Skunks at Copenhagen’s Garden Party

Memo to climate negotiators: Global warming isn’t just a PR problem.

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/350org/4048265251/in/set-72157622456884287/">350.org</a> (<a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.0/deed.en">CC</a>).

Fight disinformation: Sign up for the free Mother Jones Daily newsletter and follow the news that matters.


Nearly two decades after writing a book that popularized the term “global warming,” MoJo contributing writer Bill McKibben founded 350.org. He is chronicling his journey into organizing with a series of columns about the global climate summit in Copenhagen. You can find the others hereCheck out MoJo‘s live stream of collaborative Copenhagen coverage here.

From the distance, you could hear a little noise and rhythmic chanting cutting through the train-station drone that is the normal soundtrack here in the Bella Center, the aircraft carrier of a convention hall on the outskirts of Copenhagen where climate talks are now fully underway.

The chanting grew louder as I rounded a corner. It wasn’t an unruly demonstration, but it was insistent. A knot of people—mostly young—were chanting “Tuvalu is the real deal.” Tuvalu is a group of islands in the South Pacific—it has a population just over 12,000, making it the one of the least-populated nations in the world. It’s not the kind of place that carries much weight in world geopolitics.

But on this day, in this meeting that is supposedly devoted to “saving the world” or “protecting the planet” or “safeguarding future generations” or whatever grandiose phrase occurs to some head of state standing in front of a microphone, Tuvalu was the country standing up for sense. In the morning negotiations they’d demanded that the treaty pledge to hold the rise in global temperatures to 1.5 degrees Celsius. That would be almost impossible—the temperature is already up .8 of a degree, with quite a bit more heat already in the pipeline from carbon we’ve already emitted. But it wouldn’t be as impossible as Tuvalu surviving temperature increases of any greater magnitude. They’re low to the water, which makes them close to the heart of the problem.

Their efforts had been ruled invalid by the officials running the negotiations, which prompted some of the bigger groups, including folks from 350.org which I’ve helped run, Oxfam, and World Wildlife Fund, to join the impromptu demonstration out in the hall by the plenary. A couple of impassioned speeches, a little noise, some chants of 3-5-0. Just enough to make the security guards nervous—they shoved a few demonstrators, and threatened to “de-badge” others, taking away the credentials that let activists enter the summit complex. The conference organizers don’t want any fuss.

And the big economies don’t seem to want anyone talking about tough targets. Many developing nations report increasing pressure from the US to shut up and take a deal. And in the last few days it’s been clear that China, India, Brazil, and South Africa are beginning to apply some muscle of their own. If US negotiator Jonathan Pershing’s most recent off-the-record remarks are any indication, the big players want some kind of symbolic pact that solves their public relations problems without anyone being unduly disruptive.

But your country disappearing beneath the waves is kind of disruptive. Your country turning so arid that you can’t grow crops is kind of disruptive. Your future—if you’re 25, and looking at six decades of a heating world—is being disrupted. So for the moment, it’s up to small island nations and poor African countries and incredibly earnest young people with twitter feeds to play the skunk at the garden party. They’re actually speaking truth to power. Power has ten days left to shut them up, and quite possibly they’ll succeed—but it’s encouraging to see a bit of pre-emptive disruption underway.

AN IMPORTANT UPDATE

We’re falling behind our online fundraising goals and we can’t sustain coming up short on donations month after month. Perhaps you’ve heard? It is impossibly hard in the news business right now, with layoffs intensifying and fancy new startups and funding going kaput.

The crisis facing journalism and democracy isn’t going away anytime soon. And neither is Mother Jones, our readers, or our unique way of doing in-depth reporting that exists to bring about change.

Which is exactly why, despite the challenges we face, we just took a big gulp and joined forces with the Center for Investigative Reporting, a team of ace journalists who create the amazing podcast and public radio show Reveal.

If you can part with even just a few bucks, please help us pick up the pace of donations. We simply can’t afford to keep falling behind on our fundraising targets month after month.

Editor-in-Chief Clara Jeffery said it well to our team recently, and that team 100 percent includes readers like you who make it all possible: “This is a year to prove that we can pull off this merger, grow our audiences and impact, attract more funding and keep growing. More broadly, it’s a year when the very future of both journalism and democracy is on the line. We have to go for every important story, every reader/listener/viewer, and leave it all on the field. I’m very proud of all the hard work that’s gotten us to this moment, and confident that we can meet it.”

Let’s do this. If you can right now, please support Mother Jones and investigative journalism with an urgently needed donation today.

payment methods

AN IMPORTANT UPDATE

We’re falling behind our online fundraising goals and we can’t sustain coming up short on donations month after month. Perhaps you’ve heard? It is impossibly hard in the news business right now, with layoffs intensifying and fancy new startups and funding going kaput.

The crisis facing journalism and democracy isn’t going away anytime soon. And neither is Mother Jones, our readers, or our unique way of doing in-depth reporting that exists to bring about change.

Which is exactly why, despite the challenges we face, we just took a big gulp and joined forces with the Center for Investigative Reporting, a team of ace journalists who create the amazing podcast and public radio show Reveal.

If you can part with even just a few bucks, please help us pick up the pace of donations. We simply can’t afford to keep falling behind on our fundraising targets month after month.

Editor-in-Chief Clara Jeffery said it well to our team recently, and that team 100 percent includes readers like you who make it all possible: “This is a year to prove that we can pull off this merger, grow our audiences and impact, attract more funding and keep growing. More broadly, it’s a year when the very future of both journalism and democracy is on the line. We have to go for every important story, every reader/listener/viewer, and leave it all on the field. I’m very proud of all the hard work that’s gotten us to this moment, and confident that we can meet it.”

Let’s do this. If you can right now, please support Mother Jones and investigative journalism with an urgently needed donation today.

payment methods

We Recommend

Latest

Sign up for our free newsletter

Subscribe to the Mother Jones Daily to have our top stories delivered directly to your inbox.

Get our award-winning magazine

Save big on a full year of investigations, ideas, and insights.

Subscribe

Support our journalism

Help Mother Jones' reporters dig deep with a tax-deductible donation.

Donate