Harper in town…but not seen

-by Jasmeet Sidhu

So the word is that Harper has finally arrived in Copenhagen, but has yet to be seen.

Apparently he is leaving Canada’s address to the plenary tonight to Environment Minister Jim Prentice and instead will be dining with other leaders.

Harper and Prentice have also not responded to earlier requests to meet with the Canadian Youth Delegation in Copenhagen, though I clearly remember Prentice looking us in the eye in Ottawa back in October and saying "see you in Copenhagen!"
The lack of access to our elected leaders here in Copenhagen seems to signal the general trend in the shutting down of transparency here for the UN negotiations. Only 300 civil society members were allowed inside the Bella Centre, compared with the roughly 30,000 or so that were registered. Read More.

Accountable to whom?

- by Devon Willis

This morning I went to the half-hour briefing that the Canadian Delegation runs in the morning for Canadians at the Bella Center. I’ve been there many times, but this time I arrived with a question.

Yesterday morning the meeting – the last meeting that all of civil society from Canada could attend as access started to be limited as of today, and will become increasingly limited as heads of state and their attachés arrive in Copenhagen and at the conference center (the Secretariat accredited 40, 000 people while the center has space for just 15, 000) – was a full house. All the seats were filled and many more stood and listened from the back of the room. The important part was the sheer diversity of Canadians in the room, from farmers to steelworkers to NGOs to indigenous peoples; youth, professionals, academics, politicians, and faith groups alike. These people came from all parts of Canada, East to West, North to South, and from rural regions as well as cities. Not everyone in that room would call themselves an environmentalist, and their concerns were not limited to the environment. They could not be put into a box called ‘Environmentalists’, ‘Activists’, or ‘Treehuggers’. They represented so well that all Canadians are concerned about climate change and feel that the government is not fairly representing their concerns or values at these negotiations and in domestic climate policy.

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Leaders Need a Lesson in History

-by BJ Bodnar

As the crucial days of negotiation approach at this year’s United Nation’s Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen (COP15), it is clear that our world leaders could benefit from a lesson in history. The first week of deliberations at the conference have yielded very little progress, and are instead dominated by discussions of barriers to action and regional differences in philosophy. A rift between developed and developing nations over shared responsibility for emissions reductions has deepened, industrial protectionism is alive and clearly well, and a toxic amount of climate change skepticism has percolated its way into the political posturing of several nations. Add it all up, and you have a scenario that may very well lead to the failure of what should rightly be a momentous event and a demonstration of our shared capacity for problem solving. Read More.

Youth raise money for adaptation

-by Devon Willis

Today Canadian Youth took it upon themselves to fundraise money for adaptation in developing countries. Distressed by the inaction of developed countries, the youth hit the streets of Copenhagen, playing music and singing Christmas Carols, such as the Twelve Days of Copenhagen, asking passersby to help close the gap between what developed countries have committed and what developing countries are demanding.

They made a total of 100 kroner (one man generously donated 50). Furthermore, they were interviewed by "the CNN of Venezuela" and by a documentary filmmaker who is working on collecting information about the activities at the COP beyond carbon emissions reductions.