topics
tools
Expatica countries
Index Last Var.(%)
BEL 20 2270.63 -0.42
DAX 6788.8 0.59
IBEX 30 8902.1 0.60
CAC 40 3424.71 0.43
FTSE 100 5895.47 0.33
AEX 325.12 -0.06
DJIA 12890.46 0.05
Nasdaq 2927.23 0.39
FTSE MIB 16653.83 -0.09
TSX Composite 12497.94 -0.18
ASX 4330.9 -0.60
Hang seng 20888.68 -0.58
Straits Times 2972.47 -0.29
ISEQ 20 503.71 0.33
You are here: Home News News Focus Environmentalists spice up UN climate talks

News Focus

archive
Enlarge font Decrease font Text size


02/12/2008Environmentalists spice up UN climate talks

The WWF welcomed 11,000 participants at the 12-day talks in Poznan by handing out walnuts and urging them to "crack the climate nut” on Monday.

2 December 2008

POZNAN – Armed with walnuts, apocalyptic art and a small green dinosaur, environmentalists spiced up the UN climate talks here Monday with colourful demands for action on global warming.

The World Wildlife Fund, or WWF, welcomed the almost 11,000 participants at the 12-day talks in Poznan by handing out walnuts and urging them to "crack the climate nut" and overcome negotiation deadlock.

Greenpeace meanwhile unveiled a three-metre high sculpture depicting the Earth on the brink of destruction from a "tidal wave" of carbon dioxide made of wood and coal.

"So far, there is still an utter lack of any kind of visionary leadership in these talks. There are still governments that repeatedly fail to grasp the urgency of the crisis," Greenpeace said.

"That's why we need to make ourselves heard, because the impacts of climate change are racing ahead of the scientific projections."

It also launched a video running through 20 years of speeches and "broken promises" on climate change from the likes of former German chancellor Helmut Kohl, French President Nicolas Sarkozy and Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlosconi.

The forum in Poland of the 192-member UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) comes halfway in a two-year process, launched in Bali, Indonesia, that aims at crafting a new pact in Copenhagen in December 2009.

Delegates in Poland are tasked with whittling down an 82-page document containing a vast range of proposals for action into a workable blueprint for negotiations culminating in a deal in the Danish capital.

As the first day's negotiations wound up, activists staged a "Fossil of the Day" ceremony, handing a symbolic award to Poland for its addiction to coal, the dirtiest fossil fuel.

The "Fossil of the Day" began years ago at the annual UNFCCC meeting as a touch of simple comedy, with the flag of an offending nation planted into a small mound of coal against a pastiche of the "Jurassic Park" movie poster.

In Poznan, though, it snowballed into an Oscar-style ceremony complete with a tuxedoed presenter, who held aloft a silver cup with a green plastic dinosaur on top, with a Polish flag between its claws.

A Canadian campaigner, Katherine Trajan, dressed in a ballgown, pearls and a fur stole, who said she "bought it at the market in Poznan for a few zlotys" (euros)", sang a special "Fossil of the Day" anthem.

[AFP / Expatica]


0 reactions to this article

Be the first person to add a comment

General rating: Not rated yet

Rate article:    Add my rating


0 reactions to this article

Be the first person to add a comment
Discussion Forums

Legal Problems in the Netherlands

Switching Kennismigrant permit to normal working permit

Legal Problems in the Netherlands

KM partner can be treated as EU memeber in paying tuition fee?

Student Forum The Netherlands

Uni fees - questions

Legal Problems in the Netherlands

Problem with Internet Provider

Legal Problems in the Netherlands

KM -> PR -> Citizenship

participate in the forums

Inside Expatica
Setting up home in the Netherlands

Setting up home in the Netherlands

A guide to telephone, internet and television along with utility services water, electricity and gas in the Netherlands.

Dutch immigration and residency regulations

Dutch immigration and residency regulations

Lost in the Dutch immigration system? Look no further than this guide compiled for our Survival Guide 2012.

A brief introduction to the Netherlands

A brief introduction to the Netherlands

Expatica offers a whistle-stop tour of life in the modern Netherlands.

Giving birth in the Netherlands

Giving birth in the Netherlands

The challenges and benefits of the maternity system in the Netherlands and how it differs to other countries.