Important Thoughts about Merry, Faxwell, and Copenhagen's Climate Change Conference
Posted: Friday, December 18, 2009
by Jean Purcell
OpineBooks.com
Faxwell Book and Merry Cable work in the diplomatic corps of two unnamed countries. Each has worked at the UN in NYC for 10 years. Before that, they worked at other UN offices around the world, mostly focusing on meteorological issues.
They rarely see each other except at meetings and a few social gatherings during the year, but they have much in common. Both travel by private car, often with driver, when they have meetings outside whatever headquarters building they are assigned to in whatever part of the world.
Now you see these two impressive 30-40-somethings at head tables, on the dais, or in cushy chairs at various meetings that appear on the news when controversies arise, like "global warming" now "climate change." Each agreed that the label change was wise once efforts to prove global warming failed and the press started to mention it. It made sense philosophically, at least. Nobody can argue with climate change, after all, can they?
Faxwell has a closet of various dark suits in increasing style for UN-related meetings. He's grown used to such a wardrobe over the years, and his rising salary plus tax breaks for part of their costs, for work you know, increase his ability to afford even elegance at times. His hair used to be from one extreme to another, while he tried out what worked. It was either clipped extremely neatly or worn in careless curls to show how hard he worked. At this time of his career his hair is mid-length and cut in a very neat and voguish style, somewhat out of place in an appealing way.
Merry's hair is well and neatly styled and her jewelry at the ears is perfection, along with a bracelet or two and the appropriately shaped and colored (or not, depending on the country of meeting) finger nails.
Merry, who started her career in very serious yet moderate-cost suits, has adopted the new fashion of fashionable dresses with jackets and often a really impressive jewel- or pearl-adorned pin with gold and rubies attending. Sometimes she wears designer pant suits, as well.
The piece de resistance for both of these serious careerists is the briefcase or notebook or small stack of narrow and important-looking paper-carrying leather cases. These cases may have national, agency or personal engravings. They grasp them with an air of calm confidence or earnest seriousness, depending on situations. Passports are always at the ready, as well as institutional IDs, especially useful for getting into certain embassies or institutional buildings when invitations have been forgotten on the busy-looking desks at their respective offices.
Merry and Faxwell also have in common a regular exercise or swimming regimen. They can order well in any restaurant in the world, including the best of wines. They can engage in interesting, even witty, conversation. In her no-spare-time schedule Merry has become quite adept at judging wines, after completing a long program of accreditation while living in Rome.
This year, both Faxwell and Merry were in the lead group of their country's delegation at the climate change conference in Copenhagen. Anyone who is anyone in diplomatic climate circles was there, including the large staffs. Over 3,000 large public and private airplanes kept Roskilde International Airport busy for over two months of site preparations before the meetings.
Once in Copenhagen, Merry and Faxwell represented their respective countries diligently and worked late into the night every night. Of course, there were the usual socials and dinners, including those their delegation hosted. They always managed to appear fresh and ready to go the next day. Leather carrying cases were at the ready each morning, full of papers and gizmos for communication with their country's mission in Copenhagen. They took notes, listening via headgear and a language box for choosing language of interpretation each would prefer. Many delegates and their staffs listened in English; others fluent in English refused to listen in English, a private form of proud protest.
This is what happened in Copenhagen, since no formal agreement or constructs have been settled. But let's don't go there, what with all the side-effect worries about emissions and carbons, you know. As one observer noted of the Copenhagen final reports, "Never have so many worked so hard for so many months and through so many meetings only to accomplish so little."
Merry and Faxwell and their high-level counterparts ignore such public observations by the unknowing, and they look forward to the future meetings on the schedule. They will go home and order their staffs to pour over, discuss, analyze, critique, and produce papers about various elements of the Copenhagen portfolio, including notes, and phone messages. All should be sure to be ready to meet the challenges of preparing more papers and agenda proposals for the next major meeting, in six months. It won't be easy. It's going to be hard, but they will give themselves to the task. The conference drama and even the discords add to the important place of the work of Mer'e and Fax, as they are now fondly known in some inner circles.
Faxwell would prefer that the next meeting to follow-up would be in Beijing, while Merry would prefer Buenos Aires. Both have worked conferences or offices in other major cities of the world. And both like warm climate, so the meeting date of June 2010 in either city should be no problem! Each hopes to take at least one extra staff person the next time, a sign of rising stars.
They are ready for the challenges of every changing season, although they are upset that snow expected to fall upon New York City may be rude enough to appear on December 24, just when Merry wants to fly out for two weeks in Madrid and Fax has reservations at a ski lodge in Montreal! Something should be done about that snow, if possible!
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Top-level comments on this article: (2 total)I love this article. Just shows that the Copenhagen talks had nothing to do with the environment, but everything to do with power and money. The 'climate change' thing, with its carbon credits, is big business, so I don't expect the subject to go away any time soon. I am happy to see that a large portion of the world's population is starting to see through the scam.It makes one wonder why there have not been cures found to a lot of the major diseases today. Maybe their big business too?
It makes me mad and sad and thankful that you wrote this piece.... Marijo
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