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In Copenhagen, climate change is visual
Related to country: Denmark


Making the complexity of climate change something people can relate to is no easy task.

But this month in Copenhagen, ‘green culture’ is everywhere you look. Subways walls are plastered with signs urging negotiators to ‘seal the deal’, and every museum and city plaza has a special exhibit about climate change.

You can learn a lot about Denmark by how they have taken on their role as host for the climate negotiations known as COP15. With so many art and cultural activities, Denmark is recognizing that sustainability will only catch on if it is linked to social and cultural identity.

Here is an overview of the few climate art exhibits in Copenhagen this week, many of which are also online or will soon travel to a city near you.

It’s a Small World http://www.itsasmallworld.dk

As a world leader in design, the soul of Denmark seems to lie in the Danish Design Centre.

The exhibit “It’s Small World” offers a welcome concreteness at a time when the global stakes are so high and yet so amorphous. The exhibition is about reconsidering scale – from the small choices we make about what we buy, to big visions like widely adopted electric cards.

The worlds of public policy and design merge in an interactive video-exhibit about the future of energy in Denmark. The video features a conversation between designers and the charismatic lead negotiator of the COP15, Connie Hedegaard, Danish Minister for Climate and Energy.

The participants outlines a serious vision for Denmark in 2020-- where half the countries energy comes from windmills that in turn power a new generation of electric cars. With nearly 5,000 windmills currently powering 20% of the nations energy, Denmark is working hard to position itself as a leader and future exporter of sustainable innovation.

In the basement of the center, an exhibition by young designers portrays a series of winning ‘sustainable fashion’ outfits. There is a particular burst of creativity in http://thefashiontotem.blogspot.com/.

Sponsored by the Danish Ministry of Economic and Business Affairs and the Ministry of Culture, the exhibition will travel to the US and around Europe starting in February 2010.

100 places to remember before they disappear

Near the central subway station of Norreport, this outdoor photo exhibition puts a stunning human face to climate change. From archipelagos in the Pacific, to the hills of Caracas and the streets of Chicago, the pictures show 100 places on earth that are vulnerable to extreme climate change and other human influences on the environment.

While the photos are beautiful, they are also painful to look at; one can sense the vulnerability of the landscapes. By offering pictures of the beauty that we have, the exhibit portrays a sense of wonder and value of exactly what is at stake. One of the goals of the exhibition, sponsored by Care and CO+Life, is to put people living in poverty at the center of climate mitigation and adaptation strategies.

The website < http://www.100places.com/en/> is a great learning tool, with an interactive map. The photographs are also available in a hardbound coffee table book.

Consequences

In a round dome just outside of the conference center, Greenpeace is also presenting a photo exhibit.

During the opening Kumi Naidoo, Executive Director of Greenpeace International spoke about the importance of artists in fighting climate change, comparing it to the role of artists in fighting apartheid in South Africa.

“Artists are using their skills to communicate what is happening and that is a critical component that is coming together here at COP15,” said Naidoo. “We recognize the power of the images to cut through the crap of negotiations and show the face of the frontlines of climate change.”

Ranging from photos of Nenet reindeer herders in Siberia, to people in India living in the shadow of a coal disaster, all of the photos were shot within the past three months. The exhibit was a collaborative project of ten photographers from the Dutch agency Kadir von Lohuizen with support from Greenpeace.

A slide show of the photos is available on their website. http://www.greenpeace.org/international/photosvideos/slideshows/consequences-photo-exhibitio

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With so many people in Copenhagen this week, the art is sure to reach many of the climate faithful, though probably not the government negotiators who are trapped behind closed doors until the late hours of the night. Hopefully the exhibits will reach many more people as they travel the world, prompting the cultural shift necessary for change.

As one activist explained, climate change is about culture. If you listen to the speeches of negotiators from small islands like Tuvulu and Maldives, projected to disappear within a generation, they are fighting for their lives. They are thinking about how their children will grow up not knowing their own cultures.

More climate art:

The World is Yours: Contemporary art at the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art
http://www.louisiana.dk/uk/Menu/Exhibitions/The+World+is+Yours

Rethink: Contemporary Art and Climate Change, four large art exhibitions by Nordic and international artists http://Rethinkclimate.org

Everyday Miracles: an art installation by Presens, real-life climate solutions
http://everydaymiracles.dk

December 16, 2009 | 10:40 PM Comments  0 comments

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final reflections on Rwanda youth gathering and the digital divide
Related to country: Kenya

Translations available in: English (original) | French | Spanish | Italian | German | Portuguese | Swedish | Russian | Dutch | Arabic

I am back in the US and missing Africa, what an amazing experience. This was my trip across the digital divide, which really ended up reinforcing how strong it still is.

I came back with one less suitcase, leaving behind a used lap top, a flash drive, two Flip videos, two digital recorders and a printer/scanner/copier. I am convinced that technology is what we rich country folks should lug over in our suitcases. I would have brought a bluetooth for Pastor John if I had known how much work he does on the phone while driving around the country in his green truck. His office is in his cell phone.

