By Carol Somplatsky-Jarman
Monday, December 14: Twenty percent. Our specially appointed delegate has gone to the Bella Center to the specially appointed place, to pick up the specially prepared sealed envelope with the specially prepared second passes. Twenty-one: that is the number of WCC delegation members who will be allowed in the Bella Center.
We think that Monday may be our last day in the Bella Center and attending events, so we want to make the most of it. We prepare our plan: At 11:00, the WCC event with CARITAS International, “Faith-based Approaches to Climate Justice,” (this is our WCC delegation’s event, so we will be there). There is an update at the U.S. Center where Dr. Steven Chu, Secretary of Energy, will announce a new initiative to promote clean energy technologies to help developing countries. At 3:00, 350.org is sponsoring “Faith and Climate Change from a Youth Perspective.” International CAN and US CAN (both very important for sharing intelligence on who-knows-what-from-what-official-delegation-member), Fossil of the Day award at 6:00pm, church delegation meeting. We will try to get to as many events today as we can.
There are two ways to the Bella Center, either by special COP 15 bus (which stops right outside our hotel), or by metro, which is a ten-minute walk at the Copenhagen Central train station.
As we prepare to leave the hotel, buzz, buzz, buzz, there is an email flash announcing that the police have closed the Copenhagen metro station at the Bella Center. No one can arrive or depart from that station. Too bad for folks that need to travel by this method (we will find later in the day that this has not deterred people, many of whom go to the next station and walk the ¾ mile back to the Bella Center). This is OK for us since the special bus is our best transportation.
10:45am: We arrive at the Center ½ hour later and to find the registration line is now over 600 people and several hours long (about half snaking their way from the bus stop, and the other half from the metro station). Too bad for them; lucky for us. Our digital passes receive their first check, and we go right through the doors and into the security check. Since virtually all lines are open, we are through in five minutes.
Soon we are in the center and in our seats at our WCC side event. It is always good to arrive early. The event rooms usually contain 150-200 seats, and most events end up being standing-room-only.
NOON: At noon, and still in the meeting, buzz, buzz, there is another email flash announcing that the Bella Center has reached its 15,000 person capacity and has been closed by police. OOPs, too bad for all those people still waiting in line. Is this true? Is this a rumor?
2:00pm: It is 2:00pm, and we arrive at the International CAN meeting. Buzz, buzz, and another email flash. The UN Secretariat has released new information about building access, and there will be more restrictions and more special badges. By Friday, you will need at least three passes to get in (the two previously mentioned, and a third which will permit just 90 NGO members to enter). The first special badge for use on Tuesday and Wednesday will allow just 7,000 NGO people to attend. Another will be issued for Thursday, which will allow just 1,000 people to attend (1/7 of the delegations’ numbers on Tuesday and Wednesday). By Friday, this number is reduced to 90, approximately one percent of the registered NGO participants. OOPs.
Rumors fly. Some people report that the local fire authorities visited the previous week, and set restrictions on the total number of people allowed in the Bella at a very low level. True? Who knows. What is clear is that the UNFCCC is allowing just a total of 15,000 people in the building, thus the new pass systems. We note that it has been crowded. [Press reports later confirm the safety concerns of Copenhagen authorities.]
An email news flash with more bad news. All exhibits will have to be taken down by the end of Wednesday. Questions are raised: what will be the attendance at side events without the NGO representatives. OOPSs. Lucky for us that the WCC event is on Monday.
At the church delegations’ meeting (which includes the WCC), we discover one of the problems. Pre-registration was just over 30,000 people when the meetings began (twice the maximum number reportedly now allowed in the building by safety officials). Since registration started on Monday, December 7, approximately 13,000 additional late arrivals have been registered. This number of late registrants is nearly the total number of people allowed in the center. OOPs.
Church delegation members raise questions: What kind of a carbon footprint was created to bring all these people here when there is now nothing for them to do in the official Bella Center? Most of the attendees probably came by plane—these are Yeti-sized carbon footprints.
More questions: Who was making the decisions to allow all these people to register and put totals well above 43,000? Tongue-in-cheek question from us: Was this crisis created by the Copenhagen tourist board and hotel lobby? With 45,000 people, the hotels are extraordinarily full.
So far, neither of us is among the lucky who will get a pass, not even Bill who has attended, as part of the WCC delegation, every COP since 1992 except Morocco in October 2001.
6:45pm: It’s 6:45pm, and we leave the COP center and pass to 30 foot balloon (representing the amount of CO2 one ton represents) and the three statues of the "Wandering Refugees" draped in cloth. We fear it is our last look. (These statues were inspired by Sudanese refugees wandering across the desert, and were done in honor of the millions of climate refugees predicted by the IPCC. They were done by the Art in Defense of Humanism workshop of Danish sculptor Jens Galschiot.)
Midnight. Buzz, buzz, there is an email from a man who spent 9 hours trying to get into the Bella Center today.
Tuesday, December 15: No access for us to the Bella Center on Tuesday. However, Bill to go today (Wednesday); and Senator John Kerry will be speaking. The metro station was closed this day, due to over- crowding on the platform.
The local press interviews people outside on Tuesday who say that the waits to register at the Bella Center are very long and people have waited for more than 5-6 hours.
Wednesday, December 16, 8:00am:This morning, the metro is closed again due to a planned demonstration by NGO groups. The morning Danish news shows pictures of perhaps 1,500 marchers. All looks peaceful. There is a new email flash saying there are now 45,000 people registered. Reportedly, Yvo de Boer, Executive Secretary of the UNFCCC has said that there will be a meeting today with the some of the NGO representatives to look at the exclusion of many NGO attendees. Rumor? We will find out soon.
NOON: Bill leaves for the Bella Center, and hopes to file another story this evening.
12:55pm: Bill reports the bus was a “no go.” They have been let off the bus and told to take the metro. OOPs, that doesn’t work either, as the station is closed. He is going to the next station over and walking back.
1:25pm: Bill is now at the Bella Center, but still not in. He reports that for now, he is denied access. OOPs!
2:14pm: Bill reports that security at the Bella Center just told one of Bill’s Sierra Club colleagues that NGO access to the Bella Center would not be restored today at all.
We will keep you updated.
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