Memories of Michaelmas, Comments from Copenhagen

Friends and Family, lend me your ears!

My first term (called Michaelmas) as a second-year MPhil has officially come to an end. It was much busier than I expected, but that is only to be expected (hmmm...) The exciting news is that I am now in Copenhagen observing the COP15 events and side events. I wish I could say I was here for one exciting cause like lobbying a minister, tracking a negotiator, or organising a demonstration. However, I can only honestly say that I am here to learn what I can, experience life on both sides of the UN Police barriers, and report back to you all.

First, an update on the past few months...

1. Research/courses: Research is progressing, if slowly and wanderingly. I turned in my first official written work... 5000 words on methods. Response from my adviser, Sarah Whatmore, was generally positive but intimidating in that she strongly suggested I do some more interviews outside the community and also reminded me of the timeline I have... i.e. running out. For more on all this exciting stuff (including my exciting but massively time consuming GIS work), check out my research blog at www.alywex.wordpress.com.
2. Rugby: Our bad luck and losing streak continues. First, our men's team lost their Varsity (Oxford/Cambridge) match last week. My team continues to do poorly in our matches, at least partially due to an unnatural number of injuries -- casualty count up to two broken legs, broken hand, and countless smaller injuries that only mess up a few games for the person. This includes the broken nose and cheek bone I got three weeks ago. Can only wait for the gargoyle face to go away... wait, that's just how I look. Damn.
3. Rowing: After I got the hang of it, my beefy rugger legs earned me a spot on the 1st novice boat. I got to participate in one regatta. We won our first race there by miles (well, meters) as you can see in the video (I have a braid and red cap). You can also see that we are definitely novices, haha. Unfortunately, (un)luck of the draw for our second race pitted us against the team that went on to win and we lost to them (though only narrowly). I've been enjoying the early mornings and team camaraderie, but next term the big race is on the same weekend as my varsity rugby match, so I will probably only be subbing. Ah well.

Now on to the juicy stuff! Copenhagen! I will break this up into a few posts so as not to be overwhelming. I arrived on Friday, the fifth day of negotiations here. I arrived in the morning, exhausted from a few weeks of increasing sleep deprivation. It was a bit like a technicolor dream, walking out of the secure area into a sea of signs like Nigerian Delegation, YUNGO, BINGO, RINGO, ENGO meeting points, and the ever helpful "Information." I went directly to the conference centre, the Bella Centre, and queued for about an hour to get registered. This was not bad compared to the four hours the Monday arrivals experienced.

Structure

Considering how many people are here, everything has been remarkably well organized. Here, your badge is everything. It determines if and to what events you can attend. I am a lowly yellow NGO observer (Oxford is a RINGO, or Research/Independent NGO). There are also orange media badges and pink party badges.

The conference centre is in a number of temporary (i.e. removable) carbon-zero buildings. There are tons of wind turbines around here, one (symbolic?) one next door to the Bella Centre, others further away next to their smokier counterparts (see pics). Decor is a bizarre mix of open ceiling modern/industrial and "nature." There are giant bamboo trees in the main hall and little saplings (instead of cut flowers) on cafe tables. When we (I had met up with a fellow NSEP friend, Nick) made it inside, Nick and I were fortunate enough to find yet another NSEPer who is now working for Birdlife International. He showed us around and helped us get our bearings. The centre is organized into several halls. One is for observing organization stalls and side events. Another is for the actual negotiations -- there are two main negotiation strands. One is about what to do with the Kyoto Protocol (the CMP) and the general conference of the parties (COP). Then, there are press conference rooms, delegation offices, cafeterias, and massive banks of computers (the one I'm at is of about 450 or more) with free printing (environmentally friendly?) There are so many events going on at once that it would likely take a year to see and do everything. So Friday afternoon I went to a few side events, browsed NGO stalls, scored a free dinner from a delegation, and stumbled back to my sleeping place for the evening (the floor of a friend's guest room).

First Impressions

My first impressions were pure awe and hope at the numbers and diversity of people attending. Groups of Bolivians in traditional clothes and bowler hats with laptops wrapped up in bright woven blankets, indigenous leaders from Amazonia with face paint, feathers, and briefcases, youths in suits, youths in sandals, youths with dreadlocks wearing suits... To be honest, my first day here I was oblivious to the negotiations themselves. There was so much else to do and see! It turns out negotiations had been suspended at that time due to demands put forth by Tuvalu and the small island nations. Yet another NSEP student from last year is an official adoptanegotiator.org tracker, and she has a great blog tracking official negotiations here. This is her video from Friday.




Well, this should keep you reading for awhile... upcoming blog for Saturday in Copenhagen. Previewed: KlimaForum, anarchy, marches, Development Forum, more marches, life on both sides of the police barrier, and the famed NGO party! Until then... be well. Send good vibes to Copenhagen, negotiations are looking dire.

Lys