Mesmerised by late night Korean TV I was shocked to see the weather girl point to snowflakes, SNOW (!!!) predicted for Seoul this week. And sure enough, this morning, when venturing out for my essential caffeine hit, the kind of cold that hurts struck me. Bad choice of shoes, Emily.
This makes for no more aimless wandering around Seoul. I spent my morning cooped up in my (warm) hotel room working until the afternoon when we ventured back to the Peoples Conference. I really wanted to write this whole post about the Seoul subway, but suffice to say it is shiny, high-tech and like most electronics in Korea, talks to you.
I spent my afternoon learning about different viewpoints on climate policy, all encompassing the views of the global south. Finally, a forum where I could keep up with the acronyms. The speakers were all more radical to what I’m used to and it makes me think- are we out for anything we can get in Australia? Are cap and trade policies ineffective cop outs? How do we get nature on the balance sheet?
One fact I learned I really feel like I should share- in the six main rice producing countries in Asia, the temperature rise that we have seen already, which is a fraction of what is estimated will happen, has affected the process of photosynthesis to the extent that rice crop yields are down 25%. Think about the implications, how do we find more land, who will farm it? How does this affect food prices all over the world?
THAT, my friends, is why ActionAid, which is dedicated to ending poverty, is involved in the fight against the climate crisis.
We were then provided with a Korean dinner to cap off the evening. Although many of the foreign guests, unfamiliar with the bibimbap with uninviting still runny egg on top, opted instead to sample the variety of unclearly labelled beverages. Which made for a much more enthusiastic uptake of participation in the Korean trade union anthems and the fist pumping that goes with it.
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I’m interested to know more about the People’s Conference – what’s it all about?
Is it just a whine fest in which civil society complains about all the problems of the world? Or are constructive plans being produced as to how civil society can help tackle these challenges?
And is there any link between the Peoples Conference and the G20 later this week? Or is the timing of the two events a coincidence?
PS: Everyone knows you’re supposed to quickly mix the raw egg in with the rest of the bibimbap in order to cook it. Right? Or is that just the bibimbap hot pot where you do that?
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Well as we know, the G20 is effectively an exclusive club with no accountability or inclusiveness. The People’s Summit was an attempt by Korean civil society to rectify this, by holding an alternative.
The speakers have been discussing viable policy alternatives, however, there is, as usual, no way of attempting to get them on the G20 proper agenda.
One of my criticisms of the conference, and I have a few, is that it is very policy focused and has no view as to how these ideas will actually manifest in real life, and no discussion of how to get there. The other is that there are probably more women heads of state than there are women represented at the conference.
And our bibimbap, both bowl and contents were decidedly room temperature.
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Which countries are taking part in the People’s summit and who makes up the representatives?
Is the People’s summit getting good media coverage?
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I always opt for the excellent Korean BBQ beef ribs because, sigh, bi bim bap excites me in name only…i have tried though. -
i read your blog backwards Emily, i just got the countries who are involved in he blog before this one. Ha. Thinking about it, which point of interest have people really fired up about or is taking precedence at the P.S. I love the People’s Summit acronym. It reminds me of another one I use frequently. Thanks.
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Ha- no worries. There have been pretty lengthy discussions on the Robin Hood Tax, currency wars, restructuring the international monetary system and climate too. And a lot of the participants are from trade unions so discussion on the role of unions too. They are all pretty large topics though, but really interesting to hear different ideas.
I think the PS is a bit radical for a lot of media – but there have been some reporters wandering around, havent seen much coverage (not that I’d be able to read it)
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Wow. The rice stuff is a pretty disturbing stat, huh? Yet still, we have those climate change skeptics that argue that if it’s still snowing, there’s no such thing as global warming…
Is what’s being discussed by the PS something that could be put into practice effectively if governments were bypassed in the process, and it was the people themselves (with the help of wonderful organisations such as, say, ActionAid) who took action??
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