The star-studded event feature guests arrived on rickshaw, sailboat, smart car and other sensible forms of transportation.  At left, the mayor of Copenhagen walks the green carpet with her citys preferred mode of transporation, bicycle.

In the Age of Stupid,Pete Postlethwaite stars as a man living alone in the devastated world of 2055, looking at old footage from 2008 and asking: why didn’t we stop climate change when we had the chance.

The film encourages viewers to get involved in the 10:10 campaign, a personal pledge to cut your emissions 10% in 2010. If individuals, organizations, and businesses each took a small step  we would have the moral authority to ask our political leaders to do the same.

Gillian Anderson and Moby talk about the importance of the Age of Stupid at the Global Premiere:

Age of Stupid Producer, Lizzie Gillett and Director, Franny Armstrong on the Green Carpet at the Global Premiere.  Clip also features a snippet with Frannie’s proud mom:

“Improving the farm organically helps improve the economics of the community.”

Download this podcast (5 min)

Download Meet Canada’s Youngest Climate Change Presenter (6 min)

Download Growing Food vs. Fun Food – The Wooden Monkey part II

Part 1:

Download Part 1

Part 2:

Download Part 2

Part 3:

Download Part 3

Please join the social network in support of this important event which embraces the spiritual significance of the melting of the big ice.
In this three part interview, uncle shares the significance of Fire and Ice and invites people from all over the world to join the social site at http://fireandiceceremony.ning.com and to:

• come to Greenland for the Fire and Ice Ceremony
• hold their own ceremony in concert with the Greenland event in July 2009
• to support the indigenous elders from around the world who need financial support to attend this event.
• to follow Fire and Ice online

The elders of Greenland say, “I am the first one that put the footsteps on the big ice and I will be the last one to put footsteps on the big ice.”  As a people, the elders of Greenland know more about ice than most scientific experts on the matter of climate change impacts on the glacier.

The elders of Greenland want it to be evidently clear that the changes required to combat climate change are not from the people in the front – the global leaders, but by the ideas and actions of the people in the back, you and I.

Before boarding my flight for London and the G20 Summit, I sat down with Angaangaq (Uncle) to receive messages from the Indigenous elders on Greenland.

Angaangaq is the runner for the elders on Greenland and he has been circling the globe meeting with communities and leaders to share information about an important climate change event happening this summer on Greenland – the Fire and Ice Ceremony.

This is really the most significant climate change gathering on earth.  This is the first time the elders of the people who live with the big ice have offered their input into the debate on climate change.

Angaangak says, “The people of London and other major cities around the world are under a real threat from climate change and no government on earth is prepared to deal with the rising waters and climate change that are already underway.”

“People know, but they don’t want to change.”

Climate changes are clearly evident on the island of Greenland

“Robins are now being born on Greenland, but the people do not have names for them.”  The different kinds of fish and mussels they are catching are different than those that have been harvested for millennium.  Trees are growing that the traditional people do not have names for.  They are unfamiliar to generations.

We have plants that come up and we say, “Welcome home, but who are you?”

Negotiations are generally approached with each party attending to meet their own needs

The indigenous people on Greenland are beginning to surface for the first time and tell others of the changes that are happening on earth.  They are the first ones to see the manifestations of climate change and they are calling on people to change their provincial – me first mind-view and join them in acting for the benefit of all people on earth.

Angaangak begs us to use our knowledge and wisdom wisely.  What will we do with the many millions of people who will be displaced by climate change?  Who will pay for the relocation of these people?

Greenland becomes a Rose Garden

The elders of Greenland want the world to know, “We’re going to be O.K., Greenland is going to become a rose garden.”  But others around the world are going to be significantly impacted.  The elders are thinking of others first.  They don’t want the millions and millions of people to be left behind.

The elders of Greenland are perhaps the first community in history that have recognized the global implications of climate change.  They recognize that while they stand to gain an improvement in their environment, many others will see their homeland diminished in its ability to support human life.  The elders of Greenland are calling on all the nations of the world to stop and change, for the wellbeing of all.

It is time to tackle the economic crisis and the climate crisis at the same time.

UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown has to be commended for adding climate change to the crowded agenda for the London Summit. Climate Change must be regarded as the most critical – even existential issue confronting the global community.

Ed Miliband (UK Energy and Investment Secretary) is proud of language in the G20 Summit Communiqué:

“(People) now have a sense that the economy of the future we’re trying to build is … a low-carbon economy and that’s very significant.”

Laying Solid Groundwork for Copenhagen

At this summit leaders state clearly and concisely throughout the communiqué the importance of planning for future generations and including a green recovery that includes promotion of low-carbon economies and commitment to achieve agreement in Copenhagen (December 2009 is the deadline for achieving a new climate change regime to replace the failed Kyoto one) .

