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Dickinson to Durban » Entries tagged with "Anna McGinn"

We Will Figure it out Next Year

The fact that the countries of the world come together every year for the Conference of the Parties (COP) to discuss and debate climate change is progress by itself. It is impressive that every year almost every nation sends delegate to this conference to confront together one of the largest challenges of our time in a peaceful manner. However, discussion is only the first step, and it seems that the global community is having a difficult time moving on to step two which is to take action. This struggle is reflected in most of the agreements that the COP comes to by the end of each conference. They restate what they agree on: climate change is occurring, and every nation needs to take some degree of responsibility for it. Then, … Read entire article »

Filed under: Climate Change

Complexities of the Negotiations

The Climate Policy Simulation is an exercise created by Professor John Sterman at MIT to allow students to understand climate negotiations through actually attempting to negotiation for different countries.  On Thursday, September 15, 2011, the Africa Mosaic students and one of Dickinson’s first year seminar classes came together to participate in these negotiations.  Each student was to represent a nation state which was part of one of the three blocks (developed countries, rapidly developing countries, and other developing countries) involved in the talks.  The students were not required to have a deep understanding of their country’s climate change policy; however, each student received an informational briefing on the negotiations from their respective block’s perspective prior to the negotiations.  Over the course of three hours, the blocks debated with each other … Read entire article »

Filed under: Climate Change, Mosaic Action

It is Time to take Responsibility and ACT!

Every nation state, and every person, holds some degree of responsibility for anthropogenic climate change.  In the world today, one cannot live without leaving an impact.  However, the answer is not as simple as that because responsibility is not distributed equally.  It is crucial to recognize the vastly different emissions of states.  In that light, those states who have contributed most to the problem ought to be charged with the task of leading the nation states towards more sustainable economies and ways of life.  This requires the cooperation of states who hold the most power in the international system, who currently feel little direct effects of climate change, and who are stubbornly stuck in their gas guzzling ways.  Thus, persuading these states to take responsibility for their contribution to climate … Read entire article »

Filed under: Climate Change

Mosaic Students Attend Shale Gas Outrage

On Wednesday September 7, seven mosaic students traveled to Philadelphia for a day to participate in the Shale Gas Outrage protest held near the convention center. We attended a rally during which a variety of speakers and performers shared their views and stories about Marcellus shale. The rally culminated in a march in downtown Philly which ended in front of Governor Corbett’s office. The march attracted the attention of many passersby, and hopefully sent a message to the industry officials who were in meetings in the convention center that hydrofracking is an unacceptable practice.  The energy and passion at the protest were inspiring and motivating.  Below is a collection of photos from the day.  … Read entire article »

Filed under: Mosaic Action