Freitag, 11. September 2009

Eric and Robert Spreading the Idea

Pape’ete

Topics of the day: EDT, Mizael, interview, Roti, Jacky Bryant

At 7:00 we walked over to the bus stop just to wait about 40 minutes to get into the wrong bus (which was empty so the bus driver was so kind and to make a detour and drop us off in front of EDT). We met Francois Dupont (the superior of the last EDT-employee we met) – a deadly realistic and dominant person who doesn’t seem to have a vision for sustainable development in French Polynesia (according to the principle: we’re not the ones who are in the position to set an example – we have insufficient financial means to become cutting-edge pioneers – let’s just stick to the old system and wait for the others to take action – how I hate this attitude!). I felt like he was looking down on us – he tried to fob us off with one of those shiny but vague power point presentations and said that EDT had nothing to hide when we urged him to give us some more detailed data. It seemed like he wanted to convince us that an energy supply consisting of 100% renewables was impossible in Tahiti and prevent us from going out there and telling everyone that it was - which would obviously put EDT on the spot – people would want to see actions if the feasibility was theoretically proven.

Then we rushed back “home” (by bus) to cycle over to the Royal Tahitien (well Raphael cycled, I just sat on the cross bar - and we’re still faster than most cars in the city) where we had an appointment with a journalist from Les Nouvelles de Tahiti (the second most popular local newspaper which has smaller pictures and a bit more writing than the Depêche) while Robert and Eric had a chat with Mizael.

We went over to Roti’s for leftovers (had made way too much pasta last night) and then back to the Royal Tahitien where we met Jacky Bryant (the “green” politician who’d given us a ride “home” in his SUV after we met him at Tia and Tino’s) and the president’s daughter. The two seemed quite interested in what Eric told them about the Tahiti Project. They both got one of the rare copies of the unpublished French edition of the book. Rudolf had also invited the environment minister but he didn’t turn up… (wonder if he felt embarrassed (not having done his “homework”) and feared Eric would ask what he thought of the book Raphael and I gave him 2 month ago – obviously this is mere speculation and it’s not for me to judge).

Final thoughts of the day: Eric seems to be in his element. Even though I’ve heard him present the project to several people I still enjoy listening to him – he’s such an eternal optimist :)

Robert has a hard time understanding the people here (which doesn’t make filming any easier for him) – would be really handy to have a Babel fish!

It’s raining cats and dogs but I think I should head “home” now – and have a warm shower on the way :)

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