Wednesday 9 December 2009

Should we Seattleise Copenhagen?

Norwich Green Party councillor Rupert Read has suggested it is time to Seattleise Copenhagen, as any agreement is likely to be even worse than Kyoto, but when I put this to the panel from Greenpeace and Action Aid who were giving us an update on the negotiations at Klimaforum on Tuesday evening, they were against the idea, as we don't have time to wait around - they thought there was still hope something better could come from Copenhagen

Monday 7 December 2009

Copenhagen

I've finally arrived in Copenhagen, having had to do the last bit on the train, since they don't allow you to cross the bridge to Zealand (the island on which Copenhagen sits) on a cycle, so my trip wasn't completely zero carbon.

But I think this is an important illustration that individuals alone cannot defeat climate change - the reason why I could not cycle on the bridge is a political one, and it is a combination of individual action and politics that will be effective.

The rumours here are that a Copenhagen agreement, if we do get one, will be even worse than Kyoto, retaining its bad aspects - the offsets which mean there can be no true cap on emissions, and removing the good ones - the binding emission reduction targets, which would be replaced by voluntary ones.

Tomorrow I am making a presentation (10am to noon) and a press conference (3pm) on my journey and the solutions I have discovered, at the Klimaforum .

Tuesday 1 December 2009

Aabenraa

Finally left Flensburg today, to travel into Denmark - the end of a great time with Clemens, Sam and Julian, the three students of energy and environmental management I've been staying with for the past couple of weeks.
I've now joined up with Kim Nguyens and his group.www.rideplanetearth.org Kim has cycled all the way from Australia, but the rest of us have been shorter distances.
We got as far as Aabenraa today, but we've got a 75 km ride tomorrow, and my gears aren't working.