katied@mail.djh.dk

14.12.09

Skipper of the Anton and founder of The Danish Society for a Living Sea Knud Anderson, is calling for a ban on brutal fishing methods to save energy and bio-diversity of the sea.

 Docked in the Copenhagen harbour for the duration of the climate summit, the crew on board the Anton want a law that [...]]]> Katie Day

katied@mail.djh.dk

14.12.09

Skipper of the Anton and founder of The Danish Society for a Living Sea Knud Anderson, is calling for a ban on brutal fishing methods to save energy and bio-diversity of the sea.

 Docked in the Copenhagen harbour for the duration of the climate summit, the crew on board the Anton want a law that bans trawl fishing to be agreed upon.

 “Our aims at the summit is to save biodiversity in the sea, support sustainable and nature gentle fishing and we want to fight against brutal fishing,” Knud said.

 “We want a law for an immediate ban on all trawl fishing”

 Knud explains that trawl fishing uses very heavy fishing equipment that drags along the bottom of the sea-bed using excess energy. Knud wants fisherman to switch to passive methods of fishing which he describes as anchor sailing, long lines and hook fishing.

 “Using these better methods will save half the energy per tonne of fish, compared to trawl fishing,” Knud said.

 “If in Denmark, there was a ban on using trawl fishing and they only use these passive fishing methods, then Denmark fishing could reduce their energy consumption by half.”

 Knud said he understands why some fisherman choose the trawling method, especially bigger companies who find it easier and quicker, but urges those who do to consider the environment.

 “Fuel is cheap, trawl fishing can be very effective to catch fish and there is not much work in it,” Knud explains.

 “Passive fishing requires fisherman to put more effort in rather than using the fuel, more handwork by the fisherman is required.”

 “But passive fishing is better for the environment and reduces energy consumption to help combat climate change.”

Knud believes that the world needs to think differently about the way that we work on the water, believing there are other things that seaman can do to reduce their impact on the climate.

 “If cargo ships in Denmark reduced their speed by 25% they would save 50% fuel,” Knud said.

 “When we go at the speed of 9 knots we use 35% of fuel, when we go 7 knots we use 14%.”

 “Phasing out trawl fishing and slowing down will help reduce our impact on the climate.”

Ditte Maria Bjerg and Morten Nielsen have let a stranger into their home during the climate conference in Copenhagen. Photo: Hanne Marie Molde

By Hanne Marie Molde, hmmolde@mail.djh.dk

”Mom, at what time are we going to have dinner tonight?” [...]]]> What happens when you place 3000 climate activists from all over the world in private Danish homes?

Ditte Maria Bjerg and Morten Nielsen have let a stranger into their home during the climate conference in Copenhagen. Photo: Hanne Marie Molde

By Hanne Marie Molde, hmmolde@mail.djh.dk

”Mom, at what time are we going to have dinner tonight?” Anton Nielsen Bjerg has just got up from his chair.

It is eight in the morning on the fourth day of United Nation’s climate conference Cop15 in Copenhagen, and family Nielsen Bjerg has as usual had breakfast together.

”At 6.45? Who is going to cook?” Ditte Bjerg asks and looks at Morten Nielsen.

”I can!” Anton says and walks towards the door.

”That is going to be very exciting. Will you make something typical Danish? Frikadeller?”

Her son shakes his head: ”Pasta and salad”.

”Will you be here for dinner this evening, Vipul?” Ditte looks at the dark skinned man sitting on the other side of her table. Only five days ago Vipul Bhatti from London was a complete stranger.

Good way to get a piece of Cop 15
Ditte likes to place foreigners in her house but she normally does not invite strangers. The two weeks of Cop15 is an exception. Some months ago she heard about New Life Copenhagen, an art project and social experiment which invites Danes to open up their homes for climate guests. As a stage director Ditte is used to meeting new people, and she thought the project was an interesting idea.

”I think it is a luxurious way of getting a very small piece of Cop15 when I am not directly involved myself. I also have the privilege to have space for an extra person, and I think it is very good for my son”, she says.

Anton agrees.
”I like to have Vipul here because he tells so many interesting stories. I also get to practise my English,” he says before he and his father run of to school and work.

Largest accommodation project

New Life Copenhagen is the largest accommodation project relating to this kind of conference in the world. The people behind it have worked for six months to find Danes that are willing to give away free accommodation to people whom they have never met before. The guests are all foreigners who would otherwise not be able to attend Cop15 because of lack of personal means or hotel overbooking. 3000 people from NGOs and delegations are now placed in Danish homes thanks to the project.

Founder of Wooloo.org, who has initiated New Life Copenhagen: Sixten Kai-Nielsen. Photo: Hanne Marie Molde

Founder of Wooloo.org, Sixten Kai-Nielsen, who has initiated New Life Copenhagen, is pleasantly surprised by the Danes.

