The ThisPlace book – complete and unabridged

Thanks to everyone who contributed towards the ThisPlace book. The trip to Copenhagen was tiring and highly eventful. We met lots of amazing people and based on our calculations managed to get the book to about 15% of delegates.  The outcome of the conference itself is being interpreted differently by different interest groups. I have heard all the extremes from ‘the historic first step,’ to ‘an unmitigated failure of leadership and process.’ I guess for us, it is somewhere in the middle. One of the things that we realized while in Copenhagen is that the extreme views are often the loudest and clearest. They are also perhaps the most newsworthy as the press works off drama and antithesis, presenting polar opposites evenly and impartially so as not to have to choose. This project was, and still is, more about the people in the middle – the biggest group but often the least heard and represented. The people who want practical solutions to the problems they face rather than whole new ideologies. That’s why the book is primarily about highlighting the local, personal and immediate impacts of climate change. Impacts that are real and ongoing, despite the politics of global meetings.

Above is the book in its entirety. For some people, it might be worth a look to see if their submission is in there!  When we started the project, the overall goal was to spread a bit of empathy amongst delegates. Hopefully now it will help spread a bit of empathy amongst regular people too.  We are going to need it in the coming months to stay on the right track towards an ambitious legally binding agreement befitting of the science.  So I would encourage you to share it with others.  We always thought of the project as a small part of the first chapter in a long journey. In retrospect, perhaps it is more part of the introduction or even the prologue. However when re-reading the back cover, in in light of the outcome of the conference, I think it still conveys the right sentiment… Take a look for yourself.