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by Sarah Laskow, Media Consortium blogger
The most recent round of United Nations-led climate change negotiations began this week in Cancun, and although international expectations are muted this year, the stakes are still high. As Mother Jones‘ Kate Sheppard explains,”The 2010 meeting could make or break the future of global negotiations.”
This is the sixteenth Conference of the Parties, convened by the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). After the tepid results of last year’s conference in Copenhagen, when a last-minute, backroom deal produced a non-binding accord, participants and observers of the negotiations are beginning to question whether it is the best forum for these sorts of conversations. Central to the progress, or lack thereof, on international climate change policy is the United States’ intransigence. As one of the world most proliferate carbon spewers, it’s essential for the United States to commit to dramatic reductions in its carbon emissions.
But if American negotiators have always been reluctant to make those promises, even if they did this year, their promises would ring empty. The results of the 2010 midterms mean there’s little chance Congress would ratify a treaty. Republicans just eliminated a special House committee on global warming. They certainly aren’t interested in making the sorts of concessions that international negotiators want and need to convince their own governments to move forward.
Signing off
It’s unclear, at this point, if the UNFCCC framework will ever produce a worthwhile results. Inter Press Service’s Kanya D’Almeida reports that “the meeting in Cancún is foreshadowed by a deep pessimism.” D’Almedia offers, for instance, this take from Nigel Purvis, a senior fellow at the German Marshall Fund of the United States:
“Global climate talks have begun to resemble a bad soap opera,” Purvis wrote in an essay entitled ‘Cancún and the End of Climate Diplomacy. “They seem to never end, yet seldom change and at times bear little resemblance to reality. This is why climate diplomacy as we know it has lost its relevance.”
The last landmark climate treaty—the Kyoto Protocol, which the United States never signed onto—will expire in 2012. The Copenhagen Accord, the agreement that came out of last year’s negotiations, does not bind countries to their commitments, as Kyoto did.
The next major step in tackling climate change could be for countries across the world to re-up their commitments to reducing carbon emissions through a Kyoto-like (i.e. legally enforceable) pact. The alternative is to base global action on an agreement along the lines of the one produced at Copenhagen, with less stringent standards for accountability.
Kyoto v. Copenhagen
Tina Gephardt writes at The Nation that “Serious tensions threaten to derail the UNFCCC process entirely. At the heart of these skirmishes are two camps: those nations who want to extend the Kyoto Protocol and those nations, including the United States, who want to ram through the Copenhagen Accord.”
The Accord’s mechanism for oversight and enforcement relies on countries monitoring each others’ progress on carbon reductions, but as Mother Jones’ Sheppard reports, an early point of disagreement in this year’s session centers on how important it is to agree how that monitoring will happen.
Stubborn Americans
What does seem certain is that if, at the end of this session, international climate negotiations have become so messy and tangled the world abandons them, and starts over, much of the blame will lie with the United States. Tom Athanasiou lays out the case in Earth Island Journal:
It’s the US, after all, that reduced the Kyoto Protocol to a non-starter, and the US that led the Copenhagen charge to abandon top-down emissions targets in favor of bottom-up “pledge and review.” It’s the US that, in the words of chief negotiator Todd Stern, is looking for a “new paradigm for climate diplomacy” that asserts a world in which the developed countries are no longer presumed to bear the overarching, if inconvenient, obligations of the rich and the responsible.
It’s not that American leaders aren’t aware of the problems the world could face (although some on the right continue to deny they exist). As Nancy Roberts points out at Care2, “Up to one billion people could be displaced by rising sea levels this century.” To a certain extent, the United States is insulated from the impact of climate change. As this map, which ColorLines highlighted a few weeks ago, illustrates, America is not particularly vulnerable to the effects of climate change. But it’d be foolish for American leaders to ignore the security and economic implications wrought by the migration of one-sixth of the world’s population.
Reaction
But Washington has shown time after time that it is willing to look past problems until they become unavoidable. The consequences of that attitude have been devastating in recent years. The BP oil spill is only the most recent example. This week the Obama administration announced it would not open up new coastline areas in the southeastern U.S. for offshore oil drilling—a decision that came only after it became clear just how much havoc a drilling disaster could cause (and would likely cause again).
