As week number two unfolds, the “big guns” are arriving at the COP15 meetings — to inspire people, to create consensus, and — as everyone hopes — to lead. Featured speakers include Wangari Maathai, heads of all the Amazon Basin states, John Kerry, Arnold Schwarzennegger, Desmond Tutu, Al Gore, Tony Blair and ultimately, Barrack Obama, to name a few attendees that Americans will recognize. Other sightings include Darryl Hannah, Steve Schneider (and other IPCC leaders), Bingbing Li, Tom Friedman, Tom Lovejoy, Jane Lubchenco and countless other notables weighing in on “Hopenhagen.”
A presentation by American state governors featured one American, one South American, and one Canadian. Of note, U.S. state leadership did not play a large public role in the UNFCCC meetings, and very few states had prominent side events, booths or panels to discuss state initiatives. One notable exception was California, who had many state environmental leaders, climate change scientists, and marine experts visible and active throughout COP15.
On Tuesday of week 2, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger from California, Governor Serra of Săo Paulo, and Premier Gordon Campbell of British Columbia addressed a large audience of media, NGO leaders, and UN delegates in the Astra Nielson auditorium (most of the venues are named after notable Scandinavians). He was representing other governors from USA who have implemented actions without waiting for Washington DC. Serra spoke about ‘Friend of the Amazon’ where they do not allow illegal timber to cross their state border, improvements to transportation, additions to urban park systems for carbon storage, and most recently — the adoption of a Săo Paulo State Policy on Climate Change, that mandates a 20% state reduction by 2020 over their 2005 levels. This means a specific reduction of about 25 million tons of carbon emissions per year.
Premier Campbell paid tribute to Governor Schwarzenegger who has not only championed climate change in his own state but reached out to create other partners outside his state by saying, “Governor Schwarzenegger leads by example.” Campbell went on to mention that his province is hosting the winter games in February 2010, and hopes fervently that winters will continue to exist! Schwarzenegger pointed out, with the example of his mother-in-law Eunice Shriver’s creation of Special Olympics, that actions do not always need to be created by the federal government Governor Schwarzenegger made some inspirational comments, highlighted as follows:
“I have been to Denmark before… for weigh training, for movie launches, and for vacations. But I never thought I would get to Copenhagen as the governor of the great state of California, to speak about climate change.”
“The desire, the hope for planetary transformation is what brought all of us together here.”
“How do we make the world itself livable and sustainable?”
“Why do we put so many hopes and eggs into the one international-agreement-basket?”
“History tells us that movements began with the people, not with the government. While national governments are trying to figure out what Kyoto means, local governments and businesses are implementing green economics; citizens are adopting more sustainable lifestyles.”
“I believe in the power of the citizens, the states and the provinces to be the laboratories of new ideas, which the nationals can go and study and adopt.”
“By putting all of our eggs in one basket, we fail to see the eggs in other baskets.”
California is the seventh largest economy in the world, and so the Governor feels strongly that they need to lead in their green progress without waiting for Washington, Kyoto, or Copenhagen. He cited that California is limiting emissions from cars, increasing the state’s clean energy, attracting innovation and green technologies to their state, and serving as a leader in achieving more sustainable living. He feels that the developing nations can now leapfrog into a clean energy generation without relying on fossil fuels. He feels very hopeful that enormous steps are underway at local and regional levels. He does not feel too discouraged if COP15 does not reach a formal agreement – he reminded everyone that the conference is already successful just by bringing the climate change issue under global scrutiny.
He wrapped up by saying, “I would suggest hosting a summit of climate change for citizens, for states, for regional governments – and I would be happy to host such an event in California. The world’s governments alone can not make progress – they need everyone coming together and working together. They need the corporations, the activists, the scientists, the individuals – they need everybody out there. …. Let us regain our hope….That can be the great contribution of Copenhagen.” He closed by thanking everyone for their passion and hard work, closing with “I’ll be back!”
These three state leaders pledged to work together for new green economies.
