Otesha goes to Malmo
One sunny morning in mid-September, we packed up ourselves, the flowery palais (aka our tent) and a hula hoop, and bundled ourselves onto a train from London to Malmo, Sweden to learn stuff at the European Social Forum. Here's a snippet of that stuff we learnt:
Our top 10 tips for travelling in trains
Georgie's visit to Malmo (as part of the Friends of the Earth climate tour)
What we learned about EU climate policy
We are now experts in non-violent communication
Liz took a tour of a sustainable housing area
Hanna learned about different ways climate change can be communicated...
In general, we learned that because organising for the ESF is so decentralised, you never know what you're going to get. Some workshops were amazing, and others weren't at all like we expected.
Our top 10 tips for travelling in trains
Otesha's top tips for making train travel as comfortable, convenient and fun as possible. Toot toot!
At Otesha, it's no secret that we love trains. When we're not on our bicycles, you can find us climbing aboard with all our gear in tow (including a glow-in-the-dark hula hoop, lots of snacks and travel scrabble). Last month, we took the train to Sweden for the European Social Forum and we're pleased to report that we had an excellent journey. Along the way, we learned a few things about how to make train travel as pleasant as possible.
In the spirit of spreading and sharing our new-found wisdom far and wide, we'd like to share our tips with you. So without further ado, here are Otesha's top 10 tips for travelling in trains:
1. Book early. If you’re leaving the UK and traveling through more than 1 other country, it’s easiest to book online on the InterRail site or, if you live in London, by visiting the Rail Europe office. Their agents will help you choose good connections and make sure you get the best price.
2. Bring friends, either of the actual person variety or in the form of books, music, games etc. We enjoy knitting, travel scrabble and glow-in-the-dark hula hoops.
3. Get a sleeper car. If you’re travelling overnight anywhere, this will make your journey about, oh, a million times more pleasant. These little beds don’t cost that much more than a seat and they ensure that you get a good night’s sleep. Plus, it’s oh so romantic to get lulled to sleep by the rocking motion of the train. Depending on how much you want to splash out, you can get a bed in a 2, 4 or 6 person car. Woman-only cars are also available.
4. Make sure to pay a visit to the dining car. This applies especially to night trains, since their bistros are the poshest, with white tableclothes, menus in five languages and flattering soft lighting. Sit yourself down, order a drink and gaze pensively out the window and the scenery passing by the in dark. For bonus points, dress for dinner in your finest apparel.
5. Trains that cross water are pretty cool. From Germany to Denmark, our train drove itself right onto a ferry. So not only did we get to see the scenery in England, Belgium, Germany and Denmark as we travelled along, but we also got to hang out over the Baltic Sea.
6. Speaking of water, fill up your bottles at stations whenever you can, since you won’t be able to do this on the train without buying a bottle. Water in train toilets is never drinkable.
7. Carry around a trusty reusable mug and food container wherever you go. Since we often found ourselves grabbing a quick bite or cup of coffee at train stations, our tup-tup-tupperware became our best friend.
8. Deutsch bahn ist gut. In our experience, German trains are always amazing. They’ve got tons of leg room, run on-time to the minute, and even have separate glass, paper, plastic & compost recycling facilities onboard. Toot toot!
9. Be a moneybags. If you're heading outside the Euro zone, different currencies can come in handy in case you want to eat at stations or check your baggage. On our recent trip to Sweden, we ate each meal in a different country (dinner in Brussels, lunch in Copenhagen....ah, so continental). Aside from the UK, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Switzerland, Poland, Hugary and several countries in Eastern Europe aren’t on the Euro.
10. Finally, if you need a cheaper option, take a coach. They’re less roomy and luxurious for long-distance travel, but they’re half (or less) the price than trains, and they’re very carbon emissions-friendly.
Like we said, we thoroughly enjoyed most of our trip. We got to enjoy the scenery in five different countries, embarrass ourselves trying to speak the local languages (what's Danish for excuse me?) and feel truly continential. The only downside is that trains are still much more expensive than short-haul flights (see this Nag to do something about it). Oh, and the lingering feeling of gentle rocking sometimes takes awhile to subside. Otherwise, we can't ask for a more perfect way to travel.