With climate change, however, the tons of carbon already in the atmosphere can’t be mopped up or “dispersed,” or forgotten, within months. The consequences will linger on, and by the time they become clear, it will be too late to act, and international negotiators won’t be talking about emission levels, but food, water, and refugee crises.
This post features links to the best independent, progressive reporting about the environment by members of The Media Consortium. It is free to reprint. Visit the Mulch for a complete list of articles on environmental issues, or follow us on Twitter. And for the best progressive reporting on critical economy, health care and immigration issues, check out The Audit, The Pulse, and The Diaspora. This is a project of The Media Consortium, a network of leading independent media outlets.by Sarah Laskow, Media Consortium blogger
The most recent round of United... more
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Mariana van Zeller and I just returned from our first trip to China. We’ve covered a lot of ground since joining Vanguard, but somehow never made it there before. Not that China hasn’t been on our radar. Its been difficult to miss China’s growing power and influence across the globe, an issue we highlighted in "Chinatown, Africa". (In fact, we’ll be talking about China’s influence in Africa this weekend at an MIT/USC event, if you’re around). In many year-end roundups, it was commented that in the last decade we witnessed China’s coming out party on the world stage. But just as many were giving the country its due for its explosive growth over the last several years, others began predicting dire days ahead for the emerging power. On the way back from China, I was reading about how renowned Wall Street short-seller James Chanos, a man infamous for betting and winning large on the collapse of Enron, is now looking to put his chips on a China crash. “China is Dubai times 1,000,” he says in the New York Times article. The piece on Chanos was followed up with a series of stories on the overheated real estate market in Beijing and other signs of bubbles in the Chinese economy. So is China teetering on the brink of collapse? After a little over a week in China, I feel the only thing I can say for sure is: I have no idea. But fortunately, I was in the region at the same time as some one who might and was thinking about the same things, but actually works on real deadlines. In today’s Times, Tom Friedman takes on the Chanos story. But I would add just one thing that if I were looking to invest in China I’d be watching for this year. While in China we met with several environmentalists who like many environmentalists around the world were deflated after the disappointment that was COP 15. So, we asked, what’s on the agenda for the year ahead? The answer was more or less the same from everyone. Last year, with the anticipation of COP 15, Chinese environmentalists were thinking globally. This year, they're acting locally. And 2010 will be a critical time in China. This is the year that the central government begins to formulate its next 5-year plan. And many in China are seizing the opportunity to push for China’s 12th 5-year plan to include a transition to a low-carbon economy. Anyone who’s been to Beijing -- and tried to breath there -- knows that what’s currently fueling China’s economic growth is unsustainable. Not unsustainable in the way crunchy granolas here speak of it, but in a gas-mask-is-the-new-Beijing-fashion sort of way. So if China’s political class are as smart as Tom Friedman often gives them credit for, then China’s next 5-year plan could be a game changer, building the critical mass for cleaner fuels and greener technology. And then you can bet that’s where the smart money will be. Mariana van Zeller and I just returned from our first trip to China. ... more
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The following guest post is by Sarah Laskow, Media Consortium Blogger
In his first State of the Union address, President Barack Obama touched on climate issues only briefly. He called on the Senate to pass a climate bill, but did not give Congress a deadline or promise to veto weak legislation. Nor did he mention the Copenhagen climate conference, where international negotiators struggled to produce an agreement on limiting global carbon emissions.
The Obama administration's attitude towards climate change still represents a remarkable shift from the Bush years, when global warming was treated as little more than a fairy tale. But in the past year, Congressional squabbling has stalled climate legislation, and international negotiators nearly gridlocked in talks over carbon admissions at the multinational Copenhagen conference. Without strong leadership from the president, work to prevent this looming environmental crisis will stall.
Obama did address global warming skeptics, saying that they should support investment in clean energy, “because the nation that leads the clean energy economy will be the nation that leads the global economy.”
“And America must be that nation,” Obama said.
