As I read the post and browsed through some of the sites it pointed to, notably Hopenhagen (a play on the words 'hope' and 'cope', symbolizing the momentum of hope building around COP15, the UN conference on climate change scheduled for December 7-18 in Copenhagen, Denmark), Ogilvy Earth and the stirring Yes We Can video on YouTube, I experienced a feeling of frisson caused by what I can best describe as a memetic atavism of Woodstock, the music festival from back in 1969 that made history. Through sheer association, the song Woodstock (originally by Joni Mitchell though popularly known through the CSNY version) started playing in my mind and I was amazed by the relevance of its lyrics (particularly towards the end - the part that I reproduce below, from the Joni Mitchell original) to the current zeitgeist on climate change control. For a moment there it almost seemed to me like the song was written for COP15.
By the time we got to woodstock
We were half a million strong
And everywhere there was song and celebration
And I dreamed I saw the bombers
Riding shotgun in the sky
And they were turning into butterflies
Above our nation
We are stardust
Billion year old carbon
We are golden
Caught in the devils bargain
And weve got to get ourselves
Back to the garden
Yes indeed, we're caught in the devil's bargain, and we've got to get ourselves back to the garden!
P.S. Do sign the petition at hopenhagen.org and let's get to the half mill mark soon (though I bet it will be more, by December 7)
P.P.S. (added Nov 10, 2009) here's a video clip of Joni Mitchell singing Woodstock (at some other event)
P.P.S. (added Nov 10, 2009) here's a video clip of Joni Mitchell singing Woodstock (at some other event)