“It was fantastic to challenge the Danish hospitality. The last 10 years Denmark has been very harsh against immigrants. This was an opportunity to challenge this convention and to figure out whether it was true or not. And it is not true. There is a lot of hospitality in Denmark”, he says and thinks that the project is something they should continue with in the future.

See what Sixten Kai-Nielsen in New Life Copenhagen would like to achieve through the project.

Another perspective
In another house in Copenhagen Rikke Gaard is waiting for her British climate guest Roz Savage to come home.

”She is very busy at the Cop15, so we have unfortunately not had much time to talk together”, Rikke says while she is boiling some water at the kitchen.

Her guest, the British ocean rower and environmental campaigner Roz Savage, walked from London to Brussels and came to Copenhagen by UN’s climate train express on December 7. For the last week she has been living in Rikke’s basement.

”I think it is very interesting to talk to people from different countries because it gives you another perspective on life. People who decide to come to Cop15 are also people with strong opinions about environment and the society,” she says at the same time as Roz enters the room.

“Oh, hi, I’m so sorry for being late. The days at the Bella Center are just crazy”, Roz says. After some minutes she sits down in the sofa together with Rikke.

“We have not had time to get to know each other yet but we have decided to go to some parties together this weekend.”

Roz says that she is grateful that Rikke, her husband and their two children have let her stay in their home during Cop15.

“When I one day get my own house, I would also like to return the hospitality by letting you stay at my place”, Roz says and smiles.

Hear about what climate guest Roz Savage thinks of living in a Danish house.

Much in common
”Have you seen the small book?”.
Ditte jumps up from the chair and finds a small, grey book with the shape of a passport. On one side it is written “Guest book”, on the other side “Host book”. The book is a part of the social project and contains a lot of everyday and existential questions.

”We were filling it out yesterday after an interesting dinner and a documentary about climate, so we were really into things,” Vipul explains.

”It was interesting because we had the same problems filling out the same questions: Which countries would you not go to, what is the worst crime you have committed and what do you want to do if you get 1 billion euros, Ditte says laughing.

“Yes, it is interesting to be taken out of your own natural environment, first being a stranger, and then see that you can be so similar and share so much,” Vipul says.

“And then it was the question: Has your host introduced you to Danish culture? Then I had to find some Danish music, because I had not shown him anything really,” Ditte says.

Healthy for the family

Tomorrow Vipul goes back home to London. However, the five days together have turned into a friendship.

”I am sure we will stay in contact – definitely. And when my son turns 17 and wants to travel to London, then I can contact you and ask for your help,” Ditte says.

“Sure you can. By the way, you know what? Yesterday Anton and I talked about reincarnation.”

Ditte laughs.

“Exactly! This is why I believe that it is healthy to let strangers into your home. You behave better and you get new energy and new ideas. My son would never discuss something like that at the breakfast together with his two boring parents on a regular morning”, Ditte says.

Roz Savage and Rikke Gaard are talking about differences in Danish and British culture. Photo: Hanne Marie Molde

FACTS: NEW LIFE COPENHAGEN

NEW LIFE COPENHAGEN is an art festival and social experiment organized by the artist-run community Wooloo.org.

The festival takes place in thousands of Danish homes during the United Nations (UN) Climate Change Conference from December 7th to 18th, 2009.

NEW LIFE COPENHAGEN is hosting more than 3.000 climate activists with private families in Copenhagen.

The art festival does not involve any actual exhibitions or physical works of art. They symply invite the participants to live together – and to live in new ways.

Source: http://www.wooloo.org/festival

By Matt Whitby

Business leaders meeting in Copenhagen have called for greater market certainty in order to ensure the successful growth of the renewable energy sector.

If a successful agreement to reduce CO2 emissions is reached during COP15, transforming the world into a low carbon future [...]]]>

Wind turbines are now the primary power source in western Denmark

By Matt Whitby

Business leaders meeting in Copenhagen have called for greater market certainty in order to ensure the successful growth of the renewable energy sector.

If a successful agreement to reduce CO2 emissions is reached during COP15, transforming the world into a low carbon future will require a huge expansion of renewable energy technologies.

Business leaders say more co-operation is needed between the public and private sectors in order to open up the market to renewable energy and encourage investment in green power.

Oliver Knight from the UK Aid groups Department for International Development says growth in renewable energy is essentially private sector driven but requires the right policies to be put into place.

“This requires good regulation, capital support and the creation of market incentives,” he says.

The Danes can do it

Delegates at COP15 can look to Denmark for a good example of renewable energy investment policies. Currently the host country generates around 20 percent of its energy from renewable sources, primarily wind power.

