"There Is No Planet 'B'"

Copenhagen Out of the Frying Pan, Part 3

Walking to the starting point of the demonstration and march we felt lucky that for the 12th of December it was a pretty nice day. It seems quite important now to show big numbers on the streets and exert some of that "people power" that we will need to break the inertia on global climate action. Walking over the giant canal on an arching bridge we can see the big Greenpeace ship sitting right there--what a great parking place--those guys really must have some good juice in this city to get that!

The speeches at the starting point were wrapping up mostly similar and short general statements that we must have a "good" deal, a "fair" deal, etc. But the speeches differed over whether capitalism must be replaced to accomplish this or we must merely reform it.

Then we started the two and a half hour march to the Bella Center, where the UN Climate Conference is being held. We had people power for sure--estimated as high as 100,000! Very well represented was Greenpeace, with innumerable members clad in their yellowish green t-shirts. No shock there, but I was pleasantly surprised by the number of signs and buttons for 350.org. 350 logos were not only all over the march on signs and t-shirts, but they were hanging from windows on 3rd and 4th stories of buildings all the way down the march route - nice one! Of the placards carried on sticks the words "There is no Planet B" were my favorite jingle.

I noticed very few police at the beginning of the march, but lo and behold, when we were passing a rather small McDonald's, there they were, shoulder to shoulder protecting the glass front. I couldn't resist starting a chant "Protect McDonalds! Protect McDonalds!" which was picked up by the marchers for a good laugh. At the next corner, KFC was enjoying a similar warm blanket of concentrated taxpayer funded security, but we let that one pass.

Other than Greenpeace and 350.org, the other presence that stood out was...BELGIUM. They had a populous red-uniformed contingent looking and acting a bit like a soccer sport club, adding some energy and fun to the long march. Greenpeace also added to the atmosphere with a giant snowman, and a well executed float with world leaders like U.S. President Barack Obama and U.K. Prime Minister Gordon Brown (people in well made costumes with masks) standing on a circular platform with strings attached to their arms and legs--all being manipulated by the marionette-master above, a mafia don in a pin-striped suit.

When we arrived at the Bella Center it was now dark and getting cold. Many people were handed torches. This was an effective prop: it evoked the scene in "Bride of Frankenstein" when the townspeople carrying torches go to Frankenstein's house.

Finally, we were at the stage where a first-rate sound system carried the speeches. There were some in Danish, which I did not understand, but the ones in English were quite general and without a lot of impact. Mary Robinson (the former president of Ireland and the former UN High Commissioner for Human Rights who has become involved in climate change), Dr. Helen Caldicott (who co-founded Physicians for Social Responsibility and founded Beyond Nuclear), and a few others gave short and appealing speeches.

And then it was over. I was not satisfied. Where is the plan to leverage this people power? What are we going to actually DO to stop coal burning by 2030 or lose Copenhagen to 25 feet of sea level rise by 2100? Despite the fire in the crowd, there wasn't enough ignition on the stage to start any real fireworks.

One nice touch was delivered by Jens Galschiøt and SevenMeters.net. As one of their members, Pierre Cesar, told me earlier at the Klimaforum09, Jens, a sculptor, created large but portable and lightly bloodstained Statues of Liberty models with smoke coming out of the torch, to symbolize America's "Freedom to Pollute" (this phrase is written on the sculpture). Several of these statues appeared and were "walking" (ported) to the stage. I thought this was good stuff. But, of course, we need a lot more than that.

And perhaps we will get a lot more than that! I missed the demo today, waking up in the afternoon after partying all night in Christiania, but I see on the TV that 267 demonstrators were just arrested for either no reason, or at most, for not informing the police that they wanted to demonstrate. Well, I will see what more I can find out about these things as we go off into the murky foggy day today and see how things are going...things could be heating up here.

So that's all for now from Your Man In The Pan, Alex Carlin

Alex Carlin is guest blogging from Copenhagen for the Center for Media and Democracy. He serves as a Director of The Leo J. and Celia Carlin Fund. A graduate of the University of California at Berkeley, he lives in Krakow, Poland. He is the organizer of 100 Miles of Mirrors and his writings include 100 Miles of Mirrors: A Simple, Feasible Plan for Averting Global Climatic Disaster, In These Times (December 1, 2009).