Today is the day of orange - two bright orange freebies were on offer in an attempt to clad campaigners with something to make us stand out in the sea of delegates' dark-coloured suits and ties. 

The first is a t-shirt raising the very valid question: "‘How old will you be in 2050?" 

Having done the maths I had to have a small shudder, but it did bring home forcefully that the majority of the negotiators here this year will probably not be around in 2050 to see the results of their political leadership - or lack thereof. Everywhere you look there are orange T-shirts organised by YOUNGO, and sponsored by Holland. (What is it with Holland and orange? They made all carrots orange, and now they are trying to turn green orange!). 

I spotted some Australian youths talking to Oz Green Party Senator Milne from Tasmania. On the back of the t-shirt is the statement "Don't bracket our future" - ooooh, how I love this statement! It really goes to the core of how negotiations take place (see photo above!).

I believe the occasion for the t-shirt campaign was the Intergenerational Inquiry on Climate Solutions with Mr. Yvo de Boer (center), UNFCCC Executive Director.

The second orange item being given away – of which I am a happy and now warmer recipient – is a scarf with the motto: "Survival is not negotiable". Naturally this is a sentiment I fully endorse. Having spoken with some members of YOUNGO I hear that Yvo de Boer was moved by a declaration of trust in him by a YOUNGO India member to declare that trust is earned, and that he himself did not believe the [UNFCCC] process had fully earned that trust. Sobering words indeed I think you'll agree.

The other news of the day is the COP/CMP suspension (or was it a suspension of the point, and merely an adjournment of that meeting? My sources are still unclear...) after some confusion following China’s reaction to the submission by Tuvalu (the smallest country in the world) of not one, but two amendments to the Kyoto Protocol in order to tighten Annex 1 emission targets. Tuvalu and many of the vulnerable countries from sub-Saharan Africa, as well as the small island states, have come out fighting and propose that a 1.5C rise is the most they can afford. A 2C increase, currently regarded as the “safe upper limit”, and the likely resulting sea-level rise makes their lives increasingly uncertain. Definitely an orange light flickering here too...

A few days back I reported on the discussions at the Contact Group on Potential Consequences under the Kyoto Protocol.... By today we've made it to paragraph 9 of 15. In any other environment when you're trying to narrow down text to agree upon, ending up with three options instead of the two originals would be considered going backwards. Here, not so... 

I had to laugh though, the metaphors of marriage brokers (i.e. trying to merge options in the text) and marriages breaking down and needing counselling were coming thick and fast from the Saudi, Swedish and Argentinean delegates during the to-and-fro on the text, which just goes to prove that even politicians and civil servants have a sense of humour. 

Something that will be essential when they actually have to start agreeing to remove the brackets!

Kim Coetzee for Green Energy Republic