Fast Company Recommended Events: December-January 2008

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photograph by Joan Marcus/DreamWorks Theatricals

photograph by Steve Pyke

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Demember

January

mon, december 01
Hope
2008 UN Climate Change Conference
Poznan, Poland

UN chief Ban Ki-moon declared in August that political leaders have a mandate to find solutions to climate change. Haven't they tried before? At last year's conference, in Bali, they could agree only that a treaty to replace the Kyoto Protocol is needed by 2009. (The Bali meet was also roundly criticized for its carbon footprint -- 100,000 tons of CO₂ just to fly everyone there.) Ban hopes Poznan will be a "bridge toward Copenhagen," the site of 2009's conference. In other words, better luck next year! -- Clay Dillow

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thu, december 04
Groove
Blip Festival 2008
New York

Some people grow up playing the violin, tuba, or (poor boys) piccolo. Josh Davis makes sweet music on a video-game console. "Chip tunes" are played on devices such as the GameBoy (the instrument of choice for Davis, whose nom de musique is Bit Shifter). Chip tunes are "not a viable career," he says, but they did inspire this music-and-video festival. And all those beeps may be more familiar than you think. Nelly Furtado's 2007 hit "Do It," produced by Timbaland, had an unauthorized sample of chip musician Janne Suni's "Acidjazzed Evening" that still has chip tuners grumbling. We want to hear their protest song. -- Anne C. Lee

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thu, december 04
Discuss
International Seminar on Business & Human Rights
Paris

Immigration, fair trade, universal health care -- at this symposium on how business can help protect human rights, no topic is too big. Execs from firms including Coca-Cola, HP, and Novartis will join reps from politics, NGOs, and organized labor at the two-day event, which also marks the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Program director Kathryn Dovey says the goal is a "global debate" that includes as wide a range of companies and countries as possible. Language should be no barrier, at least in understanding the declaration: Now available in more than 250 languages, it is, according to Guinness, the world's most-translated document. -- Sara D. Anderson