Klima Forum - Uprooting the Grass, uh, do I have that right?

Last night was the openeing ceremonies of Klima Forum 09 here in Copenhagen.
Uh, interesting, yes, to say the least.


Just imagine if you will, watching 5 bobbing heads all sitting behind a string, woodwind or horn instrument staring at two guys playing the...ahem...Ice.

Yup, that was their gig, they played ICE!
And not just any ice my friend, this was ice that was brought in directly from the Arctice Circle to be played before the uprooty, grassy crowd that came to see it.

The really funny thing was, IT SOUNDED PRETTY DARN GOOD; as far as ice music goes that is. Why I remember a good ice hammerin' session back in aught six. We was hangin' out in Bangkok and this fella comes in talkin' and refrigerameration or sumphin'. Before you need it we'd found two Bangkok prostitutes to play the banjo, three seamen playing SPOONS and this ice guy layin' it to them with a haunting air you wouldn't believe.

Uh, actually, that never happened, but it would've been funny if it did. Back to the Forum...

The highlight of the night for me was the African fellow who kept making us shout "Mobilize, resist and " the last one I think was "organize," that would've made sense, but anyway he had lots of energy and I loved his accent.

Shortly after him came Noami Klein, the Canadian author.

She almost shot herself in the foot by admitting that her climate expertise is slim to none, but it made little different after she got into her corporation bashing mode. She's intelligent and makes good sense, but geez, can't they just all get along?

My old mama used to tell me "you'll never get a dog to sit if you stand back and throw rocks at it, you gotta step up first and show it some love."

Seriously, though, Mrs. Klein's arguments were well formed and well presented. The part that truly impressed me was the "marketization of hope," comment directed mostly at Coca-Cola (with their Hopenhagen campaign), Siemens (and their Future City) and of course, President Obama who has done an excellent job of reaching out to the hope in people instead of the fear like his predecessor, Naomi said, but has "missed more great opportunities than any other President in history."

To that, I must agree, despite how much I love the guy. We all know that the President of the United States is no longer the most powerful man in the world, 'cause if he was, things would've changed a lot more during his year and a half in office, and Naomi Klein illustrated that very well.

By the end of the evening - which included more weird music - the tone of the Forum was clear: this is for everyone who is pissed off that their governments haven't done hardly anything the people are asking for. It's a chance to learn about why, but not yet clear if this forum will help us organize to fix it.

A forum is usually just a place to talk...
...we'll see...

--Tim
KHH Enviros Director
http://khhenviros.110mb.com
khhenviros@gmail.com