Almost 1,000 was arrested in Copenhagen when they participated in a peaceful demonstration
Almost 40,000 protesters participated yesterday in a large peaceful demonstration in Copenhagen. The demonstrators gathered at the Danish Parliament to march against the Bella Conference Center where COP15, the UN climate conference is held. The march went on for almost three hours and took place as a people’s festival. The atmosphere amongst the participants was friendly and peaceful. However, the Copenhagen Police arrested almost 1,000 persons because they suspected them to have planned organized violence and vandalism.
Copenhagen Police raid December 9, 3am
NGO activists were woken up by the Copenhagen Police in a ‘Cold War’ OR in the ‘Heat of the Night’ by the Copenhagen Police.
The sleeping NGO activists had arrived early to Copenhagen in order to plan their participation in a large legally announced protesting demonstration.
The demonstration will take place December 12 as a march from Christiansborg Castle (The Danish parliament and HQ for the government) to Bella Center (The conference center of the COP15, the climate meeting in Copenhagen, Denmark)
You become what you eat
Even what you eat contributes to the global emissions of greenhouse gasses; so if you eat food that pollutes a lot, then it is only a logical consequence that you yourself become polluted.
Talks about how to stop the global warming and the climate changes are quite often focused on the industrial pollution and the pollution from cars and other traffic. But the pollution comes from many other sources. For many it is a surprising fact how much the production of food by agriculture is contributing to the emission of greenhouse gasses.
Based on scientific research it is estimated that agriculture and food production contributes with almost 12% of the total emissions. The biggest ‘polluter’ in the food production is livestock farming. Meat and dairy products contribute with 9-10% of the World’s total emission of greenhouse gasses; and these figures represent only the production, the carbon footprints of meat and dairy products become even bigger if the transportation of food is included.
With these facts in mind, we should all realize that the global climate crisis is something all of us has to be engaged in, and it is not enough to reduce our consumption of energy (electricity, oil, and coal). We can help even by eating less meat and cheese. A recent study published in the scientific publication, The Lancet, suggest a reduced consumption of animal fat by 30%, this would at the same time be beneficial for the world climate and the public health.
The climate meeting in Copenhagen is only one month away
No massive signals to the politicians, yet!
With only one month remaining to the climate meeting in Copenhagen it is surprising that very little public action is going on, Nobody are demonstrating in the streets, or writing massive letters or e-mails to the politicians about the urgent need for an agreement on how to stop pollution and reduce the CO2 and greenhouse emissions.
However, one important protest took place in Barcelona, Spain few days ago.
As a signal to the industrial countries in the USA and the European Union, all the African countries boycotted the preliminary climate talks. Their action resulted in the cancellation of several meetings, and the delegates from the industrial countries were forced to listen to the viewpoints of the African countries in order to avoid a set-back of the timetable of COP15, the meeting in Copenhagen, where an agreement will be made to replace the non-functioning Kyoto Protocol.
The African countries argued that discussions about how the developing countries should reduce greenhouse gas emissions should wait until after an agreement about the total, global reduction of the carbon footprint had been outlined.
They also argued that the preliminary goals of CO2 reductions were too low, and in particular that the first step should be a full commitment from the industrial countries. As one of the delegates, Hugh Cole, an Oxfam climate advisor said:
“The world’s poorest nations are faced with an impossible choice — no climate deal or a bad climate deal,” and Cole urged the EU and U.S. leaders “to signal that they are willing to play their part.”
Is Bioenergy the answer?
The CO2 emission caused by usage of oil must be reduced!
Is Bioenergy the answer?
It is tempting to look at bioenergy as a replacement to oil, diesel, and gas; and in many countries it has become popular to have cars powered by green fuel. But it is actually a good idea?
The extreme critics of bioenergy will claim that the green fuel is food! And that it is a perverted idea to use food as a means for transportation.
Well, that is an extreme opinion but it has to be considered that millions of the world’s population are malnourished! And how about the following idea: Would you drive a car that used milk as fuel?
A more moderate opinion is presented by the United Nations Environment Programme that has published a full report on Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy.
About bioenergy UNEP write that:
“no energy source is without drawbacks – It is urgent to ensure that we do not add new environmental and social problems while trying to solve old ones” (www.unep.fr/energy/bioenergy/).
United Nations point out that bioenergy isn’t a solution but a supplement. Bioenergy should of course continue to be used. In some developing countries biomass energy represents 90% of the energy supply, mostly due to the traditional way of cooking and heating. On a global level biomass provide 14% of the world’s primary energy supply.
Prepare yourself for the pollution combat
If you want to help saving the global climate, then join in the combat against pollution!
But there are a few things you must consider before you start as a pollution-warrior:
It is not enough to keep an eye on the politicians who keep talking about the environment, but who do very little about it. – Neither is it enough to e-mail them, nor writing open mails to them on the Internet or in the newspapers; even though it might influence them to work harder on finding some global solutions at the COP15 meeting on December 2009 in Copenhagen, Denmark where they are going to make a new agreement instead of the old Kyoto protocol.
The politicians will most of all listen to the experts: Scientists who study the environment and the global climate changes, and technicians representing the industry.
In order to make them listen more to the grassroots and to you, then you must take some personal action in order to gain more credibility and to appear more convincing.
Your first step is to measure your own carbon dioxide (CO2) footprint. Start off by being aware of the amount of energy that you use per month. Remember big and small issues, from transportation to plastic bags in the supermarket.
Share your observations and recommendations here on the blog. Make comments: