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Dickinson to Durban » Environmental Justice

The privilege to act for climate.

The privilege to act for climate.

By Emily Bowie ’14 The last Wednesday we were in South Africa the thirteen of us were asked by Makaphutu to perform holiday deliveries to local communities of excess food and clothing that the orphanage had to spare. As we stood behind the vans holding boxes of shoes and handing individuals bread and samp each one of us experienced different, yet similar, moments of shock, reality, empathy and humility. We realized how much we have compared … Read entire article »

Filed under: Climate Change, Environmental Justice, Mosaic Action

COP17 Outcomes: A Feminist Perspective

Claire Tighe ’13 During our travels in the week following the COP17 conference in Durban, many of the people we met asked us about the outcomes of the meeting. I was particularly discouraged by the time that I reached the Dulles airport in Washington, D.C. when a American youth who had just spent her semester in the southern African region asked what the outcome was and if it was suitable to us. With my tongue in my cheek I muttered, “Depends on who you ask.” If you ask Todd Stern, one of the leading negotiators for the United States delegation, you will find that ” ‘the Durban outcome was a very significant and to some extent surprising outcome,’” and that “ ‘more was accomplished than people anticipated and certainly more than … Read entire article »

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

Reversing the Cycle of Poverty

Reversing the Cycle of Poverty

By: Anna McGinn ‘14 While in the Valley of 1000 Hills, we witnessed the reality of poverty in rural South Africa. Children playing along the side of the highway, one room houses often with patched or collapsed roofs and crumbling clay walls, and outhouses next to most houses characterized the communities we travel through as we distributed food and clothes on behalf of the Makaphutu Children’s Village. The need is stark and the resources are scarce. … Read entire article »

Filed under: Environmental Justice, Mosaic Action

Kyoto As A Symbol

Claire Tighe ’13 Anyone with common sense at this conference would agree that signing on to the Kyoto Protocol would not mitigate enough GHG emissions to prevent catastrophic climate change. Even though, as Dr. Pachuari of the IPCC stated during our breakfast yesterday, science and the COP negotiations have become ever disjointed, most parties present here understand that attempting to mitigate, is not enough. So why are different groups, such as CAN, YOUNGO (see their interesting Ode to Kyoto video), and AOSIS holding on so tight to pushing through a second committment period of the Kyoto Protocol (hereafter referred to as KP2)? Because it’s a symbol. To anyone without the financial means to mitigate and adapt to climate change, agreeing to a KP2 means that they are committed to the UNFCCC process. … Read entire article »

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