Thom Yorke Pays a Visit to the U.N. Climate Change Summit

Confused and exasperated by the discussions going on in the U.N. Climate Change Summit in which world leaders are scrambling in the last few days of the meeting to figure out a way to prevent the world from eating itself, Radiohead frontman and noted climate change advocate, Thom Yorke, paid a visit to Copenhagen, Denmark, where the conference is currently being held.

In an interview with the non-profit environmentalist magazine, Grist, York expressed his concern over how convoluted the dialogue of the conference have become saying, “I think negotiations like this are a big thick cloud… no normal person can see through it. That, to me, makes me angry because the basic principles are the basic principles.”

Yorke also showed some reproach to those involved in the discussions saying, “It’s a lot of uptight, middle-aged men doing the negotiations that need to see through their particular little spheres of self interest and look at the bigger picture.” He also added, “It did frustrate me the way the American administration was trying to talk down what they were going to bring to the table.”

In a commendable attempt to bring a positive light to what looks to be another international summit going nowhere, Yorke said, “To be honest, like most people, I thought nothing would happen and was kind of ready to give up on it. But I think the more people that think like that the worse it is, you’ve got to stay positive.” Even with this optimistic approach, Yorke couldn’t hide his fear that the world leaders “will get to the end of negotiations [and] pretend something has happened [when] it hasn’t.”

In another interview with The Stupid Show, Yorke acknowledged the influence of musicians, actors, etc. on issues such as the climate change, but expressed that ultimately it is the leaders who need to make decisions based on the good of the people rather than for self benefit. He also, in both interviews with Grist and The Stupid Show, lauded the work of the NGOs in their continual efforts of keeping climate change issues at the forefront of debates and showed his concern over how the NGOs were being dismissed at the summit.

Check out some of the clips here and here.