I Don't Think Climate Scientists Ever Rest!

http://www.copenhagendiagnosis.org/default.html

This is the newest climate report, I have yet to read it, I'm in the process...

Blame For Copenhagen's Lack Of Success

Personally according to what I know from my personal experience, the www.gaurdian.co.uk newspaper, and the www.huffingtonpost.com as well as many other sources.

I am blaming the lack of success on China primely, then the United States of America, India, and the EU. The developed nations are not solely to blame on the lack of success, China the worlds biggest emitter, and most likely the main power in this century was the biggest problem. No I am not cutting Obama, or developed countries any slack. The current initiatives by protesters, and most news articles have a lack of focus on the emerging developing nations like China and India's move to block this climate treaty.

Although being from Canada I'm still very mad at my government for it's horrible stance and negative impact at this climate summit.

Home

After a turbulent last day, and night sleeping in the airport, I got home, eventually. It is amazing to finally be able to stop, rest, sleep, and do nothing.

Anyways all of the posts on this blog about Copenhagen have been PGed because of who I know is reading it, if you want to know more about what I did, ask me.

Day 15 OksneHallen 16 Copenhagen Accord 17 Sleep

The youth space at Oksnehallen, right by the People's Climate summit, Klima Forum is open. From there we plan events, but mostly sit around, talk, blog, and watch the happenings in the Bella Center on a live feed on two giant screens.

What happened in the political world you ask? Nothing that we could watch. All of the actual things are now occuring behind closed doors. The spirit in hear is very disheartened as most of us are just waiting for something intersting.

The U.S. top people, like Nancy Pulosi, Waxman, etc. gave a press conference. It was pretty good and actually quite funny. Although they keep Green Washing their 14 - 17% commitments, based on 2005 levels rather than 1990 levels as the rest of the world. So in fact their contribution is only 4% below 1990 levels by 2020. Canada's commitments are equally fals, 20% below 2006 levels, aka, 3% below 1990 levels by 2020.

Next day, begins in the same way, nothing really happens until 1030 at night. During the day I saw some intersting things, Yadda, Yadda, Yadda.

BUT HERE IS THE BIG NEWS! At 1030 Obama gave his press conference, then promptly left before the signing of the actual document. He gave nothing important that we didn't know. His 3 main points were Mitigation, Finance, and Adaptation. As well, they promised to keep the warming below 2 degrees Celsius. One of Obama's most interesting points is that essentially this deal was made in a backroom by the U.S. China, India, Brazil, EU, South Africa, and Bangladesh. 2 of the biggest powers in the world, 4 of the most emerging developing nations, and one nation that would be hard hit by the effects of the global climate crisis first. No representation from Africa, or small island nations.

30 frantic minutes later we got a copy of the most recent draft text (the text changes constantly, the one we had before was from December 16th, and there were many differences). The new draft texts biggest and newest number was that Japan had promised 11 billion dollars (US Figures) to an adaptation fund, meanwhile the EU promised 10.6 billion, and the US a measely 3.6 billion. All other numbers and interesting text changes that we were able to see were exactly what was expected. No 2010 deadline for binding targets to be set, a new 2020 baseline will be used in 2020 (according to what I understood), and many other smaller changes most of which benefited the emerging developing economies (Brazil, China, India, Mexico, South Africa). Some which were good for the Least Developed Countries, and Small Island Nations. But the agreement, called the Copenhagen Accord was definetly not legally binding. Definetly a tiny, baby step forward though.

Then we saw the Non-Governmental Orginizations (NGOs) press conference. The Christian Aid Foundation, Oxfam, Greenpeace International, and CAN International were represented by their heads. The most important point that I took out of this was their outrage but also Kumi Naidoo (Greenpeace Internationals Head) called for peaceful, civil protests, where large numbers of people may be arrested as the only way that leaders will see that they need to change, similar to the Vietnam War protests, and many other social movements in the past, like the anti-apartheid movement.

As soon as this finished I got an email saying 200+ youth had come to the Bella Center entrance to shout our views, chant, and show the world leaders we are still here, and still listening. Eventually it got up to about 500 youth (oh and by the way this is from 1230 am - 230 am outside in the cold). Eventually due to the cold it dwindled to 100 people, and that is when I was to cold to stay. Afterwards I headed home to sleep.

Now today, nothing has happened, been touring around Copenhagen, but politically no large movement against signing the deal has broken. I am still reading through and understanding the 10 page document.

http://graphics8.nytimes.com/packages/pdf/science/earth/20091218_CLIMATE_TEXT.pdf

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/environment/copenhagen/article6961367.ece

The first is what I think is the latest draft text version.

