Mosaic – Page 11 – COP 20: Lima, Peru

October 7, 2014

New England Governors and the Eastern Canadian Premiers

The New England Governors and the Eastern Canadian Premiers (NEG-ECP) (Bulkely 59) has been holding annual conferences encouraging cooperation in reducing greenhouse gases since 1997, with the exception of four skipped years. (New England Govenors…Annual Conference) In 2000, the group created an action plan, the New England Governors and the Eastern Canadian Premiers Action Plan, to reduce greenhouse gas emissions at least 10% below 1990 levels by 2020, and a 75-85% reduction of 2001 levels as a long term goal; the Action Plan was enforced on August 28, 2001. (New England Governors…Action Plan) The group involves the interests of six New England states (Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont) and five provinces from Canada (New Brunswick, Newfoundland and Labrador, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, and Quebec). (New England Govenors…Annual Conference) The conferences are held in place regarding five major themes; “developing networks and relationships, taking collective action, engaging in regional projects and endorsing projects by others, undertaking research, increasing public awareness and shared interests” (New England Govenors…Annual Conference).

The NEG-ECP adopted the Climate Change Action Plan in 2001, the Mercury Action Plan in 1998, the Acid Rain Action Plan in 1998, and the Transportation Air Quality Action Plan in 2008 and through implementation of these plans, it has achieved reductions in greenhouse gas emissions. They also have implemented two regional agreements; the Mystic Covenant, a pledge to strengthen and promote trade relations, and the International Emergency Management Assistance Memorandum of Understanding. Alongside all of these accomplishments, NEG-ECP also has sponsored international forums on energy and the environment, published energy inventories, established agreements for international assistance in Emergency Management and Preparedness, and examined issues associated with changing demographics and its effect on the economy. (New England Governors… Annual Conference)

The states and provinces of this network are truly affective in reaching its goals and objectives as clearly stated above. “The NEG/ECP Conference has successfully undertaken initiatives in the areas of trade, energy, economic development, environment, oceans, forestry, agriculture, fisheries, transportation, information technology and tourism” (New England Governors…Action Plan).

Works Cited

Bulkeley, Harriet, and Peter Newell. “Chapter 3 Between Global And Local; Governing Climate Change Transnationally.” Governing Climate Change. London: Routledge, 2010. N. pag. Print.

“New England Governors and Eastern Canadian Premiers Climate Change Action Plan 2001.” Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 28 Apr. 2014. Web. 01 Oct. 2014.

“New England Governors and Eastern Canadian Premiers’ Annual Conference (NEG/ECP).” New England Governors and Eastern Canadian Premiers’ (NEG/ECP) Annual Conference. Council of Atlantic Premiers, 2011. Web. 01 Oct. 2014. Web design by: immediacy

October 6, 2014October 6, 2014

Today is the day: An optimistic approach.

[youtube_sc url=”https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-vaajVtgRuI”]

Is it just me or does Morgan Freeman’s distinctive voice make anything sound possible? Freeman does just this through his narration of the short film What’s Possible, which was presented to the 2014 UN Climate Summit in New York a few weeks ago. This short film expresses global concerns through magnificent images in under 4 minutes. Morgan Freeman points out we already have all the technology we need in order to solve climate change. Now we must get our world leaders together to take action. This short film shows we have already done half of the work through developing groundbreaking technologies fostering sustainability, now we must have a cooperative approach towards governance.

Having a pessimistic view on climate change is the world’s demise. The people who think it is too late to act on climate change must realize everything we need is right here with us. We must be optimistic in order to change towards more sustainable ways. We have the capability to destroy this planet (which we are) but we have an even greater capability to save it. It is up to us to take action, this is our problem!

Watch the sequel to What’s Possible, A World of Solutions!!

October 5, 2014October 12, 2014

The Miracle and the Horror of it

In the two weeks since seeing James Balog’s film Chasing Ice for the first time, and getting the special experience of interacting with him in class, I have been struggling with and mulling over his words and images. My aunt had suggested the documentary to me when it was first released but I was hesitant to watch it, to the point where I blatantly avoided the film. At one point in the film Balog said that in his work he finds, “the miracle and the horror of it.” Before watching his film, I could only find the horror of it. I refused to watch his film originally because I knew it would terrify me, I knew the possibility of his work creating hope for a “negligible” impact was none, and that it would force some realizations about my future I was not ready for.

Yet, in watching in and interacting with him, my experience was different than what I anticipated. His images were shocking, and alarming, but they also contained an unexpected beauty and emotion that is hard to place. At times the images were difficult to see but impossible not to be gripped by. Even now thinking back to it, or looking at the small exhibit in the library, I find it challenging to cope with both the miracle and the horror, as Balog aptly put words to. Fully understanding climate change as a concept, as well as its impacts are naturally hard to grapple with. However, Balog’s work provides important insight that would be impossible to get elsewhere. It shows the speed of the system, the desperate need for action and the role of the individual in coping with it.

In talking with Balog he said that before the Extreme Ice Survey he was a pessimist about climate change but since the experience his attitude has changed. I feel my perception on climate change as changing in a similar way. The magnitude of the problem is almost beyond a comprehensible scale but that does not mean nothing can be done. He said that in taking action on climate change each person has to do what they are capable of, for him it was his pictures, but each person is is something unique. For me, this means there are an unlimited number actions to be taken individually and collectively to confront climate change. The power locked within this, I am hopeful, has the potential to create a miracle.

October 5, 2014

Should Men be More Concerned about Climate Change?

