I got up way too early today. I had to be in Orebro by 11 am and this meant I had to catch a very early flight to Copenhagen and onwards to Orebro. Waiting in the departure hall for the flight to Orebro I counted just five passengers, so I guessed we would be up for a very exclusive private jet experience. The route to Orebro, by the way, is operated by Nextjet a small independent airline owned by ex ABBA star Björn Ulvaeus (I think he was the one with the long hair ☺).

My dreams of an exclusive jet somehow vanished as we boarded the old aircraft parked far away from the terminal building. A friendly stewardess welcomed us onboard and handed out a pair of earplugs to each guest. At first I thought that this was a nice touch in case one might want to sleep or just doze off but after one hour and ten minutes on board this well maintained but rather old Saab aircraft I understood why we were all given the earplugs…

I had been invited to Orebro to participate in a big global conference on climate change organized by the National Council of Swedish Youth Organizations together with the WWF with support from the municipality of Orebro and the Tällberg foundation. The Tällberg foundation is a very interesting foundation that organizes a yearly summer event called the “Tällberg Forum”. Here about 400 thinkers and leaders from seventy nations meet for four days of conversations and workshops related to the opportunities and challenges of global interdependence. It’s something between TED and Davos.

Back at the conference, the first speaker on stage was Dr. Rajendra K. Pachauri the chairman of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). The IPCC assesses the scientific, technical and socio-economic information relevant for the understanding of the risk of human-induced climate change, and IPCC is as many people regarded as the most reliable source of information on climate change. In recognition of Dr. Pachauri efforts at IPCC he won the Nobel Peace Prize together with Al Gore in 2007.

During his presentation Dr. Pachauris discussed the challenges that we as the next generations will face due to climate change. Naturally, one of the areas he mentioned was the recent cyclone in Myanmar. He noted that cyclones have been taking place since this planet was born, but with water levels raising up about 17 cm in the 20th century alone, the water was this year pushed so far into the country that it caused terrible damages and left tens of thousands dead. This was much worse than ever seen before.

Dr. Pachauri also broached one of the biggest discussions these days; the challenge of the drastic increase of food prices. The simple answer according to Dr. Pachauri is that there is an imbalance in supply of demand. With growing incomes more and more people are turning to animal protein. We have not been able to increase the food production at the rate which demand is growing. And once again it’s the poorest that suffer the most. Sharing his opinion on corn being turned into biofuel, Pachauri emphasized that what we are in fact doing is creating a food problem by trying to solve a fuel problem.

These years it will be a matter of scarcity of food, but in the years ahead we will see the lack of drinking water as the next big challenge, and when people lack both food and water we will see even more riots and violence occur in the poorest countries. By 2020 between 75-200 million people in Africa alone will be distressed by lack of water and food. It will naturally result in conflicts, and we can expect to see a large number of “environmental refugees”, Pachauri concluded.

Speaking to the many representatives from the civil society, Carl Mossfeldt fra Tallberg Foundation told the participants to get their acts together. We are disorganised and ineffictive, we must change this. We need to be smarter than what we have done before. We must stop talking amongst ourselves. If we fail to penetrate mainstream institutions we will stay irrelevant. However, much must begin with ourselves changing our habits. It is not just a civil society matter. At the heart of this challenge is a personal challenge; to dare to break out of the expectations and conventions and do what you believe in.

His advice was very clear, the modern activist must:

• Understand the inevitable trend
• Have the courage to act on your insight
• Develop a strategy in which you find your role in the wider system

As a comment to all this climate stuff, I am happy to say that I am staying at an environmental friendly hotel (Scandic), at least their website says so: “Ethical responsibility – naturally. For example, we do not serve tropical shrimps. Environmental consideration – always.” I am also happy to say that all paper being used at the conference is environmetally certified and fair traded, and after hearing Pachauris presentation I decided to only eat one piece of chicken for lunch, even though I really longed for a second one ☺