Organising saving the world

It's fascinating the two mirror worlds going on here, and the underlying power of Danish co-ordination going on underneath it.

First of all, everyone I've met freely admit that it could be a waste of time and carbon (and the irony is always acknowledged).  But there's a cautious hope too that something will emerge from all this.

Secondly I've not spoken to anyone yet who feels that they have much capacity to shape decisions about the whole thing - probably standing in the wrong queue at registration.

Finally, everything is sanely thought out - whether you come as a delegate, observer or activist, there are crews of Danes waiting to welcome you, ready to solve issues you haven't thought of yet, and very keen to give a good impression of their country.

The activist operation is amazing - you can come here with no notice, show up at one of the information points and expect to find accommodation, cheap food, like-minded souls (across the full spectrum), first aid, legal advice, media facilities and even a trauma zone if you need to chill out.

If only we could leave the whole thing to the Scandinavians we might have a chance, but that's the point - in Denmark at least you talk things out until you don't need to any more.  The results are often impressive.

Why I’m going to Copenhagen

I’m going to the COP15 talks because I’m fed up with being depressed about climate change.  It started in my master’s degree. Everyone at some point got what we called the ‘greens’, a dip in mood that could last for a month at a time, as just what humanity is capable of doing to the planet hit home.  For me the trigger was reading Clive Ponting’s ‘Green history of the world’, with its lists of lost species and poisoned landscapes.  The evidence that human nature is suited to the challenge of recognising and dealing with mass environmental change is patchy at best. 

Modern science helps, of course. We’re better able to describe and understand long term patterns than ever before.  But the most intractable environmental issues are really social – science can reveal truth and still fail to change destiny.  We need to understand how people use science to get some traction on issues like climate change, which is complicated because it affects the planet as a whole. 

It’s so complicated enough I’ve not often had much hope in the last decade that we’d pull it off, and have concentrated on researching adaptation and what underwrites our ability to work together to deal with the consequences of change.  There’s plenty of evidence that the shape of the social relationships we can fall back on matter – they affect real outcomes. We can also learn from examples of whole societies pulling back from the brink of destruction because enough people were willing to look at what the consequences of current trends and work for alternatives – South Africa in the 1980s for example.

So I’m giving up gloom, or at least going into remission.  These talks are a real chance to agree the foundation for a securer future for all of us.  With the mass of activists, citizens and representatives of interest groups holding their own events alongside the main talks, they’re also an opportunity to build relationships.  My research shows me that you never know when you might need those.  If the talks don’t work, at least the talking might.