By Maeve Hogel

There are many aspects of life that can seem gender discriminatory, but could climate change be one of them? According to a CBS News article on Friday, a recent study in Japan found a connection between the increase in the number of deaths of males fetuses in comparison to the deaths of female fetuses and the increases in temperature.

The cause of why males may be affected more than females is still unknown and the study only found a connection and doesn’t prove causation, as there are many other environmental factors, such as pollution, that could be a fault. The data certainly isn’t all in yet about this subject matter, but its a interesting concept to think about. Maybe it will be true that females have it easier when it comes to climate change. I guess we will have to wait and see what future research shows.

October 5, 2014October 7, 2014

Ditch the 2°C limit? A costly detour

David Victor and Charles Kennel write in a recent commentary published by Nature “Politically and scientifically, the 2 °C goal is wrong-headed.” Their commentary has prompted a number of responses – see article in The Guardian by Adam Vaughan and rebuttals by Gavin Schmidt, Bill Hare and others, and Joe Romm.

Victor and Kennel argue that the 2 °C limit suffers from two political problems. First, they assert, keeping below 2 °C is unachievable without “heroic assumptions” about immediate global cooperation and widespread availability of technologies that have not been demonstrated at scale. Second, the 2 °C threshold does not translate into a specific and certain quantity of emissions, and therefore “does not tell particular governments and people what to do.”

Scientifically, the basis for the 2 °C limit, according to Victor and Kennel, is tenuous, in part because changes in average global surface temperature does not track in lock step with climate forcing and climate risks on short time scales. They take the position that a single index of climate change risk is not possible given the complexities of how changes in carbon dioxide concentrations alter climate and other earth systems, and the consequent risks to ecological systems and humans. They advocate for development of a set of indicators, or “planetary vital signs,” to be used by policy makers and the UNFCCC to gauge climate stresses and possible impacts that are “better rooted in the scientific understanding of climate drivers and risks.”

Gavin Schmidt, director of NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies, wrote an excellent rejoinder in Realclimate. He also posted a comment to an article in The Guardian about the Victor-Kennel commentary that nicely matches my take: “If you are driving in completely the wrong direction, arguing about where you’ll park if you arrive isn’t your highest priority.” I have significant doubts about the viability of reaching a comprehensive, top-down, legally binding agreement at COP21 in Paris. But urging parties to the UNFCCC to revisit the hard-won agreement to try to limit warming to < 2 °C, and consider replacing it with targets for an array of planetary vital signs, is an invitation to inaction that would have dangerous repercussions.

Do read Gavin Schmidt’s more detailed assessment of why the 2 °C limit should not be ditched. He makes a good case for the scientific validity for using average global temperature as a reasonable indicator of climate risk, and counters the assertion that the 2 °C limit is technically or economically unachievable.

October 4, 2014

WANTED: Adaption at Home and Abroad… NOW

[youtube_sc url=”https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wNcUC1xUB5c”]

A basic principle of the UNFCCC agreement is CBDR, or Common but Differentiated Responsibilities. This stems from the idea that based on historical emissions, developing countries should not have their development taxed because of harm to the environment caused by already developed countries’ development 100 years ago. Because of this, developed countries are held responsible for funding any climate change efforts developing countries decide to embark on. Furthermore, developed countries are to share information and technology to help developing countries develop in a “greener” way than developed countries had in the past.

My question is, how can we do this if we still haven’t gotten the hang of smart development in our own country? I’m not suggesting the U.S. should help itself before it helps others, but instead should be taking a bilateral approach to both change domestic ways and provide support internationally for cleaner development.

Yesterday, the story “With Dry Taps and Toilets, California Drought Turns Desperate” made the front page of the NYTimes. Households in California, and especially those in Tulare County, a rural county with especially impoverished residents and barely any water. With three years of drought and still going strong, the California drought, although as a single event it cannot be attributed to climate change, calls for more caution when dealing with the climate. Even in one of the richest country in the world, the U.S. still doesn’t seem to be able to come up with even effective adaptation plans, never mind mitigation. One family the article focuses on hasn’t had running water for more than five months. How is the U.S. caring for these Californians? They aren’t. When families call the state and local governments for advice, they are told there are no public agencies set up to help them. Water is provided through bottled water from residents’ pockets and local charities. Even the counting of households without water is spotty, with an estimate of 700 households, overlooking households in rural areas with dried-up wells. One volunteer is quoted describing the drought as “it’s a slow-moving disaster that nobody knows how to handle” (Medina 18).

The U.S. is obviously having trouble preparing for and dealing with the “slow-moving” crises brought on by climate change, so how can it be expected to help others? The solution is not, as I said before, to focus on itself first before it helps others. There is no time to wait; climate change does not wait for domestic pilots, it comes when it wants, where it wants, and countries must be as ready as best they can. This means focusing on security threats from more than just other states but from the earth itself. The U.S. needs to take the terrible lessons it’s learning in California to realize that a much more though-out, cross-sector, and multi-level approach must be employed in adapting to climate change domestically and globally.

Medina, Jennifer. 2014. “With Dry Taps and Toilets, California Drought Turns Desperate.” The New York Times, October 3, p. 1, A18.

October 4, 2014October 4, 2014

More Carbon Than I Previously Thought

Some time ago I posted about the carbon emissions that would be resulting from the mosaic’s travels to Peru. I was recently contacted by a professor at Dickinson, who informed me that my calculations were drastically off. I promptly investigated the claim and found that he was right. So, after several checks and some reworking of my excel document I present the new information. It is a stunning shift (and not in a good way).

CO2 emitted per gallon of kerosene consumed by plane.

Eight pounds of coal heaped onto a dinner plