COP24 – Poland – Day 0

The Polish edition of Climate Gamble joins the family, adding the total number of translations to six!

It is that time of the year again. The time of climate negotiations.

One would like to imagine that it is a rewarding and positive thing to advocate for clean power and to try to save the future generations from climate catastrophe. I mean, I just got into Poland for the climate negotiations, to do just that, and it’s not the first time I’m attending these big-time conferences. So great, right? Travel to places, see the world and all that.

Well, let’s see. I used my own money to buy the tickets, the accommodation, I’m using my own time and money to be here, and not being able to make any money while I’m here. I’m also paying the translation of Climate Gamble Polish edition from my own (family’s, really, we are communists in that way that we have shared money) pocket so that I can come here to give them away to people, for free. I can tell you it is not a good business to be in.

But at least it is a rewarding thing in itself, right? Have interesting and fruitful debates with smart people on energy and climate policy, and plan how we can save our planet for future generations! Surely something you would gladly pay a month’s salary and abandon your family for a week just to experience! (I hope the kids’ fever is down though…)

If only we could power those pretty lights with something other than coal…

We need shitloads of nuclear for climate

Well, the other people who arrived here earlier were attending this big climate march on Saturday (when I was still traveling). Obviously, they were among the few people there in open support of nuclear to be included in our toolbox to fight climate, given that it has been our most efficient, fast and cost-effective way to decarbonize energy systems – which is something we really need to do really fast. The IPCC (2018) agrees, having as much as six times our current nuclear capacity by 2050, and so does any relevant real-world case of decarbonizing energy systems (Sweden, France, Switzerland, Belgium, Ontario etc).

Enter the anti-nuclear people

So, it was no surprise that some people disagreed. This time, the way they did this was extra-disturbing for me (and I only heard it from the people who attended, not experiencing it myself). First, they come and say we need to leave because us being there is anti-democratic. Ummm… Wait, what, how is us being there anti-democratic? We never found out.

And that is not all. Then you have a lady physically pushing herself on to some of our people, hard, and then claiming these people were touching her against her will. Yes, you read that right. In the end, the organizers of the march asked the police to kick us out. Why? Well, after inviting everyone to attend and come there with signs telling what is in their hearts (obviously our signs had atoms and renewables…), to bring drums and make noise, we were kicked out for being too noisy. Or something.

Meanwhile other people physically assaulted Eric in order to silence him while he was singing. And not for the first time, the same happened last year in Bonn, COP23. Very, ahem, democratic move there.

Is this really the level at which anti-nuclear people want to operate? This kind of behaviour is totally unacceptable in any remotely democratic country, and even less so in an open march and a demonstration for climate! Intimidation, baseless accusations and physical violence. Really? For climate?