Georgie's visit to Malmo (as part of the Friends of the Earth climate tour)
Thanks to the fire in the Euro tunnel we missed our connection in Brussels by 3 minutes! But really it was rather nice as we then had time for a nice dinner in Brussels - over two days we had each meal in a different country.
But my travels weren't all about food and trains, och no! I was to join another group of young passionate people, but this time doing different things. In Malmo, we stayed at a youth camp organised by Young friends of the Earth Europe and Via Campesina. The next day, after a freezing night's sleep in the flowery palace (the tent) Liz, Jo and Hanna sent me off, as if it were my first day of school, to socialise with the Young Friends of the Earth crew, of which I am now a part! There were 50 young people from 25 countries in Europe (and one lady from Russia) and basically we had gathered in Sweden to plot, scheme, ‘shower thoughts' and mostly plan for COP 14, the UN climate change conference in Poznan, Poland this December.
I had decided prior to arriving in Sweden that I would join the Media PIG (Poznan interest group!), which means that I shall be helping to get media coverage of the climate talks. The other PIG's were action (concentrating on demonstrations and actions funnily enough!) and lobbying. As a group together we had a run through of climate policy history and what to expect at the talks in Poznan. We also decided what outcomes we'd like to see from the talks. Over the next few days I hung out in the media den with the other media pigs and we discussed our plans, which will hopefully be very effective!
It felt a bit strange at first to be taking part in something so close to the top-down decision making, as I usually hang about in the grassroots, but I think it is important to mix the two and it will be a real experience. So I'm looking forward to getting stuck into my new media savvy lifestyle... skinny lattes and power suits here I come!
I could write so much more, but I shall jog on! Sweden was typical Otesha style though: educational, adventurous and so much fun!
What we learned about EU climate policy
Don't run away! Yes, EU Climate Policy sounds like a yawn and a half but bear with us, as the seminar was completely fascinating (although that might have something to do with Jens Holm, the speaker and a Member of the European Parliament, being a complete dreamboat. Swoon.... thud.) and very informative.
The Nitty Gritty:
This year, the European Commission proposed a new Energy and Climate Package, which (fingers crossed) will be passed next year by the EU Council in time for the crucial UN Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen.
The Energy and Climate Package is made up of 4 parts:
· A review of the Emissions Trading System
· Effort-sharing
· Carbon capture and storage
· A renewable energy target of 20% by 2020 (not including nuclear energy)
Its overall targets are to cut emissions by 20% compared to 1990 (30% if the US sign on to the international agreement) by 2020, plus 20% renewable energy.
Which brings us to our first question - do you think these targets are ambitious enough? At the talks in Bali last year, the EU agreed to a 25-40% reduction in emissions by 2020. Hmm.
So let's tackle this bit by bit:
Emissions Trading Scheme review -
2005- 2008 saw the first phase of the Emissions Trading System which, according to Jens (swoon), hasn't worked all that well. There was an over-allocation of emission rights to the 11,000 or so companies around the EU that are using the system. So, instead of working on the polluter pays principle, over-allocation has meant that the highest polluters have profited. At one point the price of carbon shares plummeted to zero. It has now stabilised at 20 Euros per tonne of greenhouse gas emitted, but the general feeling is that a review is still in order.
Effort-sharing -
Everybody loves a sharing, caring type. The idea behind effort-sharing is that each member state cuts (or even increases) their emissions depending on how developed they are, to let developing countries grow while reducing overall emissions. For example, Sweden's emissions reduction target by 2020 is 17% and Denmark's is 20%, but countries from the former Eastern bloc can increase their emissions, allowing them to develop further.
As you can see, the pressure on richer countries is higher. But, there is a kind of loophole, called Clean Development Mechanisms (CDMs) which allow richer countries to outsource their emissions reductions to developing countries. These CDMs allow a developed country (like Sweden or the UK) to set up cheaper emissions-reducing programmes in a developing country (like China or India) and then count those emissions reductions towards their own targets. This means that richer countries can continue to pollute, even while meeting their targets, and don't necessarily have to tackle the larger scale challenges in their own countries - leaving those to a future generation (us - eek!).