The second is kind of a quick summary of what most of the points mean.

Thanks for reading, Zack Bernholtz

Another Long Night Tonight

Will be posting a long post on last 3 days, well 4 now it's 12:01 here and a ton of press conferences happened, Barack Obama, then (now) Non-Governmental Orginizations. Then soon hopefully EU but they are still discussing and pouring over text. Signing period is soon, tomorrow or later tonight. Most world leaders have left, Obama, Chavez, etc.

Day 12, 13, 14: Last Day in Bella, Touring, Riots

They have decided to only allow 20-30% of NGO's into the Bella Center for Tuesday, 10-15% Wednesday, 140 NGO's Thursday, 90 Friday, and these numbers are the maximum. The youth voice has been shut out of negotiations. The people who this affects have been excluded from the process.

During my last day in the Bella Center I tried to use the most of it, protesting, meetings, meeting delegates, seeing people, etc. etc. Details aren't important. For the 7 days I was allowed in the Bella Center, as well as the days after, other than Sunday, and Tuesday I get back to the boat I am staying on past 1, and I awake for the next day by 8 at the latest.

I am running on just pure adrenaline.

Tuesday was a day of rest. Slept in until about 2. Went out, in an awesome snowy wintery scene, walked around town with my favourite roommate/person in my delegation, Emily! Bought gifts for mom, dad, and sister. Saw the town, and had just an overall great day.

That night I went to a 350 event, and met some cool people, and ended up returning to the ship at 4 am! Man work is hard. Up at 8 the next day though!

RIOTS:

Reclaim Power, a movement whereby people who could still be in the Bella Center (some NGO's), and people outside of the Bella Center, some accredited, some showing up for the People's Climate Summit stormed the Bella Center, or walked out of the Bella Center. From 3 sides we attacked, and came within 20 meters of the center. The police held us back, and shot tear gas into the crowds. That is when I dispersed. Those closer to the front brought in a barracade and pushed against the police more, then the police beat them back and over 250 people were detained. There are great videos of this violence around the net already.

Later in the day, I met Naomi Klien, and Bill McKibbon (not sure if I am spelling that right) (but he is the director of 350). I missed meeting Jack Layton by about 5 minutes :(

In actual negotiation news:

No progress was made, in fact, a large portion of text was created but it is all in brackets. That was a full nights work, most delegates were sleep deprived. So really no progress within the Bella Center has been made, and a fair, ambitious, legally binding climate deal is pointless. No matter what happens it won't be a good deal, and no deal is better than a bad deal.

I have lost hope but I would really like to see more protests.

TOMORROW:

I and many other people here (today already in our time) will be fasting for 24 hours. No food, just water


You may have heard by now, but in solidarity to those who are fasting for climate action, 350.org has asked all of us to join them tomorrow (Thursday). - http://action.350.org/p/salsa/web/common/public/signup?signup_page_KEY=4729

I plan to join the worldwide fast. No food, just water.

Please also remember to call the Prime Minister asking Canada to commit to science-based emissions targets - and a fair, ambitious and binding treaty. - http://action.350.org/p/salsa/web/common/public/content?content_item_KEY=6778

God only knows what world governments will come up with this Friday in Copenhagen. The stakes are incredibly high. Keep up the pressure. Now is not the time to give up.

Thanks for reading this really long post, ZACK FROM COPENHAGEN!

More of Lord Monckton's Hitler Youth related comments!

Lord Monckton is HILARIOUS! OMG! Please everyone watch this video and the one relating to this please.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ne-X_vFWMlw

If you didn't see the video before this where he called us Hitler youth, here it is!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZZw8yF5alkM

My GOD! We actually received Hate Mail about this from people who support Lord Monckton's views, although judging by his current rapport in England, and hopefully around the world.

Grassroots Cities

Recently I was able to get a picture with Mayor David Miller and talk to him about the solar panel gala that myself and Natasha Rodrigues are planning, he would most likely be able to come, I have contacted his secretary/planner Rachel already and I am waiting for her to get back to me.

General Post: Crying!

So tears have been shed, many times here by many countries, people and groups. Crying and moving speeches can not move the positions and hearts of our leaders, I am calling for actions now, the technology is here, the words have been spoken, the actions need to occur.

The grassroots movements from Canada, the main inhibator towards a climate agreement being reached need to stand up in the streets. We need to stand up against the government for change, we need to demand that they invest in our future. We need to show them that we aren't ready to give in, we need to show we are the future and we want a sustainable Canada for us, our children and all future generations!

