France - G8 Summit

An iceberg on the Seine

by Marco Chown Oved

Article published on the 2009-07-07 Latest update 2009-07-08 07:44 TU

Greenpeace set up a 16 meter inflatable iceberg in front of the Eiffel Tower, 7 July 2009.
(Photo: RFI)

Bobbing along beside the throngs of tourists next to the Eiffel Tower, a giant inflatable iceberg made a cameo in more than a few photos Tuesday. Greenpeace constructed the media spectacle to draw attention to the responsibilities G8 leaders meeting in Italy tomorrow have towards combating global warming.

“G8: climate leadership now,” read the banner carried by divers in the Seine river beside the 16 meter-tall plastic iceberg.

“The climate is going crazy, the planet is getting warmer,” read a leaflet handed out by Greenpeace activists on the scene. “This fake iceberg, a work of art of real size, is nothing but a symbol of the dangers that humanity faces.”

“We started inflating the base raft at 4am this morning,” said Julien, a Greenpeace diver who participated in the event. “We are going to light it up tonight for the cameras, then take it down around 2am,” he added.

“It’s a lot of work, but what’s important is that this image, and the message it sends, will be seen by millions of people around the world,” Julien added.

G8 leaders are meeting in L'Aquila, Italy on Thursday to work towards a preliminary international agreement to curb greenhouse gases. The successor to the Kyoto Climate Protocol is slated to be signed in Copenhagen, Denmark in December, but is already fraught with battles over which countries will bear the brunt of the cost of cutting back.

“The science is clear. We have five years to stop the growth of our greenhouse gas emissions. In less than six months, leaders from around the world will be meeting in Copenhagen to negotiate a climate deal which must allow us to attain this objective and avoid a climatic cataclysm,” the Greenpeace leaflet said.