Dickinson to Durban » Summer Reading Responses
Is something better than nothing?
The first major paper I completed at Dickinson College was one entitled, “A New Atmosphere for International Relations: Working together to solve a global crisis”. It was an essay written for a 100 level international relations course in which I discussed the COP15 Copenhagen Climate Change Conference. In my response, I held a very pessimistic view that there would not be a significant change in policy as a result of the conference. While what I predicted turned out to be fairly accurate, I can almost promise that my opinion did not have a very strong foundation in background information. I was not even an environmental studies major at the time and to be honest, I’m pretty sure that for a while I thought the acronym COP was in reference to the fact that … Read entire article »
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“Full of Sound and Fury, Signifying Nothing”
While studying British literature in high school, it never occurred to me that one of Shakespeare’s most famous lines might one day aptly describe the outcome of international climate negotiations – and certainly not the Copenhagen meeting in which so much hope was invested. Yet alas! For, to borrow Macbeth’s own words, the non-binding Copenhagen Accord was “full of sound and fury, signifying nothing”. But could a document signed by so many top government leaders and diplomats really be deserving of such a comparison? Well, let’s take a look. The Accord has 5 pages (the actual statement is only 3) to outline the agreement everyone reached. It impressively acknowledges that “climate change is one of the greatest challenges of our time” and asserts that the Parties have “strong political will to … Read entire article »
Filed under: Climate Change, Summer Reading Responses
High Expectations for Durban
The continuous challenge of global climate change involves a collective and comprehensive effort on an international level to reach significant decisions that could potentially address the dangerous effects of global warming. The UNFCCC annually performs an attempt to reach agreements over climate regulation. The Conference of the Parties (COP) comes together every year to promote negotiation, cooperation, and ultimately, progress against the effects of climate change. Most recently, COP-16 in Cancun, Mexico reached a number of agreements and attempts for regulation. Overall, the conference in Cancun was relatively successful in maintaining a mutual, collective effort toward reducing emissions, promoting sustainable development, and concurring with a common goal of keeping the average global temperature rise below 2° Celsius (http://cancun.unfccc.int/cancun-agreements/significance-of-the-key-agreements-reached-at-cancun/#c45). The many objectives for COP-16 included a wide range of goals: Establish clear objectives … Read entire article »
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Hope from Cancun
This week we’ve been looking over the Cancun Agreement in order to access if they represent positive steps in the negotiations. As we learned from our simulation of negotiations, coming to agreements such as this, is incredibly difficult. Though the document still is not going to keep our world from going over the 2 degrees increase, it definitely shows that we still are moving forward, even if it’s slowly. An article I found incredibly helpful and informative about the Agreement was Reflections on the Cancun Agreements by Jennifer Morgan from the World Resources Institute. After reading through the actual Cancun Agreements, I definitely agreed with the points that the author makes and was enlightening on some points that overlooked. The first point which stuck out to me when reading the Cancun … Read entire article »
Filed under: Summer Reading Responses
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