Two small Danish municipalities Thy and Mors in the countries north west now produce 100 percent of their electricity from renewable sources and 85 percent of their heat.

Spokesman for Thy&Mors Klimalosninger (climate solutions) Bertel Bolt-Jorgensen says feed in tariffs and tax incentives are essential to getting citizens to invest in renewable energy.

“In our area, renewable energy is a common cause and renewable energy saves us money, it is the cheapest in Denmark,” he says.

Mr Bolt-Jorgensen says the west of Denmark used to be known as the ‘rotten banana’ because everybody left to go to the main cities in the east. It is now called the ‘green banana’ named after all the clean energy producing wind turbines scattered down the coast.

Solar energy needs more investment

The growth in the wind industry in Denmark has been strongly supported by the government, to ensure it can compete with fossil fuels as an energy source.

It is this market support business leaders want to see happen in other countries around the world, such as Australia, where the solar power industry is waiting to take off.

The executive director of CBD energy in the Asia-Pacific region Mark Fogarty says lack of communication between the public and private sectors watered down large-scale investment in solar power, creating a liquid market.

Renewable energy not yet competitive

Increasing development in solar power technology has allowed it to become more competitive in the market, but it still lags behind fossil fuels in providing base load power.

The vice president of Scatec solar Terje Osmundsen says between 2008-09 the price of solar energy technology dropped by 50 percent 

“We are already in a situation where we can make solar competitive in the market.

If we development continues, we can achieve a 60 percent reduction in costs by 2020,” he says.

If the right policies are put into place, business leaders are confident renewable energy will soon be able to compete with fossil fuels in the energy market.

Archbishop Desmond Tutu handed over half a million signatures to Executive Secretary of the UNFCCC Yvo de Boer at the Town Hall Square Sunday morning. Photo: Hanne [...]]]> Archbishop Desmond Tutu raised his voice for the poorest people in the world as he handed over half a million signatures for climate justice to the UN.

Archbishop Desmond Tutu handed over half a million signatures to Executive Secretary of the UNFCCC Yvo de Boer at the Town Hall Square Sunday morning. Photo: Hanne Marie Molde

By Hanne Marie Molde, hmmolde@mail.djh.dk

“Let us say no to injustice and let us say no to letting the poor people pay for something they did not cause, ” world famous archbishop Desmond Tutu said as he handed over 500 000 signatures from “Countdown to Copenhagen” to the UN at Town Hall Square Sunday.

“Let’s make the world a better place”

At the event, organized by DanChurchAid, Tutu focused on the poorest people in the world who are the most vulnerable to the consquences of climate change. The Archbishop and Nobel Laureate from South Africa told that around 300 000 people in the world are dying because of poverty caused by the emissions that have come from rich countries, and he demanded the developed countries to do something about it.

“If we do not solve this problem, nobody is going to survive. We are all winners or we are all loosers. Let us all join the winner team and make this world a better place,” he said.

Watch Desmond Tutu’s speach here (Filmed by Pamela Juhl for Copenhagen Voice and The UpTake)

Moral crisis in the way

Executive Secretary of the UNFCCC Yvo de Boer was smiling when he entered the stage to receive the collected signatures from Desmond Tutu. He thanked all the 500 000 who had signed the petition, and he also thanked the millions more who did not have the opportunity but he assumed would have liked to have signed this petition.

“Inside the conference center where I have just come from, people are fretting over a financial, economic and industrial crisis. However, you know that it a moral crisis that is standing in the way for us adressing an environmental crisis,” he said.

“We are only going to get an agreement if you tell the world leaders that you want it to happen. Let your voices be heard because Copenhagen is the one chance we have to get this right.”

All the Norwegian bishops were there

People from all around the world were gathered to watch Desmond Tutu handing over the signatures. However, the great majority were Norwegians. 1200 activists and all of the Norwegian bishops arrived by ship the same morning just to participate in this event.  Olav Skjevesland, one of the 11 bishops in Norway, told how important this issue is.

“In Norway we can see how the Artic ice is melting down, our glaciers are shrinking, and some scientists say that the fisheries will also be affected by climate change”, he said.

“Norway has a lot of money through the oil industry, and I believe that we have an obligation to do big things and pay for the poor countries. We can and we should afford it”.

Facts: Countdown to Copenhagen

Countdown to Copenhagen is a mass movement that demands the world’s leaders to help deliver a fair and effective deal for the world’s poorest at the climate summit in Copenhagen. They have collected 512 894 signatures for a fair climate deal, and Sunday they were handed over to Executive Secretary of the UNFCCC Yvo de Boer by Archbishop Desmond Tutu. The petition is organized by DanchurchAid.

