mr President, I ask whether - under the eye of the UN secretary general - you are going to endorse this coup d’etat against the authority of the United Nations?”
The President did, and the last minute ‘Copenhagen Accord’ was pushed through. It was a document agreed between a handful of rich nations whilst the majority of delegates talked amongst themselves.
The...
Decline and Fall
Sleep deprivation is beginning to bite. A Times journalist reported that at 9am this morning, some microphones in the main hall were switched on and all they could hear was manic laughter. An Indian Negotiator stumbled out into the daylight. “The situation is desperate. There is no agreement on even what to call the text.”
Gordon Brown’s office had sent out a 1am tweet....
Volcanoes, Socialism and Rising Seas
Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi found himself between a rock and hard place. He came out in favour of the levels of African climate change aid proposed by the EU in October. This is about 25% of what Africa says it needs to cope. It was unclear whether his change of heart stemmed from fears that the talks may end in failure and leave Africa to its fate, or because of some long and persuasive...
Tear Gas and the Escape to Mars
The wrong type of gas was the talk of town in Copenhagen. Instead of discussing CO2, attention was on the tear gas that police threw into a marquee party being held in the traditionally free and easy Christiania area. Helicopters circled overhead and party goers were left choking and baffled. As mentioned in yesterday’s blog, the Danish parliament recently gave the police the power of...
The Copenhagen Weekend Blog
On Sunday the bells of Holland were ringing 350 times to mark the level of CO2 in Parts Per Million that is the ‘bottom line for humanity’ (NASA). At the same time, I was crawling off the football pitch following a head on collision with the opposition goal keeper. He put all of his weight behind a kick to my left knee. No penalty given. The medical staff are saying that could be it...
Day 4: escapologists, burgers and all nighters
Today is my birthday, and to celebrate the UN has published the official Copenhagen guest list. It runs to 3 volumes, and includes some suitably rock and roll entries. First prize goes to “The Compensators”. Whether or not they have a Motown history remains unclear, but it’s something of a supergroup either way. George Clooney’s in it, alongside Tommy lee Jones. Sir David...
Into The Lion's Den
Yesterday, the Times published an extract from a booklet I’d put together - a Condensed Version of Climate Change aimed at people like me who read the articles but felt a long way from the facts. Following its publication, I temporarily deflected some of the venom that usually gets fired at the regular eco pundits. The messages I received were split roughly into 3 categories. 1....
Dodgy sources were the order of the day
Big news of the day was a leak of a Danish document proposing the outline of a new agreement which didn’t involve the UN, or the Kyoto Protocol, the only current treaty on limiting emissions. Yvo de Boer, executive secretary of the Copenhagen talks, was keen to point out that “This was an informal paper ahead of the conference given to a number of people for the purposes of...
High hopes, oilmen and a late lunch
From Amsterdam Amsterdam is the nearest hotel room to Copenhagen you can get. It also happens to be where I’m doing press for the new Groove Armada album. Coinciding with the climate talks is quite handy as it means I can shift the conversation to that rather than ‘where did you meet’ or ‘so, your new sound, tell me more’. Yesterday’s opening of the summit had...