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Dickinson to Durban » Entries tagged with "Sam Pollan"

Roadmap to the Future

By Sam Pollan, ‘14 The expected “Big Deal” coming out of Durban may or may not be the second commitment period to the Kyoto Protocol, but the emerging EU roadmap is looking like a more promising result now that we are nearing the end of the conference. The EU roadmap is essentially a document planning binding emissions targets for 2015 through the post-2020 period and here is the best part: the US is actually supportive. According to British Energy and Climate Change Secretary Chris Huhne, over 120 countries are already supporting this new agreement including several developing and AOSIS countries that have predominantly been pushing towards the second commitment period. Even Jennifer Morgan, who spoke with our group in DC on behalf of the World Resources Institute, is hopeful here in … Read entire article »

Filed under: Key COP17 Issues

Why IS REDD important?

Why IS REDD important?

By Sam Pollan, ‘14 I asked this question twice today. First, I asked this to IPCC chairman Dr. Pachauri over breakfast and later over lunch with USAID’s climate change head, Bill Breed. It has come forward as one of the primary topics of discussion in the past few COPs, but again I ask: why is REDD so important in these negotiations. The answer is quite a bit more complex than the question but basically it comes … Read entire article »

Filed under: Key COP17 Issues

What Did You Do This Weekend?

What Did You Do This Weekend?

By Sam Pollan, ’14 Whatever it was, it probably was not as cool as our trip to Hluhluwe Game Reserve and St. Lucia Wetlands Park. The three hour bus ride out of Durban brought us to one of the coolest experiences I have ever had. We saw giraffes, elephants, rhinos, zebras, hyenas, hippos, impala, and warthogs not to mention the countless birds, being woken up by monkeys, and driving within arms reach of a group of … Read entire article »

Filed under: Climate Change

It’s a Tarp: Alternatives and Addendums to REDD

By Sam Pollan, ’14 In my last post I discussed the shift of REDD from a watertight solution to a hole-ridden tarp. Emissions from deforestation related activities are a huge contributor to climate change and it only makes sense that they should be one of the primary issues addressed. This is especially true when the apparent solution is as simple as to stop cutting down trees. Unfortunately, this has more than a few social ramifications. While REDD has the potential for serious climate mitigation, I think it is also important to look at ways to address and correct problems in the current system as well as alternatives that can be done outside of REDD involving carbon sequestration through plants. Corruption is and land tenure are two troubling areas in this discussion. Yesterday I discussed “carbon cowboys” and the … Read entire article »

Filed under: Key COP17 Issues