No push for climate bill
Despite his combative language, the president did not challenge Congress to push for real solutions to ballooning carbon emissions and energy consumption. As Forrest Wilder of The Texas Observer notes, Obama “uttered the phrase 'climate change' precisely once.”
The Senate has already wait-listed the climate bill: Health care came first. With health care reform now in line behind work on jobs and bank regulation, climate legislation has little chance of passing the Senate in the coming months, let alone making it to the president's desk.
If Congress lets this work wait until after the midterm elections, the United States will show up at international negotiations in December 2010 as a leader in carbon emissions yet again, but with little in hand to show a way forward.
Clean energy, not renewable energy
When the president did bring up climate issues, he focused on their connection between climate reform and potential job creation. Obama highlighted areas for growth, not in renewable energy fields like wind or solar power, but in nuclear power, natural gas, and clean coal.
Yes, these fuel sources could decrease the country’s carbon emissions. But they are not solutions that will revolutionize energy production. Grist’s David Roberts was floored that the speech omitted renewable energy entirely and kowtowed to a more conservative litany of energy projects. "I suppose it was done to flatter conservative Senators that will have to vote for the bill Kerry, Lieberman, and Graham are working on," he writes. (The three Senators are working on a version of the climate bill designed to appeal to Republicans.)
"But the SOTU is not a policy negotiation," Roberts says. "It’s a bully pulpit, a chance to shape rather than respond to existing narratives."
Roberts argues that progressive supporters would benefit from a stronger message. If activists knew that the White House stands behind a real shift in America’s energy policy, they could use that prompt to drive action on climate change.
What was missing
While touting the virtues of off-shore drilling, Obama overlooked other policies that could broker real change. Although he admonished Congress to pass a climate bill, he did not pressure the legislature on what he’d like that bill to include. He did not mention cap-and-trade, the mechanism the House bill relies on to tamp down emissions and dirty energy use.
President Obama did touch on transportation reforms that could decrease the country’s use of fossil fuels.
“There's no reason Europe or China should have the fastest trains,” Obama said. He cited a high-speed rail project that broke ground on Tuesday in Tampa, FL, as evidence that America could best the rest of the world in creating new energy-efficient technology.
But one or two high-profile projects won't be enough to challenge Europe's network of high-speed trains or China's investments in solar power. The White House could put the country at the forefront of sustainable technologies, but it'll take more money than the president has committed. In AlterNet’s ideal state of the union, projects like the railway would merit sustained attention and funding. Funding for the high-speed train came from this year’s stimulus bill, and there’s no guarantee that similar projects will find federal funding in the future.
“Continued support is still needed" for green jobs and clean energy, Alternet’s editorial staff argues. “It's unclear yet how Obama's new proposal for a three-year spending freeze will apply to this sector, but a boost is what is needed, not cuts.”
Green jobs
Michelle Chen argues for In These Times that the president is right to subordinate climate issues to economic policy. “The jobs angle is more than sugar-coating,” she says. A recent Pew Research Center poll put climate change at the end of Americans’ long list of cares, and a Brookings Institution study found that they’re no longer willing to pay as much for greener products.
Jobless workers need green in their pockets most of all, and so far politicians’ promises haven't made up for the slack economy.
“No matter how slick the marketing, confidence in green jobs may wilt even further absent real investments in the beleaguered blue-collar workforce,” Chen writes.
Copenhagen accord losing momentum
The small role that climate change played in the state of the union address only emphasized the downward momentum of the issue since the United Nations conference on global warming in Copenhagen. Grist’s Jonathan Hiskes talked to six leaders in climate change activism, and none of them offered a different strategy than they had last year.
That same stasis is showing up in Europe, as well. Spain, which currently leads the European Union, proposed that the European Union’s negotiating position should remain the same as its position before the Copenhagen conference, according to Inter Press Service.
Sen. John Kerry (D-MA), who’s working on climate change legislation in the Senate, offered advice to climate activists at a clean energy forum in Washington, DC on Wednesday. Mother Jones’ Kate Sheppard reports that Sen. Kerry encouraged his audience to get angrier, louder, and more active, in the mode of the conservative Tea Partiers, who have earned plenty of attention. After his speech, he also recalled the tactics that pushed landmark legislation like the Clean Air Act through Congress.