Day 11: Negotiations!

During the Kyoto Protocol based meetings the Developed Countries walked out! So, during the Long-Term Cooperative Action the Developing and Least Developed Countries walked out!

Negotiations have literally become a clusterfuck, we are doomed. Throw down big government let's start over...

Day 10: Day Of Rest

Sunday nothing happens in this city, just about everything closes early. We sat and talked and just discussed about our next week/slept-in most of the day. Then we went out to see some amazing speakers, including Wangari Maathai, and Elizabeth May speak about climate change, what we can do, and what is being done. It was great, then I headed off to a meeting with US Youth to plan out our actions for the week ahead.

Why US Youth? Because there are 500 of them, so something larger is much easier, as well, Canada's position is to be a climate barrier, Canadian youth (82) have had some good actions relating to the Tar Sands, but policy based actions and such are not their thing. That is why I personally go to the US Youth meetings, as well, in the global scheme of things Harper is waiting on Obama. They set 4% below 1990 levels by 2020 (COMPLETELY INACCEPTABLE!) We set 3% below 1990 levels by 2020. They green wash their number, we green wash our numbers.

So I have decided to be a bigger part of the US Youth movement in this area. Then headed home to the ship, Norrona, early. One of m friends who is staying on the ship is leaving so we had a goodbye thing with her.

Now I am in my last day (Probably) at the Bella Center, because they are essentially Leaving Youth Out In The Cold! By giving out about 25% of the Secondary Badges that NGO's will need to get in to the Bella Center to youth or youth orginizations. Personally, we have allocated a building as our headquarters/command center during this lockout and that is where I will most likely be situated, if not at the Klima Forum (The People's Climate Summit). Tomorrow will be different, so I will make sure to take a ton of pictures today!

Day 9: Largest Climate Based Protest EVER! NGO Party

Missed both of the policy meeting, and Brewery Tour I planned to go to. Leanred some of the language, Kylling = chicken, Skinke = ham, Tun = Tuna, Aeg = Egg, Frugte = Bread, Salade = Salad, Breze = Pretzel, Laks = Salmon.

Started the day singing and dancing on the top deck of the ship with people from the Will Stieger Foundation.

Walked over to the square right by the Dubliner Bar (Where I tried the best beer 3 nights ago, Kilkenny).

For the 100,000 people protest! Tried to meet up with people by phone, tried to describe landscape to them. "We are by the Panda bears with flames on their head, and the kids climbing up on the telephone poles, by the river, and the red party van.", "We are by all the people with the purple flags, and behind us is a dragon, and on our left there is a Santa Claus with a gun, and a bunch of pirates." It was pretty hilarious, but we eventually found everyone! (We would lose them again soon)

We all went and got breakfast, and saw the best street performers ever (Like I ACTUALLY GAVE THEM MONEY!) It was 5 guys playing songs by blowing on bottles, but like really really well, they played I'm Walking on Sunshine, Under The Sea, Jingle Bells.

One of our group, Moey was dressed as a mermaid because she is the bottom liner (coordinator) for the youth policy on adaptation group I am in and her adaptation plan was to become a mermaid! We made fun of her a lot throughout the day and night though!!

Now for the March, we started out together and singing and dancing by a party bus. Then we reached the top of a hill, looked back and saw 10's of thousands of people carrying signs and walking for this protest! Incredible! We continued to walk, dance, yell, scream, and join in the chants, WHAT DO WE WANT? CLIMATE JUSTICE! WHEN DO WE WANT IT? NOW! and many many more.

We got split up and then danced to Paper Planes for a while, filmed a ton of things, walked and found our people eventually. I could go in to great detail about this march, but I won't because Unless you were there you can't fully understand it. The funniest part was seeing all the police in riot gear in front of a Macdonalds, then starting to chant again!!

At the end we all met up again and bought like candles/torches. It was like hemp/burlap wrapped up about a meter in height covered with wax, it worked really well as a candle, and then me, Moey, Caroline, Kat, Katherine, Reed, Jeremy, Chelsea, Zach, etc etc. danced around in a circle with our candle type things, because we were at the end of the march, there was a stage and music playing and speakers and we just danced and went crazy and awesome, and had our fire sticks, and it was incredible. Then we heard the speakers and proceeded to leave.

100,000 people leaving at the same time created a huge amount of congestion on buses, so we as well as many other people ended up walking about 3 stations down (probably 1.5 kilometers) so we could get on a train.

