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Dickinson to Durban » Consumption

“Global Weirding,” Or: One Last Thought on COP17

Claire Tighe ‘13 It’s a lovely day in January. The sun is shining; the day is warm. People are out jogging, walking their dogs, and even golfing. The scary part? I’m not describing Durban, South Africa. I’m describing Chicago, Illinois, USA. Yes, in Chicago, Illinois in January 2012, there are people rounding the eighteenth hole like it’s an early July morning. There’s no snow on the ground; the temperature is nearing fifty degrees farenheit. It’s been a few weeks since my return from the COP17 conference in Durban. Here’s a sum of my thoughts since December. Basically, it’s too late to wait for international governmental regimes to make change for us. At this point, even if all of the countries in the world completely cut all of their carbon emissions, Earth would still … Read entire article »

Filed under: Climate Change, Conservation, Consumption, Environmental Justice, Environmental Politics, Featured, Key COP17 Issues, Mosaic Action, Student Research

AOSIS Hopes For The Best

Claire Tighe ‘13 After a few interviews here at the Conference (COP) 17, one in particular with a member of AOSIS (Alliance for Small Island States) who hails from Palau in the Pacific Islands, I’ve gathered a bit of information on the outcomes that the AOSIS bloc is looking for here at COP: 1.) A legally-binding second five-year committment period of the Kyoto Protocol 2.) Passing of the Green Climate Fund, which will fund the small islands mitigation and adaptation efforts. These two issues are amongst the most pertinent for this particular COP. However, other “smaller” topics are also on the negotiating table. These include adaptation concerns, how to make REDD (+) work, and facilitating technology transfer. According to Ambassador Dessima of AOSIS, the bloc will not accept outcomes of the United Nations Framework Convention … Read entire article »

Filed under: Carbon Markets, Climate Change, Consumption, Environmental Justice, Environmental Politics, Featured, Key COP17 Issues, Mosaic Action, Student Research

Interview with AOSIS

Here is the interview we had Monday morning (DAY 1) of the conference with a delegate from Palau, a small island state in the Pacific Ocean. Here he talks about his biggest priorities for the COP and his belief of their outcomes. Most important: have a positive attitude. Interview with Palau delegate, Jerome Temengil … Read entire article »

Filed under: Carbon Markets, Climate Change, Consumption, Environmental Justice, Environmental Politics, Featured, Key COP17 Issues, Mosaic Action, Student Research

CAN Updates-Day 3

Each day at 12:30, a group called Climate Action Network International (or CAN) holds press (and public) briefings on the state of the negotiations. Here are a few of their highlights: Going into COP17, there are “big political problems that need to be resolved.” (Georgiana Woods, CAN Australia) These are mostly technical issues about how the negotiations will work and how to proceed with this COP. Unfortunately, it may be that the delegations cannot quite do this. Rather, next week, once many of the political leaders join the conference, they will be able to decide what is realistic for the negotiations, and how to move forward. According to Woods, “This meeting is a turning point for negotiations. We’ve gone as far down the road of deferring action as we can.” This is … Read entire article »

Filed under: Carbon Markets, Climate Change, Conservation, Consumption, Environmental Justice, Environmental Politics, Featured, Key COP17 Issues, Mosaic Action, Student Research