If climate change is going to play a larger role in the next state of the union, the citizens and groups concerned about this issue need to do something to put it on the agenda. Otherwise, next year, the president may find it just as easy to skim over it again.
Related content:
Morality over Monsanto
Wade Davis: on Magic, Mystism, and putting ancient culture in the context of the modern world
Calling in from Copenhagen: Eco-Adventurer Roz Savage on courage (video)The following guest post is by Sarah Laskow, Media Consortium Blogger
In his... more
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The Climate Justice Action is reporting that:
"The Danish police have escalated their attempts to criminalize and harass activists..."
The Climate Justice Action, which is scheduled to begin at 10am on Wednesday 16th, is designed to involve 5-10,000 activists approaching the Bella Centre from the outside, and simultaneous disruptions of the summit from accredited delegates within.
Tadzio Mueller was among the people who were arrested today by under cover police inside the Bella Center (where the UN climate negotiations are taking place). He had just finished speaking at a press conference announcing the mass non-violent action organized by Reclaim Power tomorrow.
The Climate Justice Action sent the following press release:
At 16.45 Danish police raided a bicycle workshop being used by demonstrators to prepare bicycle constructions to be used as part of working alternatives to fossil fuel culture in Wednesday's demonstrations.
At 18.00 a further 36 people were arrested at the Klimaforum, the alternative summit taking place in central Copenhagen, while protesting against the seizure by police of the vegetable oil they planning to use for their zero-carbon vehicles.
Simultaneously, about 15,000 delegates, journalists and civil society representatives have effectively been locked out of the summit by being refused accreditation, and delays in applications of up to 8 hours.
Many of these delegates will be joining the demonstrations against the COP process tomorrow, alongside Climate Justice Action
Kamille Hjuler from Climate Justice Action commented: "These are yet more attempts by the UN to silence any criticisms of the COP process, whether from inside or outside."
We caught up with Dr. Tadzio Mueller, resident of Berlin, accredited NGO observer, author and climate justice activist, during our live-streaming Skype video call into Copenhagen.
Sadly he was on wireless connection, so it's easier to listen than to watch~ Tadzio spoke about the strength of social movements, the Danish text, the new laws affecting activists, and the mass action he is planning for tomorrow, December 16th.
Naomi Klein speaks to the purpose of tomorrow's action:
The Climate Justice Action is reporting that:
"The Danish police have escalated... more
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Each day we call into Copenhagen to get the daily low down from people attending the Conference. Below you will find Joshua Kahn Russell's November 8th's raw and uncut live interview. Joshua is lead activist with the Rain Forest Action Network. Joshua broke down the Danish text scandal, the Pan African walk-out, and the power of social movements.
Here's the video of the first mass action inside the Bella Center, a "rain storm" with the message, "we will not die quietly".
Want to watch these interviews live and participate in a live-chat with our guests? Go to Current Green at 9:15am PST/12:15 EST/6:15pm Copenhagen
Are you in Copenhagen and want to have your voice heard? Well call in (or rather out) to Copenhagen with us!
Related Posts
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Video tour of the first days of Copenhagen
Coo-Coo for Copenhagen: keeping up to date on #cop15Each day we call into Copenhagen to get the daily low down from people attending the... more
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The White House recently released the following statement on Obama's presence at the United Nations Climate Change Conference:
President Obama will push back his visit to the international climate change treaty negotiations in Copenhagen, from the first week of the conference to its final scheduled day, a senior White House official said this afternoon.
The move comes in response to greenhouse gas emissions reduction pledges made in recent days by China and India. It will put Obama at the conference at the same time as dozens of other heads of state, and it immediately raises expectations anew for some type of climate agreement to result from the talks.
By switching his visit from Dec. 9 to Dec. 18, Obama appears to be betting that his presence can - as he has expressed hope for several
times in the past - push the negotiations "over the top" toward an agreement.