While we were walking we sang, we realized that there are very few songs we knew all the lyrics to so we often sang just the chorus!! But we ended up singing all of Bohemian Rhapsody, may Beatles songs, Disney Songs, Journey songs, more chants, 1985, and Staceys mom. It was incredible and I connected with these people and attempting to describe the ecstasy that I felt as I marched, cheered, hoped, danced, and led a revolution with 1000's in Copenhagen, and millions world wide is impossible.

We finally got onto a train, and got to the station we wanted. It was like riding the 84 Sheppard West in the morning but for 45 minutes, and with about 10 more people in it.

We went out to dinner to a vegetarian buffet place, which was great! The food tasted great (probably due to 5 hours of walking and dancing and shouting. At the end due to our cheapness, me, and Zachary, and some other people went and got a plate of bread and tinfoiled it up for later (it was my breakfast and lunch today) because we payed 90 kroners, 20 canadian for our food, and we wanted it to last! :P

we found more people as we headed out to the NGO party at VEGA (an incredible club that was booked for all NGO's which means people from like 65+ down to teenagers (me) in the same place, drinking, and dancing till 3 am)!!!!

We stopped and danced to a live band in the town square for a while then found the right bus and headed out to the party. In the coat check line, me, reed, josh, and ethan said the cahnnukah prayers, and sang Maotsur (no idea how to spell it) Even though we are all from different cities we all had the same tune, it was incredible. I danced with some girl in the coat check line (gonna cross that off of my To Do List :P)

Then we headed upstairs danced to the first band (a Salsa band), the second band played Middle Eastern/Jewishy music. It was amazing, then it was midnight. The next 3 hours was like one loooong song, it was all just that type of music you just want to move your body to and that's what we did, all night long! It was incredible to see people from around the world, from 16 - like in their 80's dancing literally all night long! It was possibly the best way to end a day filled with an experience I will never forget!

The last two days of this trip were incredible, and I love this city.

Day 8: Work, Work, Fun, Fun!

Slept in, realized that one of my roommates Emily, is like my ideal older sister.

In the morinng I participated in a tar sands protest with indigenous activists from North American as well as many people from Canada and the U.S. At first we just stood at the entrance because our original plan to march through the Bella Center's busiest corridor was shut down. After our indigenous speakers gave there speeches we decided to march anyway. Security called for backup half way through so we dispersed.

Afterwards I attended the Fossil Of The Day Awards. EU 3^rd for not taking leadership, Canada 1^st, and 2^nd due to tar sands, Jim Prentice, and our usual inactivity, and blockading of discussions. David Miller the Mayor of Toronto accepted the first place award. Afterwards I was able to get his card, and a picture with him so I think he will definetly be showing up at our solar gala in April!

Headed to the SustainUS booth (the organization that accredited me), talked to people about the youth policy on adaptation updates (Moey Newbold), discussion of the days issues, they poked fun at my Canadian identity due to our Fossil Of The Day Awards leadership.

Oliver Bruce on Twitter tweets about the free food that can be gotten inside the Bella Center, when and where. Since we are all trying to live as cheaply as possible, and food in Copenhagen is incredibly expensive we all want to meet, and hug Oliver Bruce. He has actually feed me for probably 2 days.

Went to the Rapid Response where we Skyped people all over the world, (because they signed up for our facebook group) telling them to show up at their specific town, city, or regions candle light vigil the next day for climate justice.

We took a break, had a massage circle, talked, and ended with some yoga (it was about 1030 and there was no one else in the Bella Center really), security stared at us really awkwardly.

More free food

Went out for dinner/drinks to a place called Riz Raz, 25 people. Met up there with 25 more.

Walked around afterwards, headed to a 7-11 and (BTW 7-11 is everywhere here, as well as McDonald's, except I haven't seen one Starbucks. Never the less, beer and hard liquor is sold at like corner stores here, and 7-11 really chepaly, a little bit overwhelming at first.) But I am 16 so I didn't drink... Also there is no paper bag, or plastic bag, its just really incredibly open here.

Then! We all headed out to a bar, too high of a cover, headed out to another bar, too crowded, third bar just right. Good dancing, good people, (Dom, Me, Sven, Jeremy, Amanda, Beth, Michelle, Kimberly, Caroline). After a while (time wasn't something that I really remember being concerned about). We met up with more people and ended up partying/dancing all night long, I got home at 9 AM! We actually got on the train to head home at 6 but we all fell asleep then woke up at 830 and at the next stop we all just ran off the train even though it wasn't where we needed to go!

