Day one and already heading for the door, until…
Posted on 02. Nov, 2009 by annac in United Kingdom
A few familiar faces save my day!
Day one of the Barcelona climate talks and I’m getting an increasing feeling of deja-vu. Actually this feeling has been increasing since pretty much the second day of my UN life.
Bonn, Bangkok, Barcelona, the cities may change, but the UN sure doesn’t!
This morning (after welcoming the delegates with a bit of a wakeup call) this round of negotiations opened with the usual set of speeches. And when I say the usual set of speeches, I mean it… pretty much word for word.
Here’s how it goes
“Welcome delegates, first I would like to thank the city of Bonn/Bangkok/Barcelona for showing us such wonderful hospitality” etc etc etc something about the lovely weather. Followed by… “With only 94/68/36 days to Copenhagen the time for hard work has come” etc etc etc something along the theme of its time to really up the pace and we can get there.
And then after the speeches everyone gets back to business as usual in their little groups. Talking about the same things, disagreeing over the same points, agreeing about very little. Over and over and over again.
This morning in Barcelona it really started to get to me. All this talking and no action, the incessant and ridiculous formalities, everybody acting as if we have all the time in the world to solve this, it did my head in. I wanted to give up on this entire process and walk right out the door.
But on my way to the door I remembered that something has changed since Bangkok.
I turned a corner and bumped into one of my friends from 350. Then another and another. I came across the 350 stall and it was covered in photos of 350 actions, I looked up and saw a photo exhibition spanning the entire length of one of the walls, all of 350 action shots from all over the world. Then I noticed that there was an awful lot of people sporting fancy new ties…with the number 350 emblazoned down the front.
And I remembered that last week we changed the world.
Last Saturday the most global movement the world has ever seen stood up and said WE WANT THIS!
We want 350, we want a deal that gives us all a future on this planet.
No longer can politicians hide behind the excuse of not having the political will.
So lets see how that changes things this week…maybe, just maybe…I hardly dare to hope…but something has changed in the last week. The world has spoken, the UN will have to react, so maybe i’m willing to give this a few more days yet!
I saw Oleg on the photo : I have an interview with him right after 350 action in Malmö, Sweden. He explain what he expect of this world day of action before the COP15, even if it was mostly photos communications : http://avenirclimat.info/index.php?post/Has-350.org-s-Day-of-action-been-effective
Anna, I know exactly how you feel having felt this way last year in Poznan. I am so glad that you have also reminded me of the future our generation has ahead of us. Last week mobilized HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS of people, of all income brackets, of all shapes and sizes and cultures, all around the world - a historic day. I am so thankful for all the Trackers, the 350-ers, the Tck Tck Tckers, the CANers…everyone who is fighting so hard on behalf of all of us. Keep up the amazing work, and we all must remind ourselves to stay positive…if we give up, who will fight for us?