COP 15 - First impressions

On the eve of the United Nations Climate Conference, UN Environment Programme (UNEP) opened their Hard Rain exhibition. Striking photographic images set to Bob Dylan’s powerful, prophetic song, A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall, is set to become the unofficial soundtrack to the Copenhagen climate talks. Achim Steiner, UN Under-Secretary-General and UNEP Executive Director, said: “The dark and evocative lyrics of A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall echo the kind of impacts the world faces if climate change continues unchecked. But Bob Dylan had another song. One that reflects a strong and positive Copenhagen outcome that puts the world on a low-carbon path - ‘The Times They Are A-Changin’.”

The walls of the maze are made from cloth banners stamped and signed by thousands of citizens around the world in support of the UN-led Seal the Deal! campaign, which asks world leaders to conclude a fair and effective climate agreement in Copenhagen. Complementing the Hard Rain commentary, the maze also contains climate change facts from UNEP in order to raise awareness about climate change.

‘We have to give governments a constituency to reinvent the modern world so that it’s compatible with nature and human nature,” says Mark Edwards. “Political change comes only when people form a movement so large and inclusive that governments have no choice but to listen - and act. The last verse of Dylan’s song begins ‘What’ll you do now?’ It’s a question that cannot be left hanging when the Copenhagen talks come to a close.”

Further up from the Kongens Nytorv to the City Hall is the Klima Forum and WWF Arctic exhibitions. Part of the WWF’s statement is the Bear in the Square. A life sized polar bear made of ice. All are invited to touch the sculpture, as time passes and the heat from all the touching hands melt the ice, a graphic skeleton emerges, a harsh reminder that this could be not just the great bear’s future but ours if we don’t act now.