Train to Copenhagen

It is the action that counts

While digesting the disappointing outcome of the COP 15 in Copenhagen, some reflections pave their way to my key board.
The global leaders have not been able to agree on how we shall face the biggest threat to human kind in our time – how to combat climate change with a legal binding global agreement. They could not get their acts together for a theoretic framework on how to reduce the greenhouse gas emissions, on how this framework should be followed up on by concrete emissions reduction (...)

The Swiss high-level delegation for COP 15 arrived by train in Copenhagen Thursday morning

Thursday 17/12 morning the Swiss delegation for COP 15 arrived safely at the main station, Hovedbanegaarden, in Copenhagen.
80 people travelled together by train from Switzerland to Copenhagen, including the Swiss delegation arriving for the high-level segment of COP 15. The participants of the train were welcomed with breakfast at the station by the Danish Railways.
The journey had included meetings and conferences and obviously a good night of sleep because the participants seemed (...)

Bringing Copenhagen to the people

Messages to the world leaders at COP 15 from people we met along the symbolic Kyoto to Copenhagen journey. Along our way from Kyoto to Copenhagen we collected messages from people we met to pass on to the decision makers at COP 15 in Copenhagen. We did this by speaking with people, filming street interviews and taking signatures on a UNEP petition.
You can watch some of the messages yourself in the video clips on this website.
This is a selection from some of the messages we gathered (...)

The 7th story about love

Having arrived safely in Copenhagen and at the United Nations Climate Change conference, it is time to share the 7th story of love from the Trans-Siberian railways. It is about the love we share for our planet.
You might have wondered what the collecting love stories on the Trans-Siberian Railways line during the symbolic Kyoto – Copenhagen journey had to do with climate change. The answer is short – everything!
While collecting messages from people to the decision makers at COP 15 in (...)

What kind of present will Copenhagen give the world this Christmas?

It was time to wrap up. Time to bring the days discussions to a formal conclusion - although there was still a couple of hours left before we arrived in Copenhagen. The panel was made up of Achim Steiner from UNEP, Jean-Pierre Loubinoux from UIC, Nicole Wilke from the German Ministry for the Environment and Jason Anderson, WWF International.
We heard how Copenhagen had to achieve new mechanisms for CO2 reduction, as well as setting high targets and agreeing how the transition to a low (...)

Cartooning the climate express

It's Tom's job to capture the climate express in cartoons, diagrams and drawings. He's part of a group called Bigger Picture who specialise in capturing events in graphic form - graphic recording - and today they are on the train.
I asked him how they manage to capture such complex ideas and so much activity.
Tom said, "We try to be as open as we can, to just observe. Sometimes we ask questions. I just asked Mr. Pepy (SNCF) and asked him about his vision - what he would ideally like - for (...)

On the climate express - Brussels to Cologne

The conversation has started. Press conferences block the route from one end to the other. A journalist crouches speaking live to her radio station. I push my way through to meet one of my hero's - Mark Smith - founder of the website - the man in seat 61. This website is a fantastic source of information for travelling by rail across Europe.
I asked Mark - an Englishman - why he set up the web-site. He said, "When I travel to Europe I always take the train. Eurostar will tell you how to (...)

Conference on the Climate Express

The train is under way. We are welcomed by Jean-Pierre Loubinoux, UIC Director General and then it is straight into the first conference - Updating Climate Science.
Professor Jean-Pascal van Ypersele of IPPC, Achim Steiner form UNEP and James P. Leape from WWF international give quick summaries of the science and then the questions begin.
Soon the questions move beyond science into politics and policy. There is an intensity and purpose to the questions. Nobody is pulling in punches, but (...)

Time travelling on the Trans-Siberian Railway

During the 9288 km of the Trans Siberian Railways we travelled through several time zones from Vladivostok time to Moscow time - a time difference of seven hours. (Moscow again is two hours ahead of Paris and Copenhagen.)

So as we travelled towards Moscow, we slowly, but surely tuned into Moscow time, day by day, hour by hour.

Already from Vladivostok, all times for stops and meals onboard the Trans-Siberian Railway were given in Moscow time. (...)

Photo moments with Ivan (Moments with cargo)

The Trans-Siberian railways' technical capacity allow for transporting annually nearly 100 millions of tons of cargo. The line is shortly to become a major overland transport link between Europe and Asia.
The main freight cargo transported by rail in Russia today are gas, oil, coal, timber, machines and are parts of buildings.
Sometime during the 1980ties Russia set up the longest freight train ever in the world. It was 17 km long and it had four locomotives in front and two behind to push. (...)