Kate Sheppard, blogger for Mother Jones, Twittered, ""the Prez believes that continued US leadership can be most productive...at the end of the Copenhagen conference Dec. 18 rather than Dec. 9"
Climate activists from across the United States have been sending in artwork over the last several weeks sending messages of climate action. These works were displayed in front of the White House before being used in a giant aerial photo and then delivered to the Obama administration. 1Sky's Campaign Director Gillian Caldwell speaking about Copenhagen and Obama:
Related Content:
A special bouquet of info for you: Kittens for climate change, the story of cap and trade, and vampires on climate gate
Calling all bloggers heading to Copenhagen
Copenhagen in Plain English (video explainer)
The White House recently released the following statement on Obama's presence at... more
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Greetings earthlings who are going to Copenhagen.
We are looking for guest bloggers who can share the behind the scenes experience, who can comment on how the media is handling the stories, and tell the stories of the highs and lows that come with attending one of the most critical events on the planet.
So if you want to be a guest blogger for the Current Green Blog...here's how to do it:
Step 1: Upload a picture of yourself to current.com/green (go to the top right corner and you will be guided through the process when you click on the button that says, "post a story"
Step 2: Include a 3 line bio in the description
Step 3: tag your submission with "cop 15 blogger"
Step 4: Every time you want to submit a post: email the text to llamb@current.com and include a link to your photo on current. Please include the links you want to have included in your post, and away we will go!
Looking forward...Greetings earthlings who are going to Copenhagen.
We are looking for guest bloggers... more
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Calling in from Copenhagen! Tune in week day mornings during the United National Climate Change Conference (also known as COP 15) to get the daily low down from people attending the Conference. Each morning we will host live skype calls with people at their various locations. November 8th's raw and uncut live interview was with Tadzio Mueller, political scientist and activist, involved in the international network climate justice action that is organizing protests during the cop15 climate summit in Copenhagen.Calling in from Copenhagen! Tune in week day mornings during the United National... more
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It's being called one of the most historic events in history. This December 8th-18th Copenhagen is not just a city in Denmark, it's the location of the United Nations Climate Change Conference Each morning at 9:15am PST 12:15 EST and 6:15pm Copenhagen time we call live into Copenhagen and speak with a variety of guests about their various locations. November 14th raw and uncut live included interviews were with award winning journalist and author Naomi Klein, lead organizer for the Rain Forest Action Network Joshua Kahn Russell.It's being called one of the most historic events in history. This December... more
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It's being called one of the most historic events in history. This December 8th-18th Copenhagen is not just a city in Denmark, it's the location of the United Nations Climate Change Conference. Each morning at 9:15am PST 12:15 EST and 6:15pm Copenhagen time we call live into Copenhagen and speak with people at various locations throughout the city. The following uncut interview is with Alex Loors, founder of Kids vs Global Warming and was part of our live stream on December 15th.It's being called one of the most historic events in history. This December... more
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It's being called one of the most historic events in history. This December 8th-18th Copenhagen is not just a city in Denmark, it's the location of the United Nations Climate Change Conference. Each morning at 9:15am PST 12:15 EST and 6:15pm Copenhagen time we call live into Copenhagen and speak with people at various locations throughout the city. The following interview is with photojournalist Kris Krug who describes his experience documenting the marches and protests.It's being called one of the most historic events in history. This December... more
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Calling in from Copenhagen! Tune in week day mornings during the United Nations Climate Change Conference (also known as COP 15) to get the daily low down from people attending the conference. Each morning we will host live Skype calls with people at their various locations. The following is a segment from November 11th's raw and uncut live interview was with 350.org's art ambassador Kevin Buckland, Mike Rimoin, Josh Solnick and the dancing and rapping penguins. They'll be returning next week to have a more serious conversation about the role of art in social actions.Calling in from Copenhagen! Tune in week day mornings during the United Nations... more
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Louis is a member of the New Zealand Youth Delegation - a group of twelve young people who are currently in Copenhagen.
