Articles Comments

Dickinson to Durban » Entries tagged with "Developed Countries"

Legally Binding Agreement at COP17?

Legally Binding Agreement at COP17?

(If you’re new to this blog or the discussion on legally binding agreements at international climate negotiations, please see this blog in order to gain some background knowledge). After the two most recent UNFCCC Conferences of the Parties, COP 15 and COP16, some least-developed countries are still holding out for a legally binding commitment at COP17. However, due to political concerns, the concept of a legally bound commitment is viewed differently by each country involved in … Read entire article »

Filed under: Climate Change, Environmental Politics, Key COP17 Issues

Cost of Climate Change to Increase!!

Cost of Climate Change to Increase!!

By: Christine Burns ’14 There is a lot of uncertainty in the general public about climate change.  Many people feel that mitigation efforts will cost too much, and that we should worry about it later.  The Stern executive summary suggests otherwise. Stern clearly states that it is in our best interest economically to address climate change sooner rather than later.   The Stern review agrees that it will cost money upfront to address climate change, but the … Read entire article »

Filed under: Climate Change, Consumption, Weather

Cramped and Crowded

My favorite yoga teacher always jokes that the only way to get world leaders to agree on anything is to force them into doing hot yoga together. With yoga mats arranged only inches apart in a small studio heated to 98 degrees Fahrenheit, each state head would have to peacefully “negotiate” their space, attempting to stay fully conscious of their breathing and the future of the world as each sweats on the other. I could not help by remember this joke during our class simulation of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change last week. Each group comprised of ten or so countries divided into negotiating blocs denoted by their economic status: “developed,” “developing,” and “other developing” (i.e. “least developed”). We represented a specific state, simultaneously functioning under a … Read entire article »

Filed under: Climate Change, Key COP17 Issues, Mosaic Action, Summer Reading Responses

“Naivety breeds cooperation.”

Last Thursday night the entire Mosaic class (all upperclassmen) and a First-year seminar had the names of countries assigned to them and were put in a room for three hours and told to solve the problem of Global Climate Change. I can’t decide if it was harder or easier than I thought it would be. On one hand, it was a lot more difficult to solve the problem than I expected. At first everyone seemed eager to cooperate. As the night went on, however, people started to get protective of their designated country groups (Developed, Rapidly Developing, and Developing). As part of the Rapidly Developing Group (as India) I thought that it would be relatively easy to negotiate with the “Developed countries” if we just told them we would do what … Read entire article »

Filed under: Climate Change, Key COP17 Issues, Mosaic Action