On the political front, things are not going well for COP. On one hand, there is an unambitious 3-page Danish text. On the other hand, the Annex I targets on the table now point to 450ppm of CO2 a year, and a 3-degree rise in temperature around the world. This is terrible- countries in Africa will suffer 4-6 degree rises, which means scorched earth, desertification, and even less rainfall and water for all the vulnerable peoples there, who are dependent on nature for their basic livelihoods, poor as these are.

It seems that rich countries are still not playing fair on the negotiating floor. The developed countries are unwilling to sacrifice their economic growth, or their affluent lifestyles, perhaps fearing a politically un-savvy backlash from their public. And it does seem that HERE is where the problem is- not enough demand from the ground, not enough people declaring that We don't mind changing our lifestyles if that gives the Africans a future, or the Maldives existence. We don't mind being charged a carbon tax to quantify the real costs to the environment in all our activities, if it helps stablize the climate and make survival possible for all nations and peoples. This is what we are not saying, and this is what we need to say.

At this juncture, we can only hope for political will and leadership from the governments. But, really, no government will promise something that will not be accepted by their people. People movements, after all, seem to be the way to go in the short time that we have.

We do not have time anymore. Civil society has to step up its efforts in countries all around the world, and Singapore is not an exception. It will be interesting to explore how we can communicate the necessary change in mindsets to a conservative population well-ensconsed in a paternalistic society where affluence is a sign of success, and meat a norm. It is not going to be easy, but I believe that each person can do his part, our delegation included. We have come here, we have learnt much, and we shall go home and spread the word.

Hey everyone,

NGOs have effectively been locked out of the Bella Center- even with the secondary passes that we've been told that we need to get in. I (sharon here) stood in line for an hour, plus, and I'm just sad I couldn't go in- not that I had real pressing reason to get in, but that's what wnow it's likely that we're never getting into the Bella Center again. The UN secretariat has been going back on their original announcements, from unlimited access, to 7000 people today and 1000 Thursday and 90 Friday, to NONE.

But apart from our own concerns, it seems that the COP president Connie has resigned! That's a surprise development, because she's replaced by the Danish PM, which brings to mind the leaked Danish text. That's bound to upset the G77 and African nations, even before we consider the content of the text- which, by the way, is not as devastating or unfair as the Guardian as reported. But in being left out from the drafting of this important text, they feel sidelined. In a sense, it seems the that the rich countries are leading negotiations, and even the NGOs and the youth who will be directly affected will now be excluded. It's not that we could have influenced negotiations much- but it seems like we had a right to be there and observe, and organise our own actions to pressure negotiators for our message.

Anyway, did you see the CNN-Youtube debate yesterday? Three of us were in that very room- and it felt very poorly organised. It did run like clockwork, but none of the distinguished panellists actually had the opportunity to properly elaborate on their positions. They were Yvo de Boer, Daryl Hannah, Thomas Friedman and Bjorn Lomborg- well, that was interesting.

Finally, we heard Al Gore speak, and it was not easy- involved queuing for tickets in the morning, getting into a packed room- but I think it was worth it. One of the best things of coming this far is getting so close to the cool people that I'd never interact with in Singapore. Al Gore is very positive about a political agreement by this Friday, and a legally-binding protocol by next COP, which he hopes is in July, in Mexico City. He has confidence that the US will pull the legislation through Senate by April, and it does seem that the future hangs in the balance because of that. But he was unequivocally positive, that small measures are better than no agreement, and that we can still save the planet and solve this problem. That, to say the least, was inspiring.

On December 12, 2009, we joined 100,000 people in a March from downtown Copenhagen to the Bella Center, covering 6km. Bernise joined us around the middle of the march, still dragging her luggage along. This coldest day in Copenhagen yet, the 4 of us participated in our first demonstration. Tons of media attention has been focused on the sensational arrests of a 100 people- but these are just a small subset of 100,000 peaceful protestors, just banding together to show our extreme concern and to urge negotiatiors to make immediate change.

In retrospect, one tends to wonder how effective such protests are. But as people on the ground, there seems to be very little we can do, and that is a fact. So we can apply pressure, we can keep COP-15 in the news around the world, and we can rally our friends and allies from countries all around the world to stay concerned, ask probing questions.

http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#/video/video.php?v=236279775518&ref=mf here's a video (from Facebook) that Alvin took of the march.

After the novelty of marching wore off, aided by the chill and wind, the thing that kept me going was the thought of sacrifice for this cause. This small hardship means nothing compared to the other hardships that people have gone through, sacrificing their reputations and jobs. But it is intuitive that nothing can be achieved without dedication and sacrifice, so perhaps this is something to think about, for all ye out there who aspire to make a real change in the world. How far will you be willing to go?