On the other hand, without these Clean Development Mechanisms, many developed countries wouldn't have signed on to an agreement at all. We've got the US to thank for the CDMs, it was their idea during the Kyoto negotiations, which they didn't even sig, and now we're lumped with it.
Carbon Capture and Storage -
There's been a lot of chat about CCS lately, as the justification for all of the new coal-fired power stations that have been given planning permission in the UK. Do we need it? Maybe. If we are going to make the significant emissions cuts we need then perhaps we do need to get behind CCS (arguably, even nuclear). But it's not safe, and the technology hasn't even been developed yet! It will cost a lot of money to develop the technology, which might have been better spent on renewable energies like solar or wind power.
20% reductions by 2020 + 20% renewables -
There are a few big issues here - firstly that 20% probs isn't enough to save us from CLIMATE CATASTROPHE. (Ha ha. See my ‘how to communicate climate change' page), especially when we factor in the Clean Development Mechanisms. Jens (swoon) suggests an overall target of 40% emissions reductions - 10% in developing countries and 30% in the rest of Europe.
Secondly, the 20% renewables target includes 10% from biofuels. Biofuels are a tricky subject aren't they? They could possibly divert a lot of the world's food supply towards making fuel and could be a large contributor towards deforestation.
Alright, so that's kind of it in a nutshell. And as much as there are concerns about the package, it is still progress nonetheless and evidence that some global leaders are stepping up and trying to sort this climate change business out. Hoorah.
What can we do in the meantime? Put pressure on the EU Parliament and Council to pass it next year. And more good news - the package is flexible to allow each member state to take further action. So if the EU targets aren't ambitious enough, the UK can take it further. Woop! Let's make it happen.
We are now experts in non-violent communication
Despite all the group hugs and general warm fuzziness here at Otesha, a few of us can be a little (ahem) forceful in our opinions from time to time. Especially when confronted with someone who, say, refuses to buy Fairtrade coffee because "we should support businesses in this country". So we thought we'd best go along to a Non Violent Communication workshop and find out the least confrontational way to tell someone you can't grow coffee in Wales.
What we learnt....
- Non Violent Communication (NVC) lets people communicate in a way that allows them both to meet their needs while creating a genuine connection
- Hand puppets are always a good prop
- So are funny animal ears
- Doing it all properly is much more difficult than you might think
- Criticism lies in the eyes of the beholder. When you think someone's criticizing you, often they're just expressing their needs in a way that's hard to hear
The whole connection business is the crux of it really.
You may think you disagree pretty fundamentally with someone, but once you stop pitting yourself against them, chances are you agree on a lot more than you expected. So you accept your differences, make a connection and go from there. Maybe Liz wants to get a train to Sweden and Jo wants to fly, they argue about it for days. Until Liz discovers that Jo thinks if they fly they'll be preventing global dimming and doing their bit to save the world. Essentially they want the same thing, but they're going about different ways of doing it.
What impedes or encourages connection?
You express what you feel - if you're angry, be angry, whatever. But don't pin the blame for what you're feeling on ayone but yourself. Johan Rinman, who led this workshop, tells himself when he's angry that he hasn't listened properly. Listening to someone, without constantly thinking up your rebuttal in your head, responding only when you think you can help or you need clarification, lets you understand their feelings and their needs. Once you've got a grasp of their feelings and needs, you've probably got a connection going there and they're putty in your hands (mwah-ha-ha). Seriously, mutual understanding, forging connections, it's all very good stuff. Here's how he explained this to us (complete with hand puppets):
Four ways we can listen to someone else:
1. Jackal ears turned outward. Hear criticism and reflect it back out : (
2. Jackal ears inward. Hear criticism and take it to heart : (
3. Giraffe ears outward. Listen for the other person's needs, then check what they're feeling / trying to express. : )
4. Giraffe ears inward. Honesty. State what you're really feeling. : )
So how do you communicate effectively with someone you're really at odds with?
