Blogpost by Paul Grajewski, Greenpeace Volunteer
I am in South Africa for COP17 as part of a team of Greenpeace activists and volunteers. There are about 60 of us camped out near Durban and about half of us come from all over the world – Brazil, Mexico, Sweden, Finland, Germany, Belgium, USA, Canada, China myself from Australia and a few other countries which don’t spring to my jet-lagged mind right now.
Having been an activist for 10 years, I have been reflecting on what inspired me to become one. Being in South Africa I cannot help but think of Ghandi who’s life mission started in South Africa and who’s famous quote ‘Be the change you wish to see in the world’ inspires me to engage in creating positive change. And off course Nelson Mandela, who’s struggle to bring equality to this nation and it’s people made a huge difference not only for South Africa, but also the world. It is amazing to think of the courage Mr Mandela has shown through his life and it inspires me to be courageous too. However, what inspires me on a daily basis to continue working as a volunteer towards helping create a sustainable and peaceful planet Earth is the people I meet. People like the 60 odd activists that I am sharing a small part of my life with here. People like the couple I met at Johannesburg airport, who came from the Cook Islands to represent the concerns of small island nations about the dangers of climate change. And people like you, who support Greenpeace and organisations like it so that we can keep up the struggle for a sustainable and peaceful planet.
After all, if we fail to address this challenge before the so called ‘tipping point’ climate change could have devastating consequences.
People all over the world are taking positive steps, whether it’s changing habits to decrease their carbon footprint, or writing letters to politicians, or choosing sustainably made products, or becoming more involved like the 40 odd activists and volunteers who have joined Greenpeace here in South Africa since the first African office opened 3 years ago. People are genuinely interested in creating positive change to combat the changing climate.
Unfortunately the politicians seem more keen to listen to the polluters instead of the people. At COP17, we have another chance to notch away the stubborn attitudes of the politicians and build a bigger force of arguments against the self motivated arguments of the polluters. Hopefully people’s needs will be seen as a priority over the carbon-polluting companies’ greed.
So far in the 3 days I have spent in Durban I have not had much of an opportunity to leave our camp, as there is a large amount of preparation work we are involved with here. Mostly I’ve been helping build a solar panel array which will power a tent cinema outside the conference. (It’s amazing the variety of stuff you get to do as a volunteer or activist) The cinema tent will screen documentaries about the effects of climate change in Africa and around the world. So as of yet I cannot express too much of the atmosphere surrounding COP17, nor can I relate the stories of South Africans and their attitudes towards the issue of climate change, but I will have a chance to interact with the public once the conference gets started. So for now I’ll leave it at that dear reader.
