This week the leaders in the world have the opportunity to make history in Copenhagen, Denmark. Thousands are gathered from around the world in this quaint Scandinavian city to discuss global action and policy to prevent climate change. Environmentalists were thrilled when U.S. President Barak Obama announced that he would attend part of the summit in Copenhagen, however, even with the summit in progress, people are still skeptical that Obama will support any real binding international agreements.
Does this mean that Copenhagen will suffer the same fate as the Kyoto Protocol? While no one knows yet for sure, the Climate Change debate has carried much more political weight over the past few years than it did in the years preceding the summit in Kyoto, and that is why this time many people around the world are holding out hope that this time real changes and commitments will be made – thus dubbing the conference “HOPEnhagen”.
You may wonder why Copenhagen? Why pick such a tiny, cold, and rainy city to hold one of the world’s most important negotiations? Well, I might be a little bit biased, but I think Copenhagen is the perfect place to host the summit. In the spring of 2008 I was lucky enough to live on a small farm on the outskirts of Copenhagen for 4 months. While there, I fell in love with the Danish way of life, and I’m not the only one. In a 2006 study, Denmark was rated to be home to the happiest and most satisfied people in the world. It is also one of the most sustainable countries in the world.
I knew before I went abroad that wind accounted for about 20% of Danish energy, but I saw this first hand because there was a huge beautiful wind turbine on the farm across the street from where I lived. It was quiet and meshed beautifully with the picturesque barley field. Farms are another way that Denmark is seriously going green- Denmark has the highest percent of organically grown crops in comparison to traditionally grown crops in the world.
I lived with a Danish family while I was there, and my host mother worked for the Danish Agricultural Council, and she said her organization is exceedingly proud of Denmark’s success in organic agriculture. And even though I lived in a rural area of the country, I was still able to take public transit to school in downtown Copenhagen every day. Overall, 1/3 of people that work in Copenhagen commute by bike and most others take trains, buses, or the metro. Many Danes don’t even own cars!
In many ways, Denmark is the ideal place to hold the U.N. Climate Change Summit because Denmark is a wonderful example of multi-faceted environmental commitment that has been successfully ingrained into the culture. The Danes aren’t perfect though; their one vice: meat. Danes LOVE pork. The country is home to 25 million pigs and only 5 million people! Well, we all have areas for improvement.