Some other thoughts and experiences from the weekend

The COP Plenary session on Saturday morning was very interesting in itself. It was a unique point in the negotiations, as it was officially the midway point and the COP15 President, Connie Hedegaard, asked the delegations to take a step back from specifics and evaluate the body’s collective progress thus far. Immediately after finishing this lead in, the delegate from Tuvalu took the floor.

*Tuvalu has been an interesting and high profile topic of these negotiations, even though it is a really tiny country that many participants had never even heard of prior to the talks, myself included. The country is significant in the context of climate change because it is a small island nation whose entire population lives below 2m of elevation—the country’s highest point is 4m above sea level. The most current IPCC report predicts a minimum 2m rise in sea level unless we drastically reduce our emissions right now—which probably isn’t going to happen. If the predictions prove to be correct, the entire inhabited area of the country will be submerged my rising sea levels.

Anyway, the delegate from Tuvalu took the floor and gave his brief assessment. He made sure to clearly state that he appreciated the efforts of President Connie Hedegaard (as I believe there was some kind of heated comment thrown towards her by Tuvalu, on some specific point that he believed to be crucial in its inclusion in the treaty). He said that he was mostly pleased with the progress made by the body, however, he made clear that he was not convinced that enough was being done. He said that he was thoroughly convinced that the fate of these negotiations rests in the hands of the United States Congress—and he found that idea to be very “ironic.” He concluded with a plea to the rest of the countries in attendance. He begged them to act appropriately, and think of the people of Tuvalu as they make their decisions. As he said this, he began to cry. He said, through tears, that the fate of his nation and its people is directly tied to the result of the COP15 negotiations. He said that it was hard to get out of bed this morning, facing that fact. He said that he had been crying all morning.

It was, without question, the most emotionally stirring moment of the negotiations thus far. The delegate received a strong round of applause from us in the observing NGO section which spread to the rest of the room. It made me feel like standing up and apologizing on behalf of my country. “I am sorry that we are failing you, Tuvalu…”

One more random note: on Friday, Julie’s sister came to stay with us at the house. She is a high school (Gymnasium) teacher in northern Denmark. Talking at dinner (which was the most incredible stew I think I’ve ever had—made by Julie with Lamb meat, taken from the neck), we discussed climate change. Being a science teacher (biology and chemistry), she said she was almost sick of talking about climate change. It is a subject that the Danish people have completely integrated into their science curriculum, nation-wide. This is incredibly foreign to Americans, I imagine, as the science is still somewhat of a debate (as I addressed below, in my second blog). Here in Denmark, however, it is taken for what it is—science. And thus, it is taught in the school system. I mentioned that only about 60% of Americans believe in climate change being human-caused. Naturally, this reminded me of evolution, and I commented on the mystifying cultural dynamics in America—I told her that less than 40% of Americans “believe” in the concept of evolution. She gave me quite a look—one of sincere confusion. “Believe?” she said. “In Denmark, evolution is not ever referred to as a belief. It’s science—it’s the way it is.”