Two rooms, two atmospheres. Tuesday evening in Menton (Alpes-Maritimes), on the esplanade des Sablettes, while the bars and restaurants had all almost exclusively chosen to remain connected to TF1, for the entry into competition of the Blues, we were doing something completely different under the yacht club vault. On the spot, no outpouring of joy at the time of the four goals scored by Olivier Giroud and his teammates. Quite the contrary. Two rooms, two atmospheres. Tuesday evening in Menton (Alpes-Maritimes), on the esplanade des Sablettes, while the bars and restaurants had all almost exclusively chosen to remain connected to TF1, for the entry into competition of the Blues, we were doing something completely different under the yacht club vault. On the spot, no outpouring of joy at the time of the four goals scored by Olivier Giroud and his teammates. Quite the contrary.
The “alternative evening” organized by Stand up for the Planet displayed color in a hashtag: #BoycottQatar2022. Instead of the Football World Cup organized in the Persian Gulf for a “carbon footprint of more than three megatons of CO2”, the association, which notably organizes waste collection sessions on the beaches, proposed a Fresco of the climate. A collaborative card game, explains President Sébastien Uscher, “which makes it possible to better understand the issues of the IPCC report”, the intergovernmental group of experts whose conclusions on global warming are chilling. The “alternative evening” organized by Stand up for the Planet displayed color in a hashtag: #BoycottQatar2022. Instead of the Football World Cup organized in the Persian Gulf for a “carbon footprint of more than three megatons of CO2”, the association, which notably organizes waste collection sessions on the beaches, proposed a Fresco of the climate. A collaborative card game, explains President Sébastien Uscher, “which allows us to better understand the issues of the IPCC report”, the intergovernmental group of experts whose conclusions on global warming are chilling.
“It has to change, the means, we have them”
The parallel with the great raout of football, decried for its impact on the planet, was all found. The concept, open to a maximum of twenty people, finally won over ten on Tuesday evening. Including Joan, himself a former player, quasi-professional, of the round ball. He turned away from it. “I realized a lot of things. And I can understand that a lot of things are wrong. There is too much business. So this World Cup… For the environment, it’s a disaster. There is reason to be a little disillusioned, ”says this partner in a Nice communication agency.
At his side, Fabien, also 39, nevertheless assures that “the means, we have them” for “that it changes”. “I saw nature being turned upside down. I am the father of a little girl and I want to teach her to open her eyes”, explains the one who preferred this counter-evening to “an invitation to watch the match, with beers and pizza”.
Gathered in a circle, the participants talk briefly about their experience. There is Jean-Louis, a 66-year-old “desperate climate” biomechanical engineer, Elisa, a 35-year-old podiatrist who speaks of the World Cup in Qatar as an “unspeakable farce” or Géraldine, who advocates downright a form of “civil disobedience”. “With friends, we started to create a vegetable garden in municipal gardens. They take us for idiots, so we have to act well ”, breathes the 53-year-old Mentonnaise. She attacks hard: “The answer will come anyway from the citizens. Nothing should be expected from our governments. They are all branded with lobbyists. »
The round table ends with a minute of silence for “the 6,750 immigrant workers who died on the construction sites of the infrastructures dedicated to hosting the competition”. “In addition to the ecological disaster, this World Cup is a disaster of corruption and a human disaster, slice Sébastien Uscher. Players trample dead bodies. Our idea here was to bring together people who are indignant about it and not to stigmatize those who will still watch the matches. »
“Agriculture” and “armed conflicts”
The global rendezvous will remain the watermark of the evening. On the two large tables installed in the vault and covered with drawing paper, the 44 maps of the Climate Fresco are beginning to be positioned. “Melting of the ice caps”, “human activities”, “fall in agricultural yields”, “floods”… What causes for what consequences? To complete the game, which ends without a winner, especially not the planet, you have to organize the chain of global warming. The idea is to become aware of how it works. And also to see “real nonsense”.
Absurdities that echo current events in Qatar. “I’ve heard that people are cold in stadiums because they turn on the air conditioning when it’s only 25 degrees. It seems incredible”, breathes Pascale, a 65-year-old “old ecologist”, psychomotor therapist “almost retired” from her condition.
The fresco unfolds. The markers slide between the cards. The participants use them to link everything with a system of arrows and add a few illustrations: a cow and its “prout” around “agriculture”, a “bomb” ready to explode under the “climate refugees”, the ” famines”, “armed conflicts” and “human health”… Some will emerge “depressed”, others will not be surprised by the pattern that has emerged.
Saturday at 5 p.m., during France-Denmark, the Stand up for the Planet association will put the cover back on with a new video alternative. The screening of the film In Search of Meaning will precede a debate. Then, on November 30, at France-Tunisia time, a new workshop will be scheduled around the book 2030 Glorieuses. And if the Blues go beyond the first round? Sébastien Uscher will think about other counter-evenings. In the meantime, his association has already planned to donate 500 euros to the WWF, 50 euros for each participant.Saturday at 5 p.m., during France-Denmark, the Stand up for the Planet association will put the cover back on with a new video alternative. The screening of the film In Search of Meaning will precede a debate. Then, on November 30, at France-Tunisia time, a new workshop will be scheduled around the book 2030 Glorious. And if the Blues go beyond the first round? Sébastien Uscher will think about other counter-evenings. In the meantime, his association has already planned to donate 500 euros to the WWF, 50 euros for each participant.