It is impossible to capture the diversity of the Copenhagen negotiations in one blog. There is a city packed full of climate change seminars, events and displays. There are hundreds of businesses, NGO’s and universities offering regular talks and lectures. Even if you make it to the negotiations, they are so formal and detached that the human lives behind climate change are forgotten. The challenge is to stay focussed in the face of masses of information, numerous distractions and a negotiating process which reduces a critical moral issue down to numbers and data.
The first thing to realise is that the term “Copenhagen negotiations” is misleading. There is so much more going on other than just negotiations. For example, there have been incredible speeches from the likes of Desmond Tutu and Bill McKibben (the founder of 350). Unfortunately I did not see either of these speakers: I was too busy at the host of other events available. There are events looking at climate change in almost every context, from human rights to business, local government to youth.
If these events and speakers do not capture your imagination, then the negotiations themselves should. The negotiations bring together 192 countries from every corner of the world. When I first sat in the “plenary session”, the sheer number of countries blew my mind. The discussions took me on a tour of the globe as my geography was tested by the numerous countries awaiting their turn to speak.
However, in the excitement of the negotiations, I realised that what is important is to keep focussed on the reality of climate change. That reality is that behind all awe and the fun, all the men in suits, there are human lives being negotiated. As the International Youth Climate Movement often says: “Survival is not negotiable”. This realisation symbolises a process which occurs here. We are blown away by the information, the glamour and the opportunity. Yet in the same instant we realise that the magnitude of the challenge faced is incredible.
The difficulty I have had in these negotiations is that Governments themselves lose this perspective. They become lost in all the numbers and the data. They also become lost in the world of politics. As different countries try to “win” the political game, they forget why we are all here.
Why are we all here? As young people, we have been able to remind Governments that we are here to negotiate our future. Behind all the numbers and all the politics is a stark choice. If we cannot keep global warming below 2 degrees, we are effectively choosing to erase any hope of a safe, not to say prosperous, future.
Of course, even simple goals like keeping warming below 2 degrees are not easy. In order to reach this goal, you do need the economic models and the complex data. You do need politicians who can negotiate.
The problem is that so far in these negotiations politicians seem to have become so immersed in how to reach the goal that they have forgotten why the goal itself is so important. As the New Zealand Youth Delegation, we have been working hard to keep the importance of the goal fresh in their minds. As we run out of time to reach an agreement, you can do this too.
Join 12.5 million other people from around the world in calling for a fair, ambitious and binding agreement here in Copenhagen – http://www.avaaz.org/en/save_copenhagen_now/?cl=402330554&v=4920.
After all, we are the ones who give leaders the power to lead. Currently, the draft text is confused and complicated. It is no surprise given the complexity of issues here in Copenhagen. However, Kyoto was negotiated at the last minute. With over 110 leaders here in Copenhagen now, we certainly have enough political will to produce the result the world wants and which our future generLouis is a member of the New Zealand Youth Delegation - a group of twelve young people... more
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This piece was originally titled: Protesters experience violence outside; Youth stage sit-in
http://blogs.current.com/green/2009/12/16/breaking-youth-stage-sit-inside-the-bella-center-protestors-outside-experience-violent-interactions-with-police/
Protesters inside the Bella center are staging a sit in and live-blogging at It’s Getting Hot in Here.
Their latest entry read:
Young people from all over the world are staging a sit-in at Bella Center until we get a Fair, Ambitious, and Binding climate treaty and reading the names of all 11 million signers of the TckTckTck petition. Sen. Kerry just shook each of their hands. Some were just dragged away.
Press Release from the organizers of the action:
(Copenhagen – Denmark) – At 5:00 p.m., more than 50 international youth staged a sit in at the United Nations Climate Change Conference to demand that world leaders produce a fair, ambitious and legally binding climate treaty. While sitting in a main corridor of the conference centre, the youth read off the names of 11 million of the world’s citizens who support the need for a fair, ambitious and legally binding agreement to come out of Copenhagen.
“We’re not leaving until we get a fair, ambitious and legally binding treaty,” said Ann Wang, a youth delegate from China. “We need such a treaty to help ensure the survival of millions of the world’s most vulnerable citizens whose lives and cultures are threatened by the effects of climate change.”
