Elizabeth kicking ass

Another blog from Copenhagen by Victoria Cate:

I just got out of a briefing from the head of the Canadian negotiating team to the NGO representatives. The head of our delegation is a miserable suit who relies on double speak to avoid saying anything substantive and operates his delegative responsibilities as though he were in charge of conducting a Public Relations machine.

So in the mess of political calculations, vested interests in business as usual and power struggles between wealthy and poor, vulnerable and secure, the millions of voices calling for urgent action are not being regarded as authoritative or realistic.

Elizabeth has been kicking ass. During the briefing this morning, she asked the suit to explain how the government could call their target in compliance with science when they hadn't accepted a commitment to reductions of emissions except to say that they will avoid globally reaching 2 C rise in temperature. This is a modest target and the science suggests we aren't out of the woods (these being the region of runaway global warming due to positive feedback loops) unless we hold it to 1.5 C. To do this, global emissions have to stop rising and begin to decline rapidly by at least 2015. Meanwhile the Conservative minister of environment is telling Canadians that we don't need to reach any targets for CO2 reductions until 2050 so no hurry.

The demonstrations outside the conference center are sure to escalate today, such is the feeling of frustration and anger on the parts of activists and civil society participants. I will stay inside the conference center, watching the high level negotiations speeches on a tv broadcast, as hardly any NGO people are being allowed into the plenary room.

That any of this is happening is insane, terrifying and perhaps unfathomably ridiculous.

Canada: Lead, Follow or GO HOME

Victoria Cate, young green and former YGC councillor, is in Copenhagen and wrote this blog for Granola Unit.


As the final days of the COP 15 in Copenhagen approach, NGOs and other non governmental organizations are having their admission passes to the key negotiations area cut substantially. Many activists and people of civil society are only arriving now to find that their accreditations are not given to them due to an overload at the registration and that they will likely not be admitted to the conference hall once in the final week. As of tomorrow the participants from nongovernmental delegations will be cut by 40%. Due to the increase in the number of high level participants in the final days, the other participants will be increasingly shut out and by Friday, the final day, only 90 of 10000 accredited attendees will be admitted.

The overall sense of the negotiations is one of resignation. Almost every person here believes that nothing meaningful can be achieved this week. I was with Elizabeth May this afternoon as she spoke with members of the Canadian youth delegation about the expectations for this COP, the possibilities still open and the best way to react to the conclusion, whatever it involves. Above all, she encouraged the youth not to despair and not to become cynical. Her overall optimism is driven by the knowledge that this conference must succeed or else threaten many countries in the world and their people with losses, both in economic terms and in lives. It is difficult for the participants of this conference to endure what is happening.

African delegations threatened they might not attend this morning to communicate their dissatisfaction with the game playing and uncooperative strategies of the developed countries delegations.

This afternoon, china and the g77 stalled all their working groups and walked out in what looked like a political power play. Amidst all this uncertainty and reticence, Canada is still coming out worst of the pack with no meaningful commitments or action plan.

Canadian youth wore signs on their backs today, reading: Canada: Lead, Follow or GO HOME.

There are many people here from all over the world who are dedicated to seeing real progress on climate change. It is unhelpful to downplay our expectations at this time. We have to hope for a decent agreement because it is not acceptable to walk away empty handed when we know the consequences of inaction.

Elizabeth May - Hope

A great video that really shows why we NEED Elizabeth May in the House of Commons:

Want to help elect Elizabeth? You can no matter where you are in the country. Email Nicole Parker at nicole.parker@greenparty.ca and ask her to sign you up for phone canvassing.