Accord at COP15

It was exciting following developments at COP15 via Twitter last night—the first time I've ever been glued to the computer for news.

New Scientist did a great job of on-the-spot coverage (though I imagine this link won't be useful for long).

At one point I was watching a live webcast of the proceedings, marvelling both at the fact that I could, and that any progress is ever made through such a tortuous process.

Useful coverage in the New York Times (albeit US-centric).

And this, no doubt the first of many critiques of the accord.

My favourite tweet of the night, from @newscientist immediately after Obama's announcement of five-nation deal: "G77 block of poor nations crying murder over Obama's climate "deal". EU not signed, back in negotiations. Obama has left the building."

Aro Valley, peg o' my heart

I live in an urban-design utopia.

You know those urban-design or architect's drawings that show idealised settings where everything is tidy and beautiful and there are small knots people walking down the paths, sitting on the artfully designed seating and wandering on the grassed areas? And you know how you expect the reality to be desolate and windswept with clots of rubbish around the base of the trees and no people except a couple of squinty-eyed fourteen-year-olds shiftily smoking cigarettes?

When I walk out into Aro Valley, it actually looks like the drawings.

There are people on the basketball court playing basketball, toddlers playing in the children's playground with their parents, groups of people sitting on the grass in the park hanging out with their friends, more groups of people lingering next to the community centre because they've run into other people they know and stopped to chat.

I've heard that it's the most used public space in Wellington.

I walk three mins to the dairy, cafe, video shop. Stop in at the community garden. Nip across the road to the vegetable market on Sunday mornings, stopping on the way home to pick up a baguette at the bakery. Walk 10 mins more to work or into town.

Imagine if everyone could live somewhere like this. Then we'd really get somewhere on climate change without anyone even feeling like they were giving up anything (except being stuck in traffic).

And on a day when the our government's taking its "emissions reduction" intentions to Copenhagen while simultaneously announcing a $2.4 billion roading project, that's a vision I've got to hold on to.

What's going on in Africa?

First of all twenty thousand Ethiopian students marched on October 23rd for the 350 International Day of Climate Action—that must have been one of the biggest actions anywhere in the world.

Then the Africa Group walked out of the Barcelona pre-Copenhagen climate talks.

Now the African delegation are causing a stir at COP15. Tweet from 350 delegate Aaron Packard on Dec 8th: "African delegates took over the corridor, chanting "1 degree, 1 Africa. 2 degrees is suicide, We will not die quietly!"— and this video just in.

Which makes sense when you read about what climate change is going to do to Africa.

Plastic-free gardening

Before the garden shop incident, I was feeling very proud of how little plastic I'd used in the garden this year.

I planted:

• Awapuni courgette and pumpkin plants (sold wrapped in newspaper at New World)
• Sweetcorn, pea, cornflower, chickpea and annual bean seeds in paper packets
• Scarlet runner seeds saved from last year
• Koanga edamame seeds gifted from a fellow community gardener
• Cherry tomato plants from my dad
• Heritage tomato plants (sold wrapped in newpaper from the organic stall at the Victoria St markets)

Whoo, look at that: zero plastic. Frickin' brilliant!

Nat Rad on COP15

Good piece on the expected negotiations at Copenhagen on National Radio at an unfeasibly early time this morning.

Walk for the Climate

Went to the Sign On Planet A march to Parliament today. It was a full-on protest-style march—all placards and mass chants ("Come on John, can't you see; We don't have a Planet B"). There must have been a thousand people there. It was quite amazing to be in what was effectively a big climate change mob, hearing the roar for climate action.

Then, among the half dozen speakers at Parliament, a Samoan man got up to talk about what climate change means in the Pacific. He spoke about his family home near the sea and how it won't survive sea level rise, and about how Pacific carbon emissions are 1/300th of one percent of the world's. The whole crowd got very quiet.

You get so used to hearing all the dire facts about what is predicted to happen that it starts to feel normal. To hear someone speak from the heart about what they're personally facing made it fresh all over again.

And on Monday the Copenhagen talks begin.

Update on The Three Sisters

The beans and the sweetcorn are now neck-and-neck.

I'm rooting for the corn to get ahead.