This is something we talk about a lot at Otesha, especially on cycle tours. How do we communicate a message without sounding preachy, or like we know-it-all-and-think-you're-wrong (and-must-change-your-bad-ways), and how can we communicate so people want to listen to us? So far what we've come up with is focusing on the positive, asking questions rather than forcing opinions and giving space for people to reach their own conclusions.
Where it gets really difficult.
You think you're right, and so does the other person. Neither of you will budge, so there's no way forward. In the hippy-dippy circles Otesha often moves in, most people think freedom of expression is generally a good thing. The hard bit to swallow is that is includes the views of those who would try to quell other peoples' human rights and freedom of expression if they could. What to do? Accept their opinions and move on? In the demonstrations in this workshop (where particpants attempted to reason with a homophobic hand puppet), no one totally suceeded in this. But the theory is that if you can give up on the instistence that your way is the right way and build a connection with someone, you might find that your needs are the same after all. It's world changing stuff this.
This is all just the beginning really. There's been a ton of stuff written on Non Violent Communication and slowly we shall attempt to get through some it (and maybe even put it into practice, you never know).
Liz took a tour of a sustainable housing area
Malmo used to be an industrial port town. Now it's at the cutting edge of low-energy, low-impact sustainable housing design. Liz took a tour to find out more.
I took a walking tour of Malmo's Wester Harbour, which is aspiring to be a completely sustainable community (it's powered by 100% renewable energy, for example). Since I took, oh, about a million photos, I thought I'd share some of them with you.
When the creaters of this neighbourhood got together make it happen, they took lots of different aspects of sustainability into account, from materials to energy use and from community life to asthetics. This means that, in addition to being as low-impact as possible, the houses, commercial spaces and common areas aren't too shabby to look at. To make sure that the buildings were diverse, the city of Malmo worked with about 17 different architects and a host of developers to create buildings that are built in different styles, sizes and colours - like these here:
Most of the streets in the Western Harbour are completely pedestrianized - so no cars allowed! As you might have guessed, bikes live everywhere. Here are just a few:
You can see water from anywhere in the Western Harbour, either sea water or rainwater collectors, which are alongside most roads. The collectors add a bit of green space to the otherwise completely paved neighburhoods, plus the rainwater helps to increase biodiversity in the area by encouraging more local plant and animal life. Not too shabby, huh?
One of the area's main landmarks, the Turning Torso, was created by famed Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava to symbolize the city's transition away from an industrial port town. (The skyline used to be dominated by a giant grane basically right on the building site.) I was a bit sad to hear that the building isn't particularly environmentally-friendly though- instead, it's made of luxury white marble. Sigh.
And one last bike for good measure:
Hanna learned about different ways climate change can be communicated...
Thoughts on how to communicate climate change (let's make it sexy)….
At Otesha, you might have noticed that we can get a little warm and fuzzy (a little too warm and fuzzy, some might say). So you can understand how, cocooned in an Otesha-style security blanket as I was, I got the be-jeesus scared out of me at the European Social Forum.
There we were frolicking with the Swedish farmers (who all look like models, by the way - we think that they have been hired by the Swedish agricultural board to lure people into permaculture) at our camp at Holma Farm. This was Otesha's spiritual home - there was consensus decision-making, porridge, bonfires, an audit on how many musical instruments we had collectively brought and a few too many uses of the word ‘energy'...
Then the Social Forum began. Most of the seminars we went to were brilliantly educational - Jo and I learnt a lot about EU Climate Policy, which will be invaluable in our preparation for the UN Climate Change Negotiation, in Poznan, in December 2008. Some seminars were a little less educational, and a little more terrifying. I looked down at my notes after one and all that was written was ‘climate catastrophe'.
If that wasn't alarming enough, the end of the week saw the ‘Another Europe is Possible' march where we encountered the ‘Black Bloc ' - hundreds of anarchists wearing black balaclavas marching along to German techno, one hand forming a fist in the air, the other waving a red and black flag. Blimey.