Download the entire communiqué

Opening statements of the communiqué:

South Korea and U.S. Leading Calls for Climate Friendly Recovery

In an ideal world, leaders at the summit would have committed specific resources or a target of at least 20% of the economic stimulus for identified truly green carbon-friendly investments as president Lee Myung-bak has done for South Korea. Identifying the types of investments that are green including: insulated buildings, expanding rail transit, low carbon vehicles and fuels, subsidizing lean energy production and use, scrapping old cars would also have been remarkable. These green carbon-friendly investments need to replace investment that encourages the old economy – things like replacing bridges and roads which locks in the carbon-intensive economies and lifestyles of old.

Almost certainly, the U.S. would have liked to see firmer economic stimulus commitments, including ‘Climate Friendly’ economic investments. Obama ran a presidential campaign pledging to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 80% by the middle of the century. Obama followed up on this promise by putting the green economy at the center of his economic recovery plan for the U.S. Consensus is emerging among policy makers in Washington on the need to move America away from fossil fuels and cut greenhouse gas emissions.

Obama’s Energy Secretary Steve Chu, back in February made a clear call for action on climate change and Barbara Boxer, chair of the Senate’s environment and public works committee, said “If you want to fight this recession, do it by mobilising to become energy independent with clean energy and really save this planet.”

Insurance & Carbon Reduction Targets

• It could also have been argued that a review of the insurance industry and their base assumptions about climate and weather impacts on the industry’s ability to weather emerging climate change scenarios was in order at this G20 Summit.
• The leaders too, could have locked in agreement on a cap-and-trade or carbon taxing system to discourage carbon emissions.

However, it is clear that such measures are the domain of other international meetings such as the upcoming G8 meeting in Italy this July, or more importantly the Major Economies Meetings on Energy Security and Climate Change meetings and the lead-up to the United Nations Summit in Copenhagen. It is clear that major investments will need to be made to support necessary climate change control initiatives agreed to at these meetings.

Unfair Criticism of G20 on Climate

Some have branded the G20 Communique a failure for Climate Change. As environmental group Greenpeace’s executive director John Sauven remarked, “For making the transition to a ‘green’ economy there is no money on the table, just vague aspirations.”

With so little time at this G20 Summit, and the significant need to create financial oversight and regulation of investment as a top priority, the leaders could not spend the time required to put the finer financial details on the issue of climate change or indeed on any of the fiscal stimulus commitments by G20 members.

The UN General Secretary Ban Ki-moon was encouraged saying, “the G20 leaders recognized the inextricable links between addressing the economic crisis and addressing food security and climate change.”

Despite the Summit Communiqué lacking clear investment targets, climate change advocates must be in agreement that language like the following is a bold step forward that helps create a vision, a framework and a process towards agreement on a comprehensive climate-friendly recovery plan by the end of 2009.

An Agreement to Agree

Kyoto protocol was not universally adapted by world leaders. A such it can only be described as an unsuccessful initiative. The leaders of the G20 have Included a reaffirmation that the leaders of the G20 Nations will agree to terms for a comprehensive climate change solution by the end of 2009.

Low Carbon / Climate Friendly Groundwork is Laid at London Summit 2009

It is encouraging to see that green technology and climate change have made a bold entry on the stage of international economic discussions for the first time. As a result of the commitments made in this G20 communiqué future discussions of economic stimulus must address climate change. For leaders to agree that the issues of economics and climate change are tightly bound is a necessary first step toward achieving a breakthrough agreement on climate change by the end of 2009. This is a significant step forward for the development of the ‘Green Economy’.

For the first time ever, global voices were shared live from an International Summit. The Bloggers of G20Voice and their audience shared first hand accounts of Summit news with streaming live video, instantly uploaded photos and audio and timely blog posts.

In most cases, international events such as the G20 garner little attention from people around the world. We open our papers the day after the event, see the photo of global leaders and gloss over headlines of the news. For their part, the mainstream news industry provides limited space and scope for the stories barely scratching the surface on what has happened.

Bloggers from around the world aren’t bound by the same time and space requirements of traditional media.

• The musings of a diverse group of bloggers bring a wide range of reflections and ideas to the fore.
• Bloggers can write about events before, during and long after an event has concluded – in both long and short form stories.
• Significantly richer stories can be produced by each blogger, each in the level of depth and detail that is most relevant for their audience.
• Multimedia streams of content make following a blogger a multimedia extravaganza:
  • twitter streams,
  • live blogs with up to the minute musings
  • streaming live video
  • video reports
  • audio reports
  • blog posts
  • photo libraries

With Bloggers Communication is a Two Way Street

Most bloggers listen to their audience and respond. I was able to send messages back and forth with the outside world in real time. I had audience suggestions coming in via qik video and twitter while attending press conferences and briefings. As well, a bloggers audience can comment on blog posts, video posts and the like and get involved in the debates that are happening.

Inside Access vs Apathy

When global summits normally take place it is little surprise that average citizens feel disengaged with traditional conference and media reporting schemes. Feeling shut out of the debate, people either turn off interest – because they don’t feel their ideas can be included in the debate, or they head to the streets as activists to protest and get their side of the story out.

Giving Global Voices access to “Inside Information” and accrediting bloggers as journalists gives ordinary citizens reason to be engaged and diffuses the urgency to take to the streets. Instead they can channel their voice right into the summit via someone just like them.

