COP 15 Danmark Citt a rally and lots of police

COP 15 United Nations Climate Change Conference Dec 7th To December 18th Copenhagen, Denmark

Our flight from the UK Stansted airport was a bucket flight on "Easy Jet". It took 30 minutes to get through chaotic security. I do believe the poms put the Q in Que. The flight was packed with Danish kids returning from a sports tournament. The ground staff are adamant about one hand bag per person. Result is chaos.
We watch it all and think well this is what happens when you are not on a train.

Copenhagen is cold but clear. We arrive in the late afternoon. Our hotel is 60 kilometres out of Copenhagen at a pleasant 15th century town called Helsingor. The town is a direct port for Helsingborg Sweden. There are trains to Copenhagen every 20 minutes 24/7. All accommodation in Copenhagen was booked out when we planned in June 2009.

Our mission in Copenhagen (labeled "Hopenhagen" by the conference goers) is to meet and spend some time with Citt. And at the same time revisit this city where Mary and Fred live.

Citt's mission in "Hopenhagen" is to administer a film festival for the UNU called "Indigenous Voice on Climate Change". A series of short documentaries portraying the plight of indigenous people throughout the world focusing on the effects changing climate has on their country, homes and lives. It was held in the Danish National Museum. Citt is nervous and excited.

The first thing that you will notice about Copenhagen is the price of living. Once the initial shock of paying $A6 for 300ml of beer or $A10 for a coffee (the food cost is worse) then all else is bliss.

The city is clean and neat, Germanic in a precise way. All of the buildings are masonry and stone with cobbled streets for the ice and snow. The shops do not have outside areas at the time of our visit but I do reckon that the summer would be a different story then the light would be awesome. At the time it was light at 8.00am and dark at 3.30pm. The weather was cold and crisp. We only had two days to enjoy.
The Danes smoke cigarettes like chimneys though not in buildings or public places. So there is a a lot of cigarette butts on the streets.

The climate change conference (COP 15) as the press reported was pretty big. But what the general press does not report is that there are three separate groups meet at these things.
"The UN sponsored circus" with jets, hummers and entourage. World leaders, the cynical say, have vested interests.

"The Klima forum group" the scientists, sociologists and engineers with real concerns for the planet and its people. The cynical say are off with the fairies.

"The indigenous people" of the planet being people who live off the land and have done so since the beginnings of habitation. The cynical say, so what! As the island nations disappear and ice in the glaciers and polar regions melt.

The UN sponsored circus is focusing on the interests of the industrial nations who, says Klima and indigenous people, created this mess anyway and they want to make money out of it on the way out and blame someone else. True? The indigenous people say it is all too late. The forests are near gone and the fish and wild life are near to extinction! What will happen to us? (We will immigrate with people smugglers?)
Think about the people of Bangladesh. Millions living 1 meter above sea level. Where will they go and who will feed them? You? So who is right and who is wrong?
My stance is if the brand "Climate Change" can focus peoples attention on creating a cleaner greener planet for our kids and grand kids then all the hype arguments and innuendo is worth it. It is up to each of us that call this planet home to do our bit and change our behaviour. And it is time our leaders stopped pushing their own barrows.

The indigenous people are suspicious rightly so, as nobody has been kind to them throughout history. Europeans have devastated the planet with colonization drawing borders across tribal lands deliberately to create conflict, ransacking every country they visited and have never given back.

Carbon trading is seen as another form of colonization by the industrial nations. Another control mechanism to try to buy out of trouble. Who will administer this huge tax? The big 4?

The world is talking about pollution and climate change. It is front page news. Let us hope it transfers into action. It is up to us, you and me to save forests and the great oceans and seas for our kids and their kids?

We marched in the rally on Saturday 12th December 2009 to make a stand. It is far too easy to say "this is not my problem". simple "clean up the earth and stop the pollution".

The atmosphere in Hopenhagen was charged and everywhere and anytime it was full of police. Screaming sirens black uniforms and guns. I am told 11,000 police were in the city.
The march.
Place Hopenhagen Date 12th December 2009
Distance 6 kilometres to the Bella forum centre outside town where UN were meeting.
Protest march number estimated 100,002. Pam and I were the 2.
Start point - Clock Square behind the Royal Palace (Fred and Mary's house)
The march started late. 5 minutes into the march, the anarchists started breaking windows and causing trouble for the police. Further along the road tear gas was being used.
Pam and I were close to the anarchists at the start, so we held back only to be engulfed in another bunch. After 3 kilometers we pulled out of the march. It was becoming cold and dark and looking dangerous with police mustering in large bunches around us.

The march never really reached its goal. It was sabotaged. It started late and finished in the dark and at the wrong destination.

The message was never delivered to the delegates
Result - a lot of fun for a lot of people but not a lot of result.
The police had a great time.

We left Copenhagen after a birthday celebration in Tivoli gardens riding some pretty awesome sky-rides and roller-coaster.

Citt packed up her bags after the film festival. We had a farewell dinner then rode the train back to Helsingor. Back to UK next day and the long journey of 72 hours home.
Image 1 Royal Palace Copenhagen (Fred & Mary's House)
Image 2 Square Copenhagen
Image 3 Rally
Image 4 Rally
Image 5 Rally Anarchist
Image 6 Greenpeace
Image 7 Me with rally banner
Image 8 rally passionate
Image 9 Polar Bear ice melt
Image 10 My pick "best of Rally outfit"
Image 11 Streetscene Helsingor
Image 12 Pam enjoying a coffee in minus temperature on the street