How will Copenhagen be remembered?
We are in the midst of the largest international event in Copenhagen ever.The delegates are on our doorsteps and many foreign stakeholders and organisations are here. On everyone’s lips is the question – will there be a legally binding treaty, or at least a strong political message and a promise for COP16?
By Janne Aagaard and Johanna Olesen
Come January, when life as we know it gets back to normal, we might all breathe a collective sigh of relief,. Christmas gifts have been unwrapped, the relatives are back home and the cat survived your sister’s three kids. On top of this, the illuminated exhibits and other art statements around Copenhagen are gone, and the numerous police officers have left the streets, the hotels and airport are emptied, the international media folks have vanished to the Next Big Thing. Even our queen of climate, Connie Hedegaard, has left for Brussels and the reach and impact of the new queen in town, [newly-installed climate minister] Lykke Friis, is yet to be determined.
But how will Copenhagen be remembered? The grand idea of a Copenhagen treaty to replace the one from Kyoto is already in tatters since our prime minister eliminated the option even before the conference began.
And if radical groups like Never Trust a Cop get much media attention, the message of civil society’s many and creative ideas on climate change may never get across to the general public. We at People’s Climate Action pray that the many concerts, innovative solutions, cultural events and knowledge sharing will be heard – and may continue to be heard when everyone has left.
Instead, the media wants to know: How many will participate in the demonstrations? Do you plan to cause trouble? Is Copenhagen a safe town?
But what really matters ‘the day after tomorrow’ is not how the media reported the conflicts, but how we all act in everyday life. Will we consider the climate in our daily choices, such as what we eat, what we buy, how to get to work or where we go for our holidays?
The integrity of the decisions made by Mr and Mrs Jensen [i.e. Denmark’s Mr and Mrs Jones] and their kids, every day, is more important. In civil society, a business decision maker or a politician is no different to any of us who do not have as much impact on the climate. We all do. Imagine a procurement manager for a large company. If he always buys organic food for his children, would he choose a supplier that is not Fair Trade for the company’s? Civil society and civil personalities are one and the same.
Consider the possibility that regardless of a COP15 deal or not, our awareness is increased so much about climate issues that people are able to act in a much more climate-friendly way. What if we can be remembered as having helped make that happen?
What people do in their everyday lives is the most powerful force for the climate. Many thinkers, politicians and writers have been stuck in a rut for a long time – but it is the actions of people that really rock the world and the climate. That is what the day after tomorrow is all about.
People’s Climate Action is an umbrella organisation of 40 small and large Danish NGOs with the aim of ensuring that COP15 will have the maximum impact politically, socially, and culturally. They are funded by the Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
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