9AM policy meeting that morning, ya no chance, so I slept until it was time to go to the march the next day! But unfortunately I missed an 11 AM Carlsberg Brewery tour :(

Day 7: Protest Continued

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/gallery/2009/dec/10/copenhagen-climate-conference-day-four?picture=356709848

WOO HOO! The Guardian! WOW! I feel a little over exposed :)

Day 7: Protest

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=viIAsu7O0CE

Oh Ya! It was AMAZING! More to be posted soon.

Day 7: Update on Fossil Of The Day Awards

Canada has taken the lead today, yesterday they were tied with Ukraine for 1st with 4.

Yesterday night Canada won a first place for suggesting to switch the base year from 1990 to something more contemporary. This is so that their political numbers seem bigger, and is a complete fallacy.

Croatia also supported the Canadian initiative and won a first for it as well.

Second place: Russia, for saying their commitments are just a political action and not actually going to happen or a submission to the Kyoto Protocol.

A new award, The Ray of HOPE, an award for the country that did the most to save the future was award today to Tuvalu, the fourth smallest nation, with the third smallest population size, Wikipedia it for more information.

Tuvalu: To discuss the legal outcome of the COP. They must be legally binding and enforcable.

Some interesting facts. Of the 195 countries in the UN. 194 of them have signed the Kyoto Protocol. The remaining country is the United States of America. No don't be little them for not signing. They routinely, (at least some of their politicains do), point out how signing doesn't do anything, look at Canada. Canada signed on yet hasn't attempted to meet their targets. As well, I joined in on a Tar sands protest. The Tar Sands are TARnishing Canada's reputation, and in fact Canada is stalling climate talks and negotiations more than any other Annex 1 country currently. We were in fact ranked 8th out of the G8 on a 2009 ranking of climate change policy, past, present and future in a WWF report. Shame on Us!

Day 6 Continued, Day 7: SustainUS

I spent the majority of the day with the group that accreditted me to come here because they happen to be incredibly awesome people, even though they are Americans!

Here is a big event we did at the Americans for Prosperity meeting, which is an orginization that believes that the business world will take care of the climate problems. We were called, "Crazed Hitler Youth!" Awesome! Really hilarious by the way, since we ended up being the majority of this meeting...

http://bit.ly/4FAljl

This morning I was part of a protest that was amazing, I'm not going to spoil the surprise until I can find a video of it to post, unless you see it on the news first (crossing my fingers for this), so hopefully I'll get that out by tonight.

Day 6: Plenary (Actual UNFCCC Proceedings)

Today because of what was being talked about, CDM's, and adaptation policy I spent about 3 hours in the actual UN proceedings observing the countries questions, rebuttals, suggestions and etc. For a while it was quite interesting, especially right before lunch.

Tuvalu announced that they wanted what ever treaty is created here to be legally binding, and mostly that it should be ammendments to strengthen the Kyoto Protocol. Not that a new Copenhagen Protocl is needed, according to my knowledge of what happened. The African Nations supported it, Japan agreed, as did Australia (I think), the U.S. is kind of on the fence about supporting it, but I think they might have agreed. Small Island nations also supported it. India and China are against it. Most OPEC nations were very against it as well, notably Saudi Arabia, as well as South Africa.

The language of the actual UN meetings is remminicent of watching the film Clockwork Orange, after a while you learn to extract a meaning from the gibberish.

The Clean Development Mechanism:

General breakdown of proceedings, suggestions:

Developed Countries: Regional Distribution, more CDM credits, and no cap on credits, keep forestry credits temporary.
Africa (Non-OPEC): More Regional distribution, make forestry credits non-temporary.
OPEC: Include Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS).
Africa (OPEC): More regional distribution, include CCS, make forestry credits non-temporary.
China and India: No regional distribution (let the developed countries choose where to invest their money, otherwise it is unfair)
Brazil: Forest credits should be non-temporary.
ALL: Streamline the process, make it easier to understand, and more transparent.

The above took about three hours by the way.

Now I am having a break, and deciding what fun activity I shall enjoy tonight, probably sleep...

Day 5: Continued Lack of Sleep

So It is day 5 of this trip, I am bottomlining (coordinating) the Youth Adaptation Policy group, where we will be presenting our views on one niche of the current policy later this week as well as addressing something inportant tomorrow (to tired to remember but I might be speaking :O). the amount of sleep I can expect in the near future is probably 6 hours in the next 3 days due to this and the Youth action on Thursday. Coffee is a great new best friend of mine.