As a blogger at the summit, I had extraordinary opportunities to participate in the event as credentialed media, thanks to Oxfam Great Britain, Save the Children, ONE, Blue State Digital, Global Voices, Comic Relief and the UK Department for International Development and the Foreign and Commonwealth Office via G20voice.org. I received attended a full day of briefings the day before the summit with other bloggers and participated in briefings from delegates to the conference, interviewed people like Bob Geldof – outspoken activist for third world relief, Ed Miliband (UK Energy and Investment Secretary), Douglas Alexander (UK Secretary of State for International Development) and sat in the front row at press conferences with world leaders including UK Prime Minister, Gordon Brown and American President Barack Obama and our own Prime Minister of Canada, Stephen Harper.

I also had access to the same G20 background information that all media attending the summit had.

I was interviewed for CBC Radio in Canada

and BBC Turkey (I come in at 3:30 – dubbed in Turkish) as well as Voice of America’s Russian Video Broadcast. (I come in at 4:38 dubbed in Russian)

A formula for bridging the democratic digital divide

• Recruit respected bloggers from around the world
• Provide credentialed media access for bloggers at global summits
• Train bloggers and provide social networking opportunities to enhance understanding of the issues from both a political perspective, as well, as a socially conscious citizen.
• Provide technical training where necessary to give NGO’s access to emerging social media Web sites, online broadcast and handheld technologies, and information on sound journalistic principles to grow blogging skills within their organizations.
• Provide a one stop distribution point for all stories the bloggers produce. See G20 Voice. The bloggers channel should include video, audio, photos, blog posts and live blogs (including twitter feeds).

I extend my sincere thanks to my readers and followers who nominated me to attend this important global event and look forward to helping bloggers from around the world to be in attendance at similar events.

photo credit: Todd with Ed Miliband (Dhamaka_for_G20Voice)

Bob Geldof, is an Irish singer, songwriter, actor and political activist who became famous for his achievements including organising Live Aid and Live 8 and being an outspoken agent for change in promoting aid for developing nations stopped to chat with G20 Summit bloggers. I had a chance today to ask Mr. Geldof for his opinion on what world leaders should be doing in regard to climate change.

In short, he says it’s all the same thing, poverty, economic crisis, climate change. It’s a result of city states pursuing economic growth in an unsustainable way.

“All wars are resource wars. We’ve had three governments collapse in the European Union in the last four months. When they emerged from autocracy they expected freedom and wealth and they got despair and poverty and they don’t have the democratic institutions to withstand the social pressures. We do.”

“The people most affected by the economic crisis and climate change are those who had the least to do with causing it. The two problems have the same solutions.”

We need a system of cap and trade to deal with the climate change issue and the monies that are generated by these fees can be used to help rebuild Europe in places where the economies have collapsed.

According to Geldof, “We can build up their economies not in aid, but in a stimulus coming from our carbon emissions.”

The formula of nation states looking after their own needs first makes it difficult to reach an agreement that is in the best interests of everyone.

“We cannot race to the bottom today in London. We must race to the top, we really must race there. The time is up!” says Geldolf.

Most Summits are generally renowned for seeking concensus on issues instead of reaching for a really high goal. The result is often a watered down document that doesn’t offend any of the parties. We need to work on reversing the impact of traditional industrial expansion and work towards supporting green industry. We need to support those nations that are suffering most significantly from the economic shut down – developing nations. We need a plan for economic development that gives people hope for the future.

As Geldof implores, “Politicians need to work together to get it done now. There is no time to wait.”

G20Voice.org has made bloggers the centre of attention on the floor of the media centre at the G20 Summit by working with the UK government to let the voice of ordinary citizens from around the world be heard.

photo: @jessicauribe

Health, hunger, organics, toxics, food distribution – managing our food resources is a big challenge that we need to fix.

Enjoy this conversation with Save Food panel moderator Rachel Weidinger (@rachelannyes)

Watch the Save Food panel on the Qik Stream as it happened

Get the whole save food story by watching the panel as I recorded it on Qik.

Save Food Panel Summary

This SxSW panel discussed how nonprofits and social entrepreneurs are making access to sustainable food easier with shortcodes, social networks, advocacy tools, and location-based platforms. The founder of FarmsReach shared her vision for this web platform for local, sustainable food. We discussed the evolution of Monterey Bay Aquarium’s Seafood Watch to mobile access, and the recent launch of their iPhone app. The advocacy work of the American Farmland Trust was covered, including some surprises about SEM. We shares how the Sierra Club’s global warming portal with integrated social network–Climate Crossroads–is using food to engage users in information sharing and social networking.

Save Food Links

• Learn more about Save food by following the conversation on Twitter at #savefood.
• http://savefood.wikispaces.com – one stop destination to read about and contribute information to supplement panel presentations and learn more about SaveFood.
• Sierra Club project mashes together information and social networking community: Climate Crossroads
• FarmsReach connecting farmers with buyers in their local community (SF Bay area beta)
• Seafood Watch iPhone app