KEY POINTS:
Skiers, fire-eaters and environmental campaigners joined in demonstrations worldwide, including New Zealand, at the weekend to draw attention to climate change and push leaders to take robust action.
From costume parades in Manila to a cyclists' protest in London, marches took place in more than 50 cities across
the world to coincide with the two-week UN Climate Change Conference, in Bali, Indonesia.
Hundreds of people rallied in the Philippines' capital, Manila, 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 some time, because the environment, we need to really preserve it," high school student Samantha Gonzales said. "We have to act now."
In Taipei, Taiwan, 1500 people marched through the streets holding banners and placards saying "No to carbon dioxide". Hundreds marched outside the conference centre in Bali.
At a Climate Rescue Carnival held in Auckland, more than 350 people lay on the grass to spell out "Climate SOS".
At the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin, ice sculpture artist Christian Funk carved a polar bear out of 13.6 tonnes of ice as a memorial to climate protection.
Christmas markets throughout Germany were switching off the lights, and British cyclists pedalled into Parliament Square in London.
In Helsinki, Finland, about 50 demonstrators ground their skis across the asphalt along the main shopping street, calling for decision makers to give them their snowy winters back.
Fire-eaters blew billowing clouds of flame in Greek cities, while protesters sang environmentally inspired songs in the Norwegian capital,Oslo.
Former US Vice-President Al Gore, who is in Oslo to attend the Nobel Peace Prize awards ceremony tomorrow, did not plan to take part in the protest, his spokeswoman 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. Organisers in the British capital planned to underline the point by ending the protest in front of the US Embassy.
"Bush has been forced to change his language on climate, but continues to be the major obstacle to progress," Britain's Campaign Against Climate Change said.
"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."
Washington has found itself increasingly isolated at the climate talks. Its position that technology and private investment - not mandatory emissions cuts - will save the planet has taken a beating.
In Fairbanks, Alaska, activists prepared to make "polar bear" plunges into icy-cold bodies of water.
- AP