Also Denmark really needs day lights saving time. I wake up and exit the Norrona ship at 650 - 710 each morning (very dark), I arrive at the Bella Center, where the UNFCCC events happen at 730 - 745 (slightly lighter but very grey and cloudy), I head home much later than sunset (345 PM). I haven't seen a blue sky or sunshine since I arrived here...

Loving it though,

Zack Bernholtz

P.S. There is a ton of free stuff (swag) from the NGO's present with booths here :)

Pictures!

Here is a picture of me with Greenpeace Internationals executive director, Kumi Naidoo, with legendary activist and 2004 Nobel Peace Laureate Wangari Maathai.






























10 000 000 People Want A Fair Ambitious Binding Deal. TckTckTck

The actual number is now 11.3 million and still climbing. Sign on at http://www.tcktcktck.org/

Day 5: OMG! Too Much Work

Well, 6:30 AM wake-up, so I can make it here for the opening youth announcements, and important documents for the day.

Canada is currently in fourth place overall in the Fossil of The Day Awards, which are awards given to the country, or countries for their obstruction of progress on global climate talks.

First Place: Annex 1 countries (developed countries) for arriving unprepared to cut carbon emissions to a state that will allow for at most a 2 degree Celsius increase in global temperature.

Second Place: Sweden, Finland, Austria, for not fully accounting emissions from forest management.

Third Place: Canada, because of Environment Minister Jim Prentice saying, we "won't be swayed," by the Copenhagen, "hype."

I have been researching Adaptation Policy furiously, and have been assigned as the bottomliner (person who does the majority of work essentially), for the Youth Adaptation Policy group. Later next week we are presenting our views on the policies in place, the suggestions currently made, and what we feel needs to be done. So tonight being asleep by 4 AM is a goal of mine.

Today I will also be attending many meeting on CDM, (Clean Development Mechanism), and I hope to be able to ask one of the members of the UNFCCC Executive Board on CDM's and Cap and Trade a question about their views. Later I will be attending the premier screening of the film, "The Story of Cap and Trade," and will hopefully be able to summarize the views on that for you later that night.

I will be returning home with lots of "propoganda," from both sides of this arguement so get ready for an intelligent discussion! :)

From,

Zack Bernholtz

Day 4: Finale

Well, at night we went out to a free benefit concert with a ton of bands I didn't know. The opening band, I found out, because of their last song, The Final Countdown, was Europe, (an 80's rock band). I left at 9, but didn't get to sleep until 2, again, because talking to people meeting people, and finding out a summary of the days events is a time taking and important daily task. Anyways, tomorrow will be just as busy... WOO HOO!

Day 4: COP15 Opening

Well I joined in on the TckTckTck protest and ended up getting my picture taken with the 2004 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate, Wangari Maathai, as well as the head of Greenpeace! The picture will be posted here, hopefully later tonight or possibly early tomorrow, crazy day so far.

Day 4: UNFCCC

I am currently listening to the chair from Denmark, possibly the Prime Minister, I'm not quite sure, giving his opening speech. He is quite insperational, and I hope his speech makes a difference. I also just had one of those, shocking moments earlier this morning, I am in a United Nations conference, which, next week, will have 110 leaders from countries around the world here to make a difference for our future, to hopefully reach an agreement to make a better world, this is crazy!

World Leaders At It Again!

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/copenhagen-climate-change-confe/6736517/Copenhagen-climate-summit-1200-limos-140-private-planes-and-caviar-wedges.html

This is not the first time we see the hypocrisy of big business, and world leaders, the recent auto industry bail out in the U.S. where the leaders all arrived on their private jet planes comes to mind. Yet I feel like this won't be anywhere nearly as highly publicized, if it is, please comment and tell me so.

Thanks,

Zack Bernholtz

Day 3: Meeting Up, The Norrona, Getting Observer Badge

We overslept in the morning, so we decided to head over to the ship and find our rooms and dump our stuff so that we could settle in and get ready for the next 14 days. After that we met up with the rest of our delegation and headed to the Bella Centre, where the UNFCCC official events would take place and where we would need to get our observer badges from. This took quite a while, and by the end we hung out and met more people, and then split up accidently. Me, Julia, and Elaine Ho (Former Mackenzie Graduate) headed out to eat. Since our badges doubled as unlimited access to subways, we ended up getting on and not getting off until we were in the outskirts of town. We thought we could find somewhere cheaper out there, we were right :) We had a nice dinner then a loooong conversation about what we were going to do tomorrow and decided on our own individual schedules. We learned a lot about the Danish Metro, and Subway system, because we got lost, but it's no biggy. We arrived back at the ship, read our necessary documents and finalized reports from the day and discussed tomorrow with our delegation.

