Here we are. Other than the four folks who set a great example and got here by bike from England, most of the 20,000 delegates who are here to talk about climate change got here by plane, and were greeted by massive ads from an automobile manufacturer. The energy we will be consuming while we talk about the planet's future comes from the fuels of the past: coal, nukes, and oil.
Just about everybody on the plane I took from Amsterdam were coming here for the summit. The recycled air was full of talk of Agenda 21, global warming, development aid, perverse subsidies. It's pretty easy to slide into a sense of cynicism about what all the talk is going to accomplish. Like Mahi said in her post below, there seems to be some need to remind people that this is the fate of our planet that we're talking about -- and the tiny little
And what the heck is Greenpeace doing inside these halls?
For the answer to that, you could ask our political chief, Remi Parmentier.
Back in the early 80s, much of Greenpeace believed we should never set foot in a meeting room. Treaty negotiations and arguments about brackets and compromising language were for others, and we needed to be the thin green line way out front. Need to stop radioactive waste from going into the North Sea? Get in a boat and stop it.
Remi just about singlehandedly woke the organisation up to the fact that your chances of winning rose exponentially by being out in that boat opposing dumping AND in the meeting room with the people who had the power to stop it. If that meant putting on a tie, somebody just had to swallow their pride and make that sacrifice. Remi turned people around not by talking about winning campaigns in the meeting halls -- he actually did it. And he did it by being as bullheaded, stubborn, and uncompromising inside the meeting halls as anybody out in the boats.
He learned, and taught us, the art of "political judo" -- achieving results greater than your size would suggest possible. One frustrated government official called him a "nasty little agitator" after a particularly gruelling experience at an international convention. Remi liked that so much, he put it on his business card.
Yesterday the news was full of images of Greenpeace activists being arrested as they scaled the walls of a nuclear power plant in Cape Town. Today our political team was arguing with the EU about setting a lofty-sounding renewables target that would be turned meaningless by the wrong definintion of the word "renewables." And next week, some of us will be out on the streets for A31.
If it takes all kinds to make a world, it takes all kinds to change it.
--b
Hi Brian,
Yes, Remi was and is right. We must change people's minds and although the big campaigns are certainly necessary, there is also the need to lobby, and this has to be done face-to-face. To discuss personnaly with the person with the power to act is one of the most fruitfull events that any environmentalist and social activist can think of. (I just wished I could spend one full afternoon playing golf with George Bush...I would tell him some truths!).
You guys are doing a fine job. You have the support of millions of persons...indeed, you represent much more individuals then any of the other delegates, so...armed with this knowledge and power guide the boat to good harbour (or at least tell the captain how to get there).
Posted by: Ilidio Franco MArques on August 27, 2002 09:35 PM