Skiers, fire-eaters and environmental campaigners have joined in demonstrations worldwide to draw attention to climate change and push leaders to take action.
From costume parades in Manila to a protest by London cyclists, marches and events took place in hundreds of cities and towns across the world on Saturday to coincide with the two-week UN Climate Change Conference.
Hundreds of people rallied in the Philippines' capital -- wearing miniature windmills atop hats, or framing their faces in cardboard cutouts of the sun.
"We are trying to send a message that we are going to have to use renewable energy sometime, because the environment, we need to really preserve it," high school student Samantha Gonzales said in Manila.
In Taipei around 1,500 people marched through the streets holding banners saying "No to carbon dioxide."
Hundreds more marched outside the conference center in Bali, Indonesia.
At a Climate Rescue Carnival in Auckland, New Zealand, more than 350 people lay in a field to spell out the words "Climate SOS."
In Berlin, ice sculpture artist Christian Funk carved a polar bear out of 15 tonnes of ice at the Brandenburg Gate.
"Everybody has to do something against climate change and we cannot rely on politicians to take care of this," Corinna Fischer said, marching with the other protesters through the center of Berlin.
Christmas markets throughout Germany were switching off lights for five minutes and British cyclists pedaled into Parliament Square in London to protest about the city's level of car traffic and its effect on global warming, organizers said.
In Helsinki, Finland, about 50 demonstrators ground their skis across the asphalt on the main shopping street, bemoaning a lack of snowy winters.
Fire-eaters blew billowing clouds of flames at a rally in Athens, Greece.
Former US vice president Al Gore, who is in Oslo, Norway, to attend the Nobel Peace Prize awards ceremony today, did not plan to take part in a protest there, his spokeswoman Kalee Kreider said.
The London protest singled out one particular target -- US President George W. Bush -- calling his administration the biggest obstacle to progress at the Bali talks. Marchers ended their protest outside the city's US embassy.
"We will not just stand by and allow Bush -- or anyone else -- to wreck the global effort to save billions of lives from climate catastrophe," Britain's Campaign against Climate Change said in a statement.
Washington has found itself increasingly isolated at the climate talks. The US position that technology and private investment -- not mandatory emissions cuts -- will save the planet has drawn criticism.
But Americans also protested on Saturday. In Massachusetts, about 50 demonstrators took a quick "polar bear" plunge into the bracingly cold waters of Walden Pond, made famous by the 19th century philosopher Henry David Thoreau, who wrote about his experience living on its shores.
"We want our elected leaders -- the congressmen, senators and the president -- to realize that global warming is a serious problem that needs their leadership," organizer Roger Shamel said.
In Fairbanks, Alaska, protesters skied a frigid slope wearing just bathing suits or underwear. It was minus 7oC during the ski, unusually warm for this time of year.
France’s nuclear-powered aircraft carrier and accompanying warships were in the Philippines yesterday after holding combat drills with Philippine forces in the disputed South China Sea in a show of firepower that would likely antagonize China. The Charles de Gaulle on Friday docked at Subic Bay, a former US naval base northwest of Manila, for a break after more than two months of deployment in the Indo-Pacific region. The French carrier engaged with security allies for contingency readiness and to promote regional security, including with Philippine forces, navy ships and fighter jets. They held anti-submarine warfare drills and aerial combat training on Friday in
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