By A.D. McKenzie<\/p>\n\n\n\n
PARIS (IDN) – Tourists and locals walking along the River Seine, near the famed Mus\u00e9e d\u2019Orsay, are currently able to charge their mobile phones at three unlikely installations: solar-powered street lamps.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The tall posts, topped by photovoltaic panels, have been set up by French NGO Electriciens sans fronti\u00e8res (ESF)<\/a> in an attempt to heighten public awareness about climate change issues, ahead of COP 21, the next United Nations climate talks that will be held in the French capital.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe\u2019re also trying to show the public that there are solutions to the fight against climate change and to the lack of electricity in some parts of the world,\u201d said Laura Cornu, ESF\u2019s communications manager.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Over the past two decades the group has installed panels in rural areas in Africa, in refugee camps in Jordan, and in tent cities after earthquakes in both Haiti and Nepal. The Seine street lamps were among 170 projects submitted to the Paris Mayor\u2019s office in a call for innovative climate action.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Not far from the lamps, meanwhile, is an embarkation area where tourists can board a solar-energy-powered boat for a cruise on the Seine. On rainy days, the boat sails on energy stored in its batteries, even as passengers shiver in the bracing wind.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But on sunny days, the vessel draws from power captured by the solar panels on its roof, with the crew explaining both the \u201cwonders\u201d of solar technology and that of the city to travellers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Solar lamps and boats are just some of the high-profile initiatives being pushed as France pumps up the volume to make world leaders and the international community aware of the stakes in the run-up to the climate talks set for November 30 to December 11.<\/p>\n\n\n\n With his top ministers in attendance, French President Fran\u00e7ois Hollande launched an ambitious drive in September to ensure success, though he warned that the possibility of failure was real.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThere is no miracle \u2026 there is a chance we\u2019ll succeed but also a great risk we might fail,\u201d said Hollande, speaking at a half-day meeting that gathered political leaders, artists, scientists, CEOs, non-governmental organizations, students and others \u2013 at the imposing Elysee Palace, the president\u2019s official residence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Alongside NGOs, the government has supported numerous conferences and projects, and the French capital even declared a car-free day on September 27, following in the footsteps of Brussels, which has had such programmes for several years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But the volume is now being pumped up in unprecedented fashion, through song and dance, artistic projects, citizen marches, a COP 21 postage stamp, and the highlighting of innovative ventures such as using a stationary bike to generate energy for a sound system.<\/p>\n\n\n\n On Oct. 3, French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius will also open a forum called \u201cMake it work: civil society commits itself in support of climate\u201d. Organized jointly by a local university and a newspaper, the forum will bring some 500 participants together to discuss climate change issues.<\/p>\n\n\n\n One can also take part in off-beat, civil-society actions that include \u201c24 hours of meditation for the earth\u201d \u2013 scheduled for November 1 \u2013 and a \u201cfast for the climate\u201d project \u2013 in which citizens have been asked to fast the first day of each month until COP 21, the 21st Conference of Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC<\/a>).<\/p>\n\n\n\n