I shared my hotel with a bunch of Americans from Rick Warren’s Saddle Back Church, an evangelical mega-church in Southern California. After training 300 pastors, they were in town to officially certify that Rwanda is a “Purpose-driven Country”. Warren’s best-seller, A Purpose Driven Life is translated into Kinyarwandan and a lot of Rwandans have read the book. Anyhow, all the gung-ho Saddlebackers had brought a ton of soccer balls and Christian books.

The conference youth media team was earnest, an but as genius as they were, they faced a lot of obstacles. They watched me take notes on my lap top with amazement as my fingers flew over the keys… they type one finger at a time. I watched two of them work for thirty minutes on a paragraph for their blog to see the internet connection reload and lose their content. But they have made a cool photo diary.

A journalist from New Times, the Rwandan English paper, came to see what we were up to. He did several interviews, then went on his way. I asked him if he had an email address so we could send him our press updates, and he said he didn’t have one.

Finally on my last day in Kenya, I showed George, our media team leader this blog, and it literally took his computer 10 minutes to load it! This makes me really sad, because George is so tech-savvy, and he is going to edit all our video, but how can he do this with such a slow internet speed? He says he has a faster connection at home, especially at night when people are not using it. I have not posted pictures yet because even though the internet seemed pretty quick, uploading photos in Africa overwhelmed the internet connection even at my muzungu guest house.

So, my conclusion about communication for development is that it still must happen face to face. The Rwandan youth conference was a success because when you bring young people together, they have a good time. And what better way to build bridges across ethnic, geographic, economic and other divisions, then by spending a few days together singing, praying, talking about your country and learning from each other?

After spending a few days in Kenya before flying back, I have become convinced the young people of Kenya need their own summit. Like the rest of Kenya, I am afraid the power share of President Kibaki and Odinga is just too fragile — and there is so much at stake for this nation of 40 million people.

The post-election violence in Kenya after Christmas was done largely by young men and broke along tribal lines. Now when I talk to Kenyans they mention their tribes in a way like I never heard before. These divisions are dangerous if they are allowed to settle. If I can round up $20,000 USD I will be planning a Kenyan youth peace summit and we will invite youth from across the country from different tribes…

April 8, 2008 | 6:45 PM Comments  0 comments



the power of testimony in Rwanda
Related to country: Rwanda

Translations available in: English (original) | French | Spanish | Italian | German | Portuguese | Swedish | Russian | Dutch | Arabic

Yesterday we heard a testimony from a man who participated in the Rwandan genocide. He killed the parents of his neighbors, and now he lives with them side by side. After spending several years in jail, the government let him go on the condition that he would publicly confess his crimes and encourage others to turn themselves in. Fourteen years after the genocide, thousands of genocidiers are living in exile in the bush in Congo or hiding in Europe.

There was a lot lost from his testimony in translation. I think our translator, an orphan herself, was unable to fully repeat the words he was saying. He told us that after he was released from jail, he lived in the bush for months until his neighbors came and told him to come back. They even gave him food for his children. He was a small, sad looking man in a red flannel shirt, and while he was speaking some people got up and left the room. He was 16 when he committed these crimes. After he gave his talk he said, “raise your hand if you forgive me.” Most of the room raised their hand.

The day before this we traveled to two memorial sites. The first was a church in Ntarama that holds the remains of 5,000 people that were hiding in the church when a grenade was thrown through the wall. Their blood-stained clothes are kept in neat piles on the pews and there are rows of skulls. Some of the Rwandan girls started crying so hard they were hyperventilating, one girl vomited… So this is healing?

Just a few kilometers down the road from Ntarama is a larger site called Nyamata, one of the most famous sites of the genocide. It is a Catholic church that was run by a Belgian priest and Rwandan nuns who were later some of the first people tried for war crimes. They told the Tutsis, you can come here, you will be safe, and so 10,000 people gathered there. The altar is kept as it was, the white cloth covered in faded blood. Behind the church you can walk into the sarcophagus and look at rows and rows of skulls, many of them cracked from machete blows.

As an American, it is impossible to truly understand how Rwandans must feel seeing this. These are not my people; I am not looking at a memorial site in Washington State for a massacre that happened when I was 14 years-old. Many of the Rwandans I went with were seeing the sites for the first time. These skulls were their families. One young man told me, I lost my father, but I don’t know what happened to him, I am always looking for him everywhere I go.

These churches, like this man, are living testimonies to what took place. It is important to speak directly about what happened. Though the genocide is everywhere in this country, it is not often openly discussed. For this man to give testimony, however difficult, is to create a space where the genocide is discussed and denounced. They tell me there are no longer Hutus and Tutsis in Rwanda, there are only Rwandans

April 1, 2008 | 12:44 PM Comments  1 comments



The Amazing youth of Rwanda
Related to country: Rwanda

Translations available in: English (original) | French | Spanish | Italian | German | Portuguese | Swedish | Russian | Dutch | Arabic

The youth conference I am coordinating in Rwanda is in full swing and these youth are blowing me away. I arrived at the conference center this morning and 80 of them were standing in rows at their conference table singing. We have so many resources in our audience, we just have to ask, who can lead a song? and an entire choir comes up and sings in harmony. I don’t know a lot about music but there is something about an African choir that the West can’t even touch.

