{"id":1301,"date":"2011-10-26T15:42:31","date_gmt":"2011-10-26T15:42:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/cop17durban\/?page_id=1301"},"modified":"2011-12-02T23:35:27","modified_gmt":"2011-12-02T23:35:27","slug":"trip-to-washington-d-c","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/cop17durban\/trip-to-washington-d-c\/","title":{"rendered":"Trip to Washington, D.C."},"content":{"rendered":"

By: Anna McGinn ’14 and Sam Pollan ’14<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Instead of rolling out of bed and heading to classes as usual, on Thursday, October 20 the students in the Mosaic program traveled to DC to meet with United States negotiators, scientists, and government workers.\u00a0 Over our two days of meeting, we meet with a total of eleven speakers.\u00a0 Each brought a different point of view to the table, labeling different events as successes and failures and focusing on different angles of the problems and possible solutions.\u00a0 Everyone emphasized the need for immediate action on an international scale, but few expressed optimistic sentiments about the upcoming negotiations.\u00a0 One speaker, Jennifer Morgan from the World Resource Institute (WRI), explained a comprehensive plan that would lead the world in the direction of international agreement on actions that need to be taken on climate change by COP-28.\u00a0 It is exciting that eventually negotiations can lead to tangible societal change, but the question is, will it be too late?<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Ms. Ko Barrett, is currently the Deputy Director of the Climate Program Office in NOAA\u2019s office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research, and she is also one of the lead negotiators for the United States at the COPs.\u00a0 Ms. Barrett explained to us the basis of what international negotiations are like from the point of view of a member of the US delegation.\u00a0 She walked us through the positive and negative aspects of both the Copenhagen conference and the Cancun conference.\u00a0 She explained that at Copenhagen, countries felt locked out of conversations that they wanted to be a part of which created an atmosphere of distrust.\u00a0 Even though they came to an agreement of sorts, it did not create anything binding.\u00a0 Going into Cancun, many countries believed that if these negotiations were not successful, it might be the end of negotiations under the UNFCCC as we know it.\u00a0 Luckily, Cancun was run in a much more transparent fashion thanks to the Mexican leaders, and countries were much more comfortable with the outcomes.\u00a0 Ms. Barrett described the recent COPs as a roller coaster ride, everyone had high expectations for Copenhagen, they were not met, everyone had low expectations for Cancun, they were exceeded, and now she is not sure what to expect in Durban.\u00a0 She also discussed the necessity of separating her personal opinions from that of the administration she represents.\u00a0 The job requires her to argue in a certain way even if it does not reflect what she believes.\u00a0 Her position as a scientist and negotiator puts her in an interesting position in this regard.\u00a0 Overall, Ms. Barrett\u2019s insights into the inner workings of the negotiations were fascinating.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Dr. Tom Lovejoy is the chair of the Heinz Center for Biodiversity and is a biologist by training.\u00a0 His discussion focused on the importance of biodiversity and ways in which it can be reintroduced into places it no longer exists.\u00a0 He described how in his utopic world, restoration of biodiversity will solve climate change.\u00a0 He said that forests, if left alone, will regenerate themselves.\u00a0 When asked if he thought that this would be possible in the current global political climate and while still feeding the global population, he responded that he does not know about how it would work politically, but he does believe restoring forests will not decrease food production.\u00a0 His talk was interesting because, unlike most of the speakers, politics was not among the themes he discussed; however, his suggestions did not seem all that realistic.\u00a0 It does not seem like politics will allow for his utopic world to come to fruition in the immediate future.<\/p>\n