Message of the day: Love and respect your mother

We kicked the week off right joining in a very moving demonstration arranged by the Indigenous Environmental Network near (the police stopped us from getting in front of) the Canadian embassy here in Copenhagen to draw attention to the environmental disaster that is the Tar Sands and to encourage the Canadian government to address its environmental obligations to its own people and the rest of the world. The speakers were unbelievably passionate, many of them speaking from their own experience.




There were also a few well-known Canadian advocates in the crowd, including Naomi Klein and Maude Barlow; check out what Maude Barlow had to say, not only about the tar sands, but also about the arrests of the demonstrators on Saturday:





The tarsands are well known and frequently discussed among the attendees here, with it being almost the first words off of nearly everybody's lips when we tell them where we are from. My sense is that most Canadians really have no idea just how damaged our reputation is on the international stage. One barrel of tarsands oil produces 3 times the greenhouse gases of a conventional barrel and it is the single biggest source of CO2 emissions on the planet! This is not just about climate change, the deforestation (so far, an area the size of Greece has been cleared) and toxic run-off are killing the local environment and destroying the health and way of life for local (mostly indigenous) communities. The Canadian government is widely recognized as the single biggest force standing in the way of developing a real international solution to climate change.

After the speeches, a representative from the Canadian Embassay came down to meet the crowd and accept a gift basket to welcome Steven Harper to Copenhagen. The basket included all the treaties being violated by the tarsands, as well as other fun items I'm sure the Prime Minister will enjoy.







































Later in the day, back at Klimaforum we attended a really powerful presentation by Bill McKibben, the founder of 350.org about the development of the 350 movement. The basic idea is that 350 ppm CO2 is the number scientists have identified as the maximum amount of CO2 that can be in the atmosphere if we are to sustain a planet hospitable to life. 350.org took this number and made it the basis of their campaign because it crosses all language barriers and it's based on science, not belief. I definitely encourage you to check out the site, there is lots of great information, along with hundreds of inspirational photos of actions that took place around the world on October 24th, 2009, as well as this past Saturday. He showed many of these photos during his speech, including one from Toronto, on which he paused to make sure everyone in the audience knew just what a big climate criminal the Canadian government is.

One of the biggest supporters of the 350 movement has been President Mohamed Nasheed of the Maldives, a country the seriously means business on the climate change front and has committed to being carbon neutral by 2020. Given that the country is on average only 1.5 metres above sea level, they are quite literally fighting for their survival on this one. We were all very excited when President Nasheed arrived at Klimaforum to close the 350 presentation. As a former political prisoner very much used to being the underdog, especially given the tone of negotiations here, he is every bit the empassioned speaker you'd expect and it was really exciting to see such a strong leader, clearly dedicated to the wellbeing of his people.