“As heads of state and world leaders arrive here in Copenhagen, we want them to know that we’re going to be watching and acting to ensure they deliver us a fair, ambitious and legally binding deal,” said Germany’s Julia Grauvogel.
These young people were not alone in their demands. “We are supported by 11 million citizens of this planet who want their leaders to deliver a fair, ambitious and legally binding climate treaty,” said Josh Solnick of the United Kingdom.
While sitting in solidarity, separate groups of youth simultaneously read off names from the list of 11 million people who signed an online petition demanding a that world leaders produce a fair, ambitious and legally binding deal in Copenhagen.This piece was originally titled: Protesters experience violence outside; Youth stage... more
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I am a New Zealand young person who is currently at the Copenhagen climate change negotiations. I am here to represent the viewpoint of young people in New Zealand and to learn about the negotiations. I will be blogging back to share these first hand experiences with people.
Before we came to Copenhagen many people told us that a conference like this would be so confusing and crazy that hardly anyone would know what was going on. It seems that prophesy has finally come true. With back-room negotiations, NGO’s and civil society being barred entry and changes occurring by the minute, it is difficult for anyone to keep up.
As I have written earlier, the key thing to remember is that behind all this complexity there are simple realities: leaders are making decisions which affect lives. This slogan is summed up by the International Youth Climate Movement – “survival is not negotiable”. This is why it is so important that we help our leaders to make the right decisions in these critical days. One great way to do this is to make sure you have signed this petition.
However, if you do want to delve into the nasty world of negotiations over here, then here goes… Basically, the two broad groups of issues are how to reduce emissions and how to pay for the consequences of emissions. Even if we take action now, developing nations will suffer significantly from the consequences of emissions. Developing nations want compensation for the costs of this (dubbed “adaptation”). Estimates put these costs in the range of $50 – $200 billion per year.
The bigger issues, however, centre around how countries should actually reduce their emissions in the first place. There are a host of issues here:
* How much developed countries should reduce: 25-40% is the ideal amount, but New Zealand, Australia, the United States and Canada are dragging their heels;
* What sectors should be included: Agriculture in New Zealand is the big one, but certain countries (including New Zealand) have also been working hard to exclude carbon emissions from logging; - How to help the developing world transition to a low-carbon future: sharing of technology and finance are on the table;
* Whether developed countries should be able to “buy” credits by investing in forestry or green technology in developing countries: this is good in theory, but has the potential to become an easy escape route for developed countries who want to keep on polluting;
* How to ensure that developing countries reduce their emissions too: currently developing countries have lower emissions, but many developed countries are demanding monitoring of developing countries (especially China and India) to ensure they reduce emissions in the long-term.
That is just skimming the surface, so if you are desperate to wade into the wonderful world of policy, then check out these links for updates: the latest text is analysed here, a great NGO blog is regularly updated here and if you are really keen, then visit here for a detailed analysis of each day of negotiations.I am a New Zealand young person who is currently at the Copenhagen climate change... more
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Calling in from Copenhagen! Tune in week day mornings during the United National Climate Change Conference (also known as COP 15) to get the daily low down from people attending the Conference. Each morning we will host live Skype calls with people at their various locations. November 10th raw and uncut live interview was with Karl Karl Burkart.Calling in from Copenhagen! Tune in week day mornings during the United National... more
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The 15th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC, COP15) has gotten underway in Copenhagen Denmark today. The conference seeks to establish a framework for dealing with climate change mitigation after the Kyoto Protocol runs out in 2012.The 15th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on... more
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Regulation that limits pollution level by industry, but provides economic incentives to businesses that are energy efficient.
More background information to demystify the climate change debate and reports from the 2009 UN Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen can be found at http://www.greendetectives.netRegulation that limits pollution level by industry, but provides economic incentives... more
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Know what REDD stands for? It's about deforestation. Learn through a new version of "The House that Jack Built."
More background information to demystify the climate change debate and reports from the 2009 UN Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen can be found at http://www.greendetectives.netKnow what REDD stands for? It's about deforestation. Learn through a new version... more
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