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COP15: The Untold Story
Post by Jon Isham
Cross- Posted from www.grist.org
Just off the plane from Copenhagen, little sleep under my belt, I’m full of ideas for how to ratchet up the climate movement, big time. Over a late-night beer this week, Jessy Tolkan, coordinator of Energy Action, perfectly captured what we have to do. For the moment, I’m calling it 10X.
A quote from Jessy—shared below—explains the name; let me first share some background.
As the COP15 negotiations intensified during their second week, civil society leaders took words and action to a new level. And it wasn’t just the familiar rituals (on cue: ‘This is what democracy looks like!’) that have characterized every official U.N. climate negotiation since who knows when. The mainstream press documented some of that good stuff and way too much bad stuff: billy clubs + street protests = story that writes itself.
Not only did too many bigwig reporters fall back on that tired storyline. They seemed blind to something new that was afoot, something that’s hard to convey: how alive, how diverse, how forceful and beautiful really the world’s citizens can be when they assemble—particulary those dedicated to our grand fight against global warming
