Why Copenhagen

So one is very green conscious and is concerned about the environment to such an extent that finding out about the multiple problems facing the environment makes him sad and depressed but then one has his own life to live, people to meet bills to pay wives to marry. So when the Copenhagen Summit started the skeptic that I am my first reaction was Cities do not deserve to host such conferences and summits they directly or indirectly contribute to the uphill task we face if we want to make this world live able in the long term.

However cynicism should be based on facts so I had to find out if I could criticize Copenhagen, this is where Google comes in handy. So I start reading and the more I read the better I feel because no matter how pessimistic or realistic we are we all want to see the practical implementations which are already effective and show that Sustainability is not just an illusion and more importantly we can undo the damage done to the Environment.

Case in point, Vision 2015 Copenhagen plans to be justifiably famous as the capital city in the world with the best urban environment. It will have become the Eco-Metropolis of the world, thus demonstrating that environmental concern adds an extra dynamic to urban development. This is not just a far off dream which will join many other plans that have yet been unfulfilled and look likely never to succeed. Let’s just have a little look at how Copenhagen harbor has been cleaned in over a decade, so that now it’s a place where people can swim again.

The overflow of Sewage systems harms the water ways therefore this needs to be reduced as there are some key contaminants in sewage water:

Nutritive salts which fertilize the water and algae growths excessively.

Bacteria make water unhygienic.

Heavy metals and environmentally injurious substances are poisonous, when ingested by living organisms.

Organic substances diminish oxygen levels around the discharge sites.

The City of Copenhagen formulated its first Waste Water Management Plan in 1976.

This was followed by the establishment of a wastewater treatment plant in 1980, which was further improved in 1997 to handle sludge and incineration.

Which in turn was followed up by investments to reconstruction the sewage system, by building rain water reservoirs and reservoir conduits which can store waste water until there is space again in the sewage system.

Creation of an online municipal warning system that calculates and provides information about the water quality in the harbor.

Strategic efforts to create urban recreational facilities such as public harbor baths.

The desired impact has been a sustainable one, now that the harbor is clean enough for people to bath in without getting sick, all this has been accomplished in a relatively short space of time. The long term impact of this will show when the wildlife in and around the harbor returns. Above all Copenhagen’s efforts are an example of the fact that little efforts in the correct direction lead to sustainable results.

Copenhagen Pirates

Indeed we look at the developed countries expecting them to lead by example not to lack the courage of their own convictions. On closer examination the cynic in me starts seeing situation from a different perspective:

Lets examine one particular situation which is complicated however on closer inspection on realizes the main hurdle to the effectiveness of conferences like the one in Copenhagen are the very nations who organize it and enforce the rules on others. The hypocrisy becomes evident especially when the media fails to show what the actual problem is, politics, religion, nationalistic, social structure accounts are given as reasons for the incidents however no one takes into account the Environmental impact of forgoing responsibility.

Playa de Bakio, is a Spanish fishing trawler which has been in the news a few months ago it was fishing in Somali waters, this fact is not disputed by even the Spanish officials. Even though Illegal fishing is a crime, this has been largely ignored for the best part of twenty years off the coast of Somalia. Fishing trawlers from different countries practice fishing techniques that are banned in their own countries as these are harmful to the environment to trawl the ocean water around Somalia. Their actions destroy the ecological balance and make environmental sustainability next to impossible.

They benefit from the sale of Somali fish all over the world and reap the profits, the international community has said little about this issue which costs the Somali people upwards of an estimated 94 million dollars yearly it jeopardizes the economic and environmental viability of fisheries for future generations of Somali children. The internal problem of the country and the anarchic situation it faces does not allow other countries to come and take advantage of the situation just because there is no resource to enforce the law. So the trawler is taken over by pirates, it becomes international headline news, but as long as they keep fishing illegal everyone can turn a blind eye to their piracy.

This kind of behavior is widespread and there are many examples around the world where developed countries take advantage of situations to make their countries cleaner while polluting others, if only they where not that narrow minded and short sighted they would come to the conclusion that the broader picture shows this earth is what they have to protect not the temporary and imaginary borders which represent countries.