Copenhagen Confusion - Week 1

My head is fuzzy with tiredness from long hours and all night dancing to release the week just gone but at the end of week one I feel I need to write something about it all.

Coming here by train, overnight ferry then bus much overloaded with filming gear and props (not least a suitcase full of spraypaint) seemed to be stretching our physical ability to carry weight far beyond what was actually possible, however sore shoulders and hands aside, it was a much needed 24 hour period of calm and no emails. Bumping into familiar faces from the world of climate activism gave that boat a sense of mission, of community. Here we were all together setting sail (or diesel engine I guess) to quite possibly the most important meeting in human history, and one that my entire year has been counting down to.

First day in Copenhagen - a Sunday - spent getting our press passes - trying to remind ourselves that all the difficulties caused by press places being massively oversubscribed was a good thing as it meant the world had deemed all this worth taking notice of.  Then to the COY  - the conference for youth delegations from all over the world. The youth are now an official part of the conference - the biggest talking point was  how to (or whether to ) safeguard their place in the Conference of Parties when their biggest strength is perhaps that they can be more radical within the conference. A v impressive bunch of young people that could make anyone feel inadequately informed and proactive, but they're lovely with it so all good.
Guest speaker was Kumi Naidoo the new exec director of Greenpeace international who comes from a background in poverty and civil justice campaigning (including being part of the movement that overthrew apartheid in South Africa, where he comes from). Almost reluctantly  I felt myself being dragged from a place where I'd decided I'd made my contribution to the campaigning effort and could now find less obvious ways of furthering the cause. Kumi placed it all in  a context of an essential battle for justice and human survival and inspired you to dedicate your life to these things - in fact it suddenly stopped feeling like a choice. Of course I've felt this before or I wouldn't have got involved with such a crazy team but the lack of other things in my life had worn me down a bit and I felt ready to move on. Well I'll have to reaccess when this is over but it was good to be re-inspired (or should I say re-upset, re-angered, re-shocked) and remember quite why I was here.

After this start, a beginning of the week which involved not being at the conference at all and not having any time to read articles about what was going on, but instead being in a basement making props and animated credits felt like a very strange way to be spending my time here. But after consideration, I realised that me trying my best to understand what was going on would make me feel better but wouldn't help achieve anything. And that being here able to contribute to something that could help  engage people or make the delegates here think differently or help reframe the conversation in a way that makes a difference or whatever the hell we're trying to do is a lucky position to be in. And if spending a day in a basement feeling calm and happy whilst cutting out magnetic letters is part of making the Stupid Show quirky, unique and that helps make it popular so that  lots of people watch it... then that's what I should focus on. Deep breath.

I just started writing about the Bella Center and the conference and how it feels like a trade fair / airport lounge but I'm too tired to get together ideas about quite how this conference makes me feel. They're too complicated.

On which note,  if you've read this far, I urge to also watch the Stupid Show. It's getting better every day (learning how to make online live tv from a corner of a conference has been a learning curve for us all) and might just help you make sense of what the hell is up at this meeting that has our futures hanging in the balance.