I will be attending a meeting on YOUNGO (the youth group), Joint Implementation, and a documentary called The Age Of Stupidity. it is 12:42 here and I need to be awake at 7:30. So I'll be heading off to bed now.

P.S. The actual cabin on the ship is not bad, 3 people, in a space where we can live slightly comfortably, bathroom down the hall, a little bit worse than the two star hotel me and Julia stayed in the first two nights. Well, I'll make it, hopefully.

Night!

Obama Flip-Flops!

Now that I have your attention, Obama's Administration has decided to only show up one day, December 18th.

Now with the continuation with my day in Copenhagen.

We went out to a slightly sketchy Chinese restaurant across from our hotel (the term hotel is used losely around here obviously). We walked, we talked, we met people, and now I'm sitting here typing this up. I'm still kind of jet lagged, and will probably be in bed by 9.

Day 1: Getting to Copenhagen. Cont. and Day 2: COY5 Part One

The Munich airport had an ice rink, so during our two hour layover we rented skates, and took really great pictures skating! We felt so CANADIAN! Then becuase of too much ice skating we had to run to our flight again, this would be our third cardio workout before 1 PM! We arrived two hours later in Copenhagen, made our way over to the Central Station, and to our hotel, an adventure in it's own right.

After a while lying down, and resting, we went out to walk around and eat. We walked what I am going to refer to as downtown Copenhagen, which was fun and nice and then walked (by walked I mean very slowly with our feet dragging along the ground because we are exhausted!) over to the first restaurant we saw, ate, then slept.

The next day, promptly at 7 AM we awoke, and made our way to the University of Copenhagen where our COY5 (Conference of Youth), meeting was. 1000 Youth from different places met, and seeing a room that alrge standing, doing a slow clap - a thunderous applause and yell was magnificent.

We attended workshops in the morning, I went to Learning How To Create Good Meetings, and afterwards to a discussion on Cap and Trade, focused on CDMs, the second meeting was very informational, and afterwards I met some VIPs. Then an Open Space session with 15 people from around the world. We talked about our specific country, their commitments, our goals for COP15, our Roles at COP15, and other projects we had. It was very informational and a great starting point. Right now, it's 5:05 and we are heading out for an early dinner, then nap, then more learning, planning/clubbing. I'll talk to you later

Goodbye,

Zack Bernholtz

Day 1: Getting to Copenhagen

Me and my parents arrived at the airport 3 hours in advance, thanfully, because I forgot my coat at home. By the time my dad went home and got my coat, Julia Chernushevich (the organizer of the UW delegation) and her parents had arrived. We said our goodbyes and headed through security.

While waiting for our flight, Julia lost her boarding pass, TWICE! I am not the only clumsy one on this trip. After an uneventful 8 hour plane ride, and a sleepless night we arrived in Munich 30 minutes late. To be Continued Soon!

Copenhagen

I am leaving Canada in 5 hours, if the flight isn't delayed, this will be my last post from here, and I would just like to thank everyone who has read, and will hopefully continue to read my blog as I update it from half way around the world.

COP15

I will be landing in Copenhagen in 36 hours, if you have any questions to ask about climate change to anyone from around the world comment on this with your question and I will try to find someone and get back to you with an answer, (hopefully on video).

Something that would be great to follow on YouTube is the other student delegation from Canada, the U of T COP15 delegation!

http://www.youtube.com/uoftcop15

Please continue to send me in questions you want to pose to certain countries delegates! Email, Facebook, Comments, HOWEVER!

Barack Obama, Stephen Harper

Barack Obama will be attending the COP15 conference of December 9th, as well as one more date so far unannounced.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8378890.stm

Stephen Harper has also been pressured into going because of Barack Obama's decision to attend. He will also be attending one unannounced day.

http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2009/11/26/harper-copenhagen-summit026.html

Carbon Capture and Storage

New technology has allowed for coal-fired generator plants to call themselves "clean coal." By transporting their CO2 and other pollutants to storage facilities underground, under the oceans, or elsewhere. Capturing, and transporting to these proposed sites, along with this technology would not only raise the costs of electricity, but there is no long-term testing on these sites. If there was a small leak then this whole project would be useless. The chance of leaks are high, and leaching into the environment would be other possible consequences of trying to use this technology. This is really just a cope out for the electricity generating industry to stay privatized allowing for more money for the millionares and billionares who are currently producing this energy. I will be highlighting what will happen if we change to renewable technology, or a hydrogen economy in the near future tomorrow.

