"Chasing rumours and meetings, meetings, meetings. Is that really all we do?"

This post from a Greenpeace blog provides a window into some of what is really happening in Bali:

It’s not easy to explain plainly what I and other civil society reps have actually been doing for all the long hours we have spent here at the Convention centre all week. The world of global climate talks is a world of rumour chasing, coffee drinking, constant huddles and meetings – with country delegations, with other NGOs, with the rest of the Greenpeace crowd. Press releases need to be discussed, drafted and then often enough redrafted as the negotiations have already moved on. People who are not at the talks but in national Greenpeace offices need to be kept informed of what’s going on – and motivated to do something, if it happens to be their government that is acting up. There is a fair amount of sitting in big windowless rooms listening to boring speeches, as well. The challenge is to wake up again when something really outrageous happens – and to then react.

Also note this excerpt from their ECO newsletter:

The ever popular NGO Party will be held tonight from 8pm to 3am at the Beach Bar, Inna Putri Bali Hotel (next to the Grand Hyatt Hotel).