By Sana Mazloum, Isabelle Tolhurst and Matthew Whitby

Despite the negative elements of today’s Global Day of Action protests getting particular attention by major media outlets, 100,000 still managed to gather for a cause, and protests proceeded with relative peace and success.

The opening [...]]]>

Over 100.000 people gathered in Copenhagen for the biggest environmental demonstration in history

By Sana Mazloum, Isabelle Tolhurst and Matthew Whitby

Despite the negative elements of today’s Global Day of Action protests getting particular attention by major media outlets, 100,000 still managed to gather for a cause, and protests proceeded with relative peace and success.

The opening crowd was a myriad of colour, nationality and costume, and after inspiration presentations from several speakers including model Helena Christiansen and singer Anjali Kidjou, they left from Christiansborg, on their way to the Bella Centre, in the aim of moving politicians to binding legislation on climate change.

The masses proceeded peacefully, songs and chants cast into the street, until they were redirected by police after a main bridge on Vestergade. Police set up a barricade with their SWAT fans, holding over 400 protestors from various anti-capitalist groups, said a reporter from Indy Media. Several police officers said they knew little of the current situation and proceeded to direct protestors down an alternate route.

While main group continued peacefully, several protestors from a variety of political orientations broke off to return to the secured area, demanding that those detained be released.

The face off between police and protestors continued without aggravation or violence until a bottle was thrown into police lines. The offender was quickly seized and detained.

A group of protestors decided to line up in a human shield directly facing the police after several hundred protestors were arrested. However police simply continued with their plan pushing back rowdy crowds screaming for the release of the detained.

Police acted swiftly, pushing defence lines forward and using trained dogs for enforcement. The crowds maxim ‘let them go’ was repeated and resonated through the street.

Slowly members of the detained group were released, allegedly after being cleared of weapon possession, said an officer on duty.

Police create a barrier between the demonstrators and the detained youth

Two young women released from the barricade said they were unaware of why they’d been held and how long it would be until the entire group would be dispersed.

‘They (the protestors) don’t have anything, they don’t even have masks…it was just a peaceful demonstration, no one threw anything,’ they confirmed.

Police were well prepared and had the situation controlled at all times. They were guarding their block with dogs.

According to Anders Solem, a law student present at the protest, around 622,000,000DKK of the 2009 Danish national budget was allocated to updating police resources for potential riots during the Copenhagen Climate Conference.

A total of 968 were arrested, and those released moved away from the area, leaving it relatively empty by around 7pm. Buses transported those detained to local authorities.

By Matt Whitby, Isabelle Tolhurst and Sana Mazloum

The success of the Global Day of Action protests in Copenhagen was marred today, with close to a thousand people arrested and hundreds of others detained for several hours after a police [...]]]>

Police force demonstrators back along the street and away from the group who By were detained

By Matt Whitby, Isabelle Tolhurst and Sana Mazloum

The success of the Global Day of Action protests in Copenhagen was marred today, with close to a thousand people arrested and hundreds of others detained for several hours after a police crackdown on potential violence.

What started as a very peaceful and optimistic demonstration was tainted, after police detained a segment of the crowd containing a group of youths wearing black hoods and masks.

The rally was diverted down an alternate route after hundreds of riot police cut off and surrounded youths who were affiliated to the Black block protest movement.

Reasons for the police action unknown

Several demonstrators confirmed that the police had detained the group to search for weapons, but one source claimed the youths were held in order to ensure no trouble was started.

Two girls who were caught up in the action and quickly released claimed the police were trying to break the block so people couldn’t walk together.

“They’re pushing them more and more together and there is nowhere out on the other side either, they’re trying to block the people who they think are dangerous,” one girl said.

Other protestors not caught behind the police lines spent several hours remonstrating with police for the freedom of their comrades, many chanting ‘let them go’ to the beat of drums.

The line was pushed forward

Police continued to force the crowd away from the action, with one arrest made and a bottle behind thrown.

Although Copenhagen resident Anders Solem says the demonstration was very quiet and tame in comparison to past protests, but also mentioned there were far more people dressed in black.

“Most of the troubles on the street were started by young people who are not really environmental activists but just angry kids who want to fight the police,” he says.

Hours after the detention, a police spokesperson refused to reveal the reason behind restricting the movement of what was then a peaceful demonstration.

The largest environmental rally ever

Earlier in the day over 100.000 people gathered in the palace square at Christiansborg to voice concern about climate change to world leaders who will soon descend upon Copenhagen.

The crowds braved the freezing cold in the Danish capital, with 92 nationalities representing many environmental groups, all calling for a fair and legally binding target at COP15.

The march finished at the Bella Center where protestors held a candle lit vigil late into the night.