Advice Post 3

Donate some money to a climate change orginization or fund, for example:

http://www.foecanada.org

Or for a more wordly view:

http://www.globalgiving.com/green/

Some Really Great Commercials

Here are some very quick, 30 seconds max commercials from WWF about Climate change. It is really just an inflamatory statement, but personally I think that it can show you just a little bit about climate change, and hopefully inspire you to do something.

http://www.youtube.com/user/wwfcanada#p/u/29/kcgSNV_t0kU
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wq6MUCSHSek
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GrlEQ15mVPM

Here is one about Earth Hour 2010:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UVtJJBz_t4w&feature=channel

These High School Kids Are Great

I don't know how truthful this is, but I think that this should hopefully be implemented at schools around the country.

http://toronto.ctv.ca/servlet/an/local/CTVNews/20091122/pmo_091122/20091122/?hub=TorontoNewHome

If you think that we should organize something like this at Mackenzie or in your school please send me a message, zackbernholtz19@hotmail.com - If lots of schools do this I feel like we can actually make a difference!

Official Websites

This is the official website for the conference:

http://en.cop15.dk/

Here is a website that is urging the Canadian Government to act on climate change:

http://climate.pembina.org/work/copenhagen

Video By High School Students

This is a great video made by some kids at Martingrove CI, it's a quick view on what students want to see happen in Copenhagen, Go Green.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DpxCFAKzyoo

I just want to personally thank those who created this video!

More Links

Here is a good link to what the WWF wants to happen in Copenhagen,

http://wwf.ca/conservation/global_warming/copenhagen/december2009/

you can help this by sending in letters to your local MPP, talking to your friends, getting involved in your schools environmental group, or by personally doing your part at home.

A Climate Challenge Game

Here is a climate challenge game that is informational and fun.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sn/hottopics/climatechange/climate_challenge/

Advice Post 2

CFLs, Compact Flourescent Bulbs, they cost more, they use less, and are great for the environment.

My Personal Opinions and Main Concerns

Global Warming statistics and facts are a long time study and data won't be out that is conclusive until around 2020 by most estimates. These are why I feel that climate change needs to happen. 1. the monopoly and grip on society that one form of energy, crude oil, that can't last forever has on all of us in the developed and developing world. 2. species are dying out at a rate that hasn't been seen since the dinosaurs, this hasn't been seen before in human history. 3. The world as a whole has been affected by our industry to such a degree that at the current rate our degradation of the earth won't lead to greater business and capitalism, as some people believe that by chaning things we are harming progress, it will break down our society. The gap between rich and poor and the differences in the societies will continue to stretch. By chanigng to renewable energy sources, then eventually hydrogen, it won't be like currently where there are one or two major generating spaces feeding everywhere, every house will be generating its own power, and maybe earning money through selling it back to the grid. Eventually every one on Earth will be producing their own energy. Allowing for the gap between rich and poor to be shortened rather than lengthened as the current trend is. If you like the idea of this 3rd point or want to learn more read the book The Hydrogen Economy, By: Jeremy Rifkin.

Advice Post 1

A simple thing you can do to help, when recycling a plastic water bottle, make sure to unscrew the cap from the rest of the bottle, the cap can not be recycled and if the cap is on the entire bottle is thrown out. As well make sure to tear the paper label off of the bottle as well for the same reason.

Thanks for caring

Polar Bears

One more thing that climate change is killing, ANIMALS, here's a recent articlre relating to both animals and humans. Polar bears and penguins are two of the most vulnerable animals of the current climate issues.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/background/climatechange/polar-bears.html

Other Places to Follow Copenhagen Updates

http://www.uwsp.wordpress.com is where a blog will be posted by the members of the UW delegation. Also, http://www.twitter.com/UWSPatCOP15 is our Twitter account for quick updates. Search UW Goes to Copenhagen on facebook to join our Facebook group.

Sorry about all the links in the future it won't be like this.

Where the World Stands

This short article shows were each of the major emits world wide stand on Copenhagen.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/8345343.stm

Also if you have time rent this movie, or watch it on Youtube, it's incredible, here's the trailer:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G8IozVfph7I

My Twitter Account

If you want to follow me in Copenhagen I may not be updating this blog daily, but I will definetly try to update my Twitter daily, you can follow me at ZackGoGreen.