This was the first day of the conference, so I was worried everything would go wrong, but the it was a great day. We have more than 80 young people from Rwanda, DRC, Kenya, Tanzania, Namibia and USA. Somehow they came, across language barriers and borders, and the way the information traveled is a fascinating exercise in word of mouth and community networks, but more on that later. After the singing, a young person from each church and country came up and told about their local youth projects and challenges. Everything was translated to English or Kinyarwandan on the spot. Did I mention that this portion of the schedule was unplanned?

Our speaker on peace and reconciliation came with his own powerpoint machine during lunchtime. While I was pleased to see he brought his machine, I was worried about the power supply, the screen, the technology…so many things could fail. Well, now I understand whey a trainer on peace and reconciliation needs a power point. When you talk about a genocide, the pictures of the people who have been killed, bodies stacked in the road, have so much more power than any words. The electricity held throughout, but a tremendous downpour — the kind that is inches of water in minutes– started mid-presentation and rain came through the roof and onto his laptop.

Unfortunately the conference center promised us both internet and a sound system and failed to deliver on both. So our youth media team can’t blog live as planned, instead they have to shuttle in the evening downpour to a hotel so they can upload pictures on their blog. (You can have a sneak peak as they just get started: http://rwandayouthgathering.wordpress.com.) But they are determined, so they will stop at nothing now that they have a platform.

They are cutting videos on the new Flip Video, a camera with a USB port on its side, cute as an Ipod, super easy to use, and takes double AA batteries for an hour of footage. Interestingly, the youth media team of the conference is almost all women. Now this doesn’t surprise me as my co-students in Strategic Communications are almost all female, but we had to struggle to make sure that this conference had gender balance. When you make a call for youth leaders in Africa you will get all men if you’re not careful. In Africa, communications is still a male profession, so building a youth media movement could really do a lot to empower women, as well as promote literacy and civic participation.

There is something really happening here, so stay tuned…

http://rwandayouthgathering.wordpress.com

March 28, 2008 | 5:22 PM Comments  0 comments



youth are live from Bali
Related to country: Indonesia

Translations available in: English (original) | French | Spanish | Italian | German | Portuguese | Swedish | Russian | Dutch | Arabic

originally posted in Wiretap: http://www.wiretapmag.org/blogs/wiretap/43342/#more

The United States has more than one face at the United Nations conference on climate change, which has drawn more than 10,000 people this week to the small Pacific island of Bali. While U.S. diplomats obstruct the negotiations, Al Gore tells the world to make an open-ended agreement since a new government will soon be on its way.

Young people, of course, are in the audience blogging. More than 200 young people from around the world have formed a youth caucus, representing dozens of countries and the future of the planet. At Its Getting Hot In Here they are posting their insights, pictures and videos (don't miss them singing to the diplomats as they enter the meeting).

The purpose of the conference is to create a new climate agreement by 2009 that would replace the 1997 Kyoto Protocol, which currently limits emissions by all wealthy countries, but is not ratified by the United States. Thwarting any progress, the U.S. does not want to agree on any numerical targets, while European Union and others do.

The youth caucus will get their big chance to address the conference on Dec. 14, and they will be sure to cause a stir if their speech is anything like those of past youth interventions. Besides their big address, youth activists have held press conferences, side panels, and in one instance, they wore their swimsuits to the plenary to highlight rising sea levels. Of course, they are asking decision-makers tough questions whenever they get a chance.

Kelly Greenman, from the Florid Keys, came to Bali as part of the Sustain US delegation because her hometown is just one meter above sea level. "We've already experienced extreme coral bleaching as the water warms around the island, impacting the livelihood of divers, fish collectors, the tourism industry, and fisherman, " blogs Greenman. "When it comes to protecting my home from climate change, there is no room for inefficiency." At Bali, she is not alone. Claire Antrea, from the small island of Kiribati, an island in the Pacific, is already struggling with flooding. Kiribati, home to 91,000 people, is at risk of vanishing if sea levels keep rising.

However, environmental activists need to be in two places at once this week. Two powerful bills are soon headed to the floor of the Senate, and neither are offering much in the way of clean energy. Read how the Energy Bill and Omnibus Appropriations Bill will appropriate billions for coal, ethanol, nuclear reactors and unlimited caps on Iraq spending at Energy Justice .

Despite a bleak outlook, the Bali meeting has already set one important global precedent. The United Nations will pay $100,000 to offset the cost of the 3,370 tons of carbon dioxide emitted by delegate's plane trips.

Be sure to keep your eye out for a growing U.S. youth climate movement. A recent a gathering called Power Shift 07 drew more than 5,000 students to Washinton DC motivated to address global warming. There is surely more to come from this savvy coalition, which is gaining more media attention, and becoming more strategic.

Don't forget to link their blog to your facebook account.

December 17, 2007 | 4:54 PM Comments  0 comments



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