I'm not one to deny that climate change is pretty scary (read ‘incomprehensibly frightening'), or to praise our governments as doing all that they possibly can to combat it. But, I don't think donning a black balaclava and prophesying doom will necessarily get us that far.
The catalyst that led to me hopping on the climate change train was Forum for the Future's Low Carbon Living 2022 project. Here was the first thing I had read which, instead of focusing on the impending apocalypse and all the sacrifices that would have to be made to avoid it, made sustainable living sound like a downright appealing prospect. Stronger communities, a cleaner environment, healthier lifestyles. It was enough to get me onboard.
So here's my proposal. Let's make communicating climate change sexy! Yes, climate change is scary, but it's also a great opportunity to create the kind of world we want to live in. Here are my tips:
1: Less bandying about of the words 'catastrophe', 'chaos', 'disaster of unimaginable proportions'. If we are going to change the world, we are going to have to be able to get out of bed in the morning.
2: More fun! That's right - leisurely cycle rides, seasonal food feasts, tetrapak wallets, bicycle burlesque - there's a whole world of sustainable frolics awaiting us.
3: Ever noticed how if someone shouts at you, you tend to think they're mean/scary/unhinged? Instead of getting angry (or preachy) about climate change, get active - lead by example and others will follow.
They will, just wait and see!
Jo soaked up some culture
Note from Liz: Jo can write whatever she wants here. Maybe something about the cultural stuff? Or whatever else, really.
As it says above, I can write whatever I want here. ANYTHING at all, and it will be published wide on the wordly web for all to see. Oh, the power. Fortunately for you I have no great agenda, so I'll just tell you what we saw.
Liz and Hanna spent their first day in Sweden absorbing some Nordic Cafe culture, and discovered wireless and a very posh cafe. So over the week, it was there that we took our unwashed selves to sit in brocade chairs, drink earl grey tea (with real leaves), admire the cross stich artwork (I can replicate an embroidered Mona Lisa for the highest bidder) and wonder at a grandfather clock with a video of a man wearing an 18th century wig embedded inside it.
Meanwhile, back to the first day of our trip. I was playing on Holma Farm, watching a cheese-making demonstration, mulching quince bushes and discovering the joys of forest gardens. I also discovered, to my dismay, that to coincide with the European Social Forum, there was also a European Cultural Festival with another whole booklet full of films, talks and exhibitions. 'How will we ever manage to see everything?' I cried, and went for a lie down in the tent. But soldier on I did, and see a fair amount of it we did too.
Prescription Arts were there, a UK group who run art workshops and exhibit work by artists with and without mental health issues. They also hold Mad Picnics for a Mad World. We don't know exactly what it entails, but it sounds like a good thing. At their workshop they talked about the problems with cognitive behavioural therapy. The problem being that CBT assumes that somethings gone awry with your connection to the world, so you should be fixed up so you can get back on with interacting with the world in the 'normal' manner. There's no space there for the premise that there's something wrong with the state of the world and that, rather than you, is what needs fixing.
And the story of the chair (there's me sitting in the chair, up in the corner). Georgie and I had an excellent time sitting in the chair together, spinning around looking at the wallpaper of woods that surrounds it. Then we got told off, only one person in the chair at a time apparently. I really liked the chair until I found out what it was all about. Basically it's a very expensive egg chair in an alcove, papered in images of lovely lush woods, with a couple of speakers playing some sort of ambient drivel. It's all very nice until the telling-off lady finishes telling you off and starts telling you instead that the chair-woods-ambient-drivel set-up is for the busy office worker who just can't find the time in their busy chair swivelling schedule to get out of the office and see anything that's actually a bit green and, you know, alive. Instead they can sit in a different chair and swivel to the drivel. So, can design save the world? Not if it's going to try and get people to put nature substitutes in their offices it can't.
We saw some terrible art and some quite interesting stuff, but it was a good mix, and isn't diversity the key? The best bit about the galleries though, were the old settees dotted about the place and the odd pack of biscuits lying around. That is what every gallery needs.