Blog - December 2009

 Yesterday I signed an online petition to the leaders at the climate talks in Copenhagen. Here's a bit of info about it in case you want to sign too:

Dear friends,

Wow. Yesterday, the media was calling the crucial Copenhagen climate summit dead on arrival.

But 24 hours later, after millions of petition signatures, hundreds of thousands of phone calls, and a massive outcry across the planet, a deal could be back on!

Leaders are frantically doing in hours what they've failed to do for years, but we're still far from a pact that will stop catastrophic global warming of 2 degrees -- and the talks could still collapse. We know our pressure is working, let's use these crucial final hours to ramp it up, and get a real deal, not a dressed-up weak agreement. Sign the staggering 13 million person petition below if you haven't yet, and forward this email to everyone:

http://www.avaaz.org/en/save_copenhagen

The petition has become the centre of the global revolt against failure in Copenhagen. The names of petition signers are being read out by young people who have taken over spaces in the Copenhagen summit and in governments round the world, including the US State Department and the Canadian Prime Minister's office.

Amazingly, leaders themselves are appealing to the public for action. UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown made an impassioned appeal to 3000 Avaaz members on a global conference call on Wednesday, calling for an historic 48 hour internet based campaign from citizens around the world, calling our impact crucial. Nobel laureate Desmond Tutu also appealed to the world at one of 3000 vigils organized by our movement, proclaiming "We marched in South Africa and apartheid fell, we marched in Berlin and the wall fell, we marched on Copenhagen and we WILL get a real deal".

History is being made in Copenhagen, but so far, it's not being made by leaders, but by us, millions of people round the world who are directly engaging, hour by hour, like never before, in the fight to save our planet. The pressure is working, let's ramp it up.

http://www.avaaz.org/en/save_copenhagen

With hope and determination,

Ricken, Alice, Iain, Ben, Paul, Luis, Graziela, Benjamin, Pascal, Veronique, Paula and the whole Avaaz team.
 

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Just over a week ago I returned home, exhausted after a very long weekend's work at the Kendal Mountain Festival. Kendal is the biggest festival of its kind in the UK, and some say in the world.  Some 7,000 are reputed to travel to the famous Lake District town for the weekend of films, lectures, awards and socials. I've been visiting the festival on and off for about 7 years, and for the last 2, have been involved in a professional context as film programmer. Most of this job takes place long before the festival weekend screening the films, writing copy for the programme, and working out a sensible sounding timetable. The weekend itself is still pretty hectic, troubleshooting technical issues, gathering feedback, programming the awards ceremony, contacting winners etc. But it's also an opportunity to absorb myself into the world that quite literally supports me. I make my living organising events for the world of climbers, and Kendal is a superb example of the spirit that that keeps this world alive and buzzing. Hang around in one of the many bars or in a queue for a film screening or lecture and you'll quickly notice the place is a veritable hall of fame. This year, to name but a few, I saw Johnny Dawes, Alain Robert, Tom Hornbein, Andy Kirkpatrick, Ian Parnell, Andy Parkin, Leo Houlding, Kenton Cool, John Bracey, Zoe Hart, Jim Curran, Ken Wilson, Sir Chris Bonington, Rich Cross, Matt Heliker, Pete Robbins, James McAffie, Nick Bullock, Dave Pickford, Dave Birkett, Lucy Creamer, Steve McClure, Chris Sharma, Ueli Steck, Stefan Glowacz and a whole host of others who I either didn't see, or simply didn't recognise. Then there's the film makers and photographers of whom there were at least as many. The reason I listed these people is not as some sort of super-sad tick-list, but to point out that every single one of these people is there in the bar talking to whoever they happen to be standing next to. At the end of the day they are, by and large, every day people with some unusual skills and exciting stories to tell! The atmosphere is simply electric.

If you do make it out of the bar - and many don't - into a film screening you may wonder why bother when many of the films are available on DVD and even online. There are a number of reasons: a big audience will always respond better than you and a mate at home, laughing, wincing, oohing and aahing together; the sound will invariably be better and louder than a set of speakers plugged into your computer; the screen will certainly be bigger; there's a good chance that in this day and age you'll be watching stuff in high definition; presenters will tell you a little about the film you are about to watch; in many cases the filmmaker / director / producer or even the cast will stand and say a few words about their film and may even answer your questions if you ask nicely; and perhaps most importantly of all, some of the films at the festival will be screened for the very first time ever - all stuff that you just don't get at home. As you leave the theatre you'll inevitably be drawn into conversations with others about what you've just watched. All in all it can be a very memorable experience.

Aside from the films and the social scene in the bar you've normally got a host of interesting lectures on offer, book and poster signings, bargains, free whiskey tasting, photo exhibitions, stands to peruse, literary award ceremonies, hog roasts and sponsored climbs. That's Kendal anyway. There are other festivals. They're not on quite the same scale as Kendal, but the principles are very much the same and the atmosphere equally good. Here's a list in case you're not aware of them:

In the UK

Fort William - March

Dundee - March

Edinburgh - October

Sheffield - March

Llanberis - March

Big ones abroad:

Banff - November

Graz - November

Autrans - November

Telluride - May

Trento - April

Wanaka - July

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