A day of contrasts

29 November 2005

The colourful conference centre

Starters orders

The official UN climate talks kicked off today with a powerful show reminding us of the impacts of climate change.

The Canadian Environment Minister who is hosting the conference, Stéphane Dion, opened the proceedings with a carefully worded but encouraging speech.

We know that climate change is the single most important environmental issue facing the world today.the longer we wait, the larger will be the challenge.

Stéphane Dion, Canadian Environment Minister
and Chair of the conference

And if this wasn't enough of a challenge for the Minister, his party fell into crisis today when they lost the vote of no confidence in the Parliament.

However, in a show of his personal commitment to the talks, Dion has reassured delegates that he will continue to chair the conference rather than taking to the streets to campaign in the coming election.

Fossil of the day

More worrying, the US delegation has already stated in interviews that they will resist all proposals for future progress under the Kyoto Protocol.

In response, the non-governmental community has made them the first winner of the Fossil of the Day Award, a daily prize for the most obstructive player.

Meanwhile outside

We never thought when we joined Friends of the Earth that scaffolding would be one of the necessary skills.

But today the events team have erected a scaffolding structure 50m long - under the somewhat confused gaze of the bank employees opposite.

Erecting the scaffolding for the Climate Mosaic

Tomorrow we start fixing the multi-coloured Climate Mosaic to the scaffolding to fulfill our promise to the thousands of concerned people who have sent messages to the delegates.

More tomorrow.

Katie Elliott and Joanna Watson , our Climate Campaigners are sending daily updates direct from the COP 11 talks in Canada.