Icebergs? In Paris??

Today we went to see the icebergs in the Place du Pantheon. Yes, icebergs. Well, they were more like bergy bits, being pretty small for icebergs. About the size of a car. There were 12 of them, carefully arranged in a circle to represent the hours of a clock. Representing time. And as the bits melt and the water runs down the street, it’s a reminder that time is running out.

 

Icebergs in Paris!

This is an art installation, connected, like so much in Paris these days, with the COP21 climate talks. The artist, from Iceland, had the bits collected in October off the coast of Greenland, then stored in Denmark, and shipped by truck to Paris. Then installed in front of the Pantheon, that magnificent building where the heroes of France – writers and political figures, mostly – are buried with great honor.

 

Voltaire in the Pantheon

Oddly enough, we were at the Pantheon the night they were being delivered. We had no knowledge of what was happening; we were there to find where Elon Musk, the CEO of Tesla Motors,  was speaking. We knew he would speak at the Sorbonne, and we showed up at the right address. But nobody had any idea that he was speaking, or where it might be. So we pushed our way through masses of students and checked out several auditoriums; no Mr. Musk. Eventually we gave up and moved on to something else. (Just walked around, amazed by the city at night, probably…)

The next day we saw Elon on YouTube. His talk was about – guess what – global warming (hey, it’s Paris, and COP21!). It would have been a thrill to see him though, as he is one of my techno-entrepreneurial  heroes.  Instead, we found the Place in front of the Pantheon blocked off as workers erected large work lights. In preparation for the installation of the icebergs. If we’d only known! So close… We only found out about the ice a few days later, inan article in The New Yorker magazine.

Glad we did, though. Icebergs in Paris. And once done with the ‘bergs, we visited the Pantheon. It was not on our list, but, hey, it was right there. And today, being the first Sunday of the month, all museums are free. We figured it’d be a massive free-for-all at the museums, but crowds were not excessive.

After visiting the final resting places of Voltaire, Dumas, Robespierre, Zola, Rousseau, Curie and numerous other great people of France, we headed over to the Cluny museum, passing by the icebergs on our way out. Yup, still there, and still melting.

Yup, still melting

The Cluny is officially the Museum of the Middle Ages (Musée national du Moyen Âge), and houses the famous “Lady and the Unicorn” tapestries. Paula had wanted to see these for some time, so we made a bee-line to the Cluny, only a few blocks away.

The outside of this original building is impressive, being so old and all (the Cluny is considered the oldest structure in Paris, origianlly built in the 1300’s). We hastened on inside, however, to see the Main Event, the tapestries.

This is a series of six wall-sized tapestries, around 12 x 12 feet. They were made sometime around 1500, depicting (wait for it!) a lady with a unicorn. The figures are roughly life size (how big is a unicorn, exactly?), and five of the tapestries depict the five senses, with the sixth somewhat enigmatic. The background of each is filled with tiny leaves and flowers, of such detail and accuracy that the type of each flower and herb can be identified.  

Lady and the Unicorn, Sight       --- from Tumblr

The tapestries are quite famous. As works of art, they are considered a bridge between the Middle Ages and the Renaissance. Their origin is unknown; they were found moldering away in a castle in the 1800s, and over the decades there has been endless speculation about them. An art mystery! Overall, it was a thrill to be in the same room with them, to sit and contemplate these extraordinary works.

But time was passing, ice burgs were melting, and we needed to get out to the Stade de France in the afternoon. So we moved slowly through the rest of the museum, contemplating (quickly!) the stained glass windows, carvings, and architectural notes on our way out.

We had to keep moving because at 3:30 we needed to be at the Stade, a bit north of Paris, for a briefing. We’d volunteered to assist at the Sustainability Innovation Forum, one of many conferences being held in conjunction with COP21. This conference brought together innovative companies concerned with sustainability and climate change to network and talk about what they were doing. I expect some of it was “green smoke,” but overall it was worthwhile and inspiring.

 BMW was there with the new i3, a small electric car designed for megacities; the president of Iceland gave a talk on how they achieved 100% renewable energy; we heard about a business that hopes to pull CO2 out of the air (via growing grasses on marginal land) and turn it into fuel; and one business working on making artificial meat from vegetable matter (with some very tasty burgers to demonstrate!). And Coca Cola kept everyone hydrated with plenty of Coke and water in – yup – disposable plastic bottles. (We were told they would be recycled…)

Upstairs at the conference was the sustainable sports presentation. What? I had no idea how that might work, so I spent a couple of hours in the room (nominally attending the coat check desk as my volunteer task). After presentations on how the tennis stadium was to be “greened up” with more plants and re-cycled surfaces, and the carbon calculator for those traveling to sports events (car pool! Take public transport!), there were incredibly inspiring stories from some extreme athletes. One, a long-distance swimmer, Lewis Pugh from South Africa, (a country with a long tradition of story telling), held us spell-bound with his tales of crossing glacial lakes (lakes where there used to be glaciers) on Mount Everest, and of swimming with penguins in the Ross Sea (off Antarctica). He was an extraordinary inspirational speaker!

Lewis Pugh at Sustainable Innovation Forum 2015

 And I finally got it: people listen to sports heroes. Celebrities always get attention, but sports celebrities carry weight with a different crowd than, say, famous actors. Young people, for example, are particularly drawn to extreme sports stars.

But it’s the old folks, those of us over 50, who make the laws and many social and corporate decisions, someone pointed out. OK, I thought, that’s what’s going on at the sessions downstairs; while up here it’s the younger folks. Something for everybody! And, indeed, everyone must be engaged, at whatever level they can be.

We staggered home in the early evening, satisfied, inspired, and totally “knackered” (as one of the other volunteers, from Ireland, put it). And this morning, when we got up, we were quite glad we did not sign up for two days of volunteering, as we were totally sore.

Had a great time with the other volunteers, though, with a promise we’d all get together again next year, when the Sustainability Innovation Forum is held in Marrakesh!