Comments on: CARBON SUPPLICANTS ON THE COPENHAGEN PILGRIMAGE

By: Diana Trimble

Diana Trimble — Wed, 06 Jan 2010 17:39:50 +0000

George, I totally agree that environmentalism must be wrested away from the new climate change umbrella term. It makes it too easy for people who distrust the science of carbon emissions to ignore the rainforest being ripped down. My Dad is a climate denier yet claims to be an environmentalist – how that works I don’t know, but I’d sure rather collaborate with him on a shared vision than argue about crap I don’t fully understand myself and which seems almost besides the point. Can we get a coalition to work on this. I also had an absolutely rotten time in Copenhagen by the way. In addition to being denied entry to the Bella Centre at the last minute, I also managed to miss all the protests – which wasn’t hard as they were tightly managed, corraled, controlled and contained by the cops. I’m writing an entire account of the weirdo experience I had, which I’ll send to you, but to summarise: after Eurolines screwed me over on my return journey and told me there were no seats back to London until January 2nd (!), which was more than 2 weeks, I was forced to FLY home on a budget airline after spending 2 days in an overpriced hotel because my accoms had run out! I was so broke by that point that I had to eat fast food to survive – (I had somehow ended up in one of the few places more expensive and colder than London). And that, my friends, is how the system makes itself so hard to resist: the alternatives are currently extremely unpleasant AND expensive.

By: Martin Vermeer

Martin Vermeer — Fri, 01 Jan 2010 15:38:51 +0000

> on the horizon, a vast coal burning power plant.__
If you’re referring to the HvidÃ¸vre plant, that one burns waste.

By: Stephen O'Kane

Stephen O'Kane — Mon, 28 Dec 2009 11:11:09 +0000

There is one big advantage about the decisions (or lack of them) being in the hands of power politicians. At least no one has the excuse of complaining they’re being preached and moralised at. By the way, is it now time to switch campaign attention to Chinese and Indian governments, especially as they will have plenty of leverage on the West anyway?

By: Derek Wall

Derek Wall — Sat, 26 Dec 2009 22:15:41 +0000

more optimistically I remember how Earth First started in the Uk with two people and kicked off a direct action movement that helped stop the biggest road building project since the Romans….George, you were involved in that if I remember rightly, long time ago now.

and while nobody else seems to have heard of them outside Peru…aidesp continue to win the battle.

By: Derek Wall

Derek Wall — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 16:22:58 +0000

Yes we need to be more strategic, this is from todays Morning Star which may be of interest http://another-green-world.blogspot.com/2009/12/climate-sceptics-are-like-alcoholics.html

By: Roly

Roly — Sun, 20 Dec 2009 11:29:31 +0000

I’ve been as pessimistic as Paul Kingsnorth for a while but after reading Nicholas Stern’s Blueprint for a Safer Planet can at least see a way forward that reduces greenhouse gases and helps the developing world out of poverty.

I haven’t swung from pessimism to blind optimism but it does show a way forward without totally dismantling the current structures. At least it could be a stepping stone and I now feel a bit less like Reg from Life of Brian – “We’re giving Pilate two days to dismantle the entire apparatus of the Roman Imperialist State”.

Yours (in hope!)

By: Annie

Annie — Sat, 19 Dec 2009 11:53:13 +0000

I think the 350.org people deserve a lot of credit and worked really hard.

By: Jamie

Jamie — Sat, 19 Dec 2009 11:09:37 +0000

Great post. And brave to say it as well. As someone in Copenhagen, I am glad I came, but definitely agree with all of your points.

The problem for me is also that the NGOs don’t have a common position, except berating the leaders. Whilst we do need to berate the leaders, we need to do so whilst demanding a coherent alternative. Then the the tens of thousands of people in the city would have been a true political force rather than a dispirate group of sideshows.

If you want to read my further thoughts, see http://jamieandrews.name/blog

By: Jonathan Doig

Jonathan Doig — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 22:30:17 +0000

Excellent post George. The reassertion of power by climate deniers in the Opposition here shows we have exactly this problem in Australia. On the other hand it is partly fuelled by general suspicion of our Government’s CPRS (Continue Polluting Regardless Scam).

We’ve had “truth movement” hecklers at recent rallies but interestingly they claim to be anti old growth logging and pro green tech including windmills even though they “love CO2″ as their Tshirts proclaim. They are fiercely opposed to ETS scams which they say are just another financial bubble. Couldn’t fault them on that.

So we still need to get the somewhat subtle point across that the science is real, but the politics, at least so far, really is a fraud.

By: Paul Kingsnorth

Paul Kingsnorth — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 18:15:18 +0000

Excellent post George, and as someone who wasn’t there, I am glad to hear this from someone who was. Your first reply, from Hugh, accuses you of cynicism. I would have thought it was obvious that the cynicism comes from Coke, Siemens and the various nations and corporations on show in Copenhagen. And also, in my view, from some of the NGOs, who are playing along despite knowing damn well that the game is up for this party.

‘At least you could show some degree of optimism’, suggests Hugh. Why? Just for the sake of it? To make you feel better? This gets to the heart of it for me. There is bugger all reason to have any otimism at all about this process, and until we admit that we won’t get beyond it. It’s a corporate circus; its very power structure militates against it being able to do anything. These people are the problem; and so, complicit in it, are we. What do we do about that? Dressing up as bears, painting ourselves blue or feeling ‘optimistic’ for the sake of it make things worse.

The first thing we could do is admit the impossibility of this approach, and then we might start to get to the heart of the matter. The green movement has surely been pretending for too long now. I don’t want to sound like a Trot (perish the thought) but where’s the analysis of power and capital in the mainstream line? Why are we pretending to ourselves that this kind of process, in this kind of world, is amenable to nice, middle class NGO delegates in branded T-shirts making ‘demands’ they can’t back up with anything?

OK, I’ll stop now… But there’s more on this here for anyone interested:

http://www.dark-mountain.net/wordpress/2009/12/07/the-inadequacy-of-hope/