Sex workers in Denmark are protesting a campaign against prostitution during the UN Climate Change Conference. The city of Copenhagen wants to discourage delegates from buying sex, despite the fact thatit is perfectly legal there and has nothing to do with climate change. Thesex workers’ interest group, SIO (Sexarbejdernes Interesseorganisation), was not consulted and so, annoyed, they are offering free sex to any conference delegate who turns in his ridiculous postcard (see below), which also went to 160 hotels. See full text on “Border Thinking on Migration, Trafficking and Commercial Sex”
The Story of Cap & Trade is a fast-paced, fact-filled look at the leading climate solution - emissions trading - on the negotiating table at Copenhagen and in other capitals. Host Annie Leonard introduces the energy traders and Wall Street financiers at the heart of this scheme and reveals the “devils in the details” in current cap and trade proposals: free permits to big polluters, fake offsets and distraction from what’s really required to tackle the climate crisis. If you’ve heard about Cap &’ Trade, but aren’t sure how it works (or who benefits), this is the film is for you.
By John W. Foster, researcher at the North-South Institute
Crowded into Monumental Baptist Church, several hundred youth, community folk and activists spent three hours with Nobel Prize winner Joe Stiglitz, Steelworkers leader Leo Gerard, Washington-based Emira Woods, Enrique Daza of the Hemispheric Social Alliance, Carl Redwood Junior of the Hill District Consensus Group, Rev. John Welsh of the Pittsburgh theological school, Tammy Ban Luu of the Labour/Community Strategy Center of Los Angeles and others. On the “hill”, just down the street from the tent “village” and in one of Pittsburgh’s “no go” areas (according to our taxi driver), the atmosphere was charged with enthusiasm.
The summary of the points raised by civil society organizations in the Consultation with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) is being prepared and will be posted here soon. They included an emphasis on the importance of human rights and a rights-based approach to development as well as a strong message of support to an inclusive multilateral discussion about the global financial and economic crisis, such as the UN High Level Conference taking place later this month. Civil society organizations expressed their surprise at the apparent lack of active participation of UNDP in the conference.
The World Environment Day slogan for 2009 is “Your Planet Needs You-Unite for Climate Change”. It reflects the urgency for nations to ‘seal the deal’ at the crucial climate convention meeting in Copenhagen some 180 days later in the year. A statement by the Women Environmental Programme (WEP) - Nigeria states the organization’s concerns for the gender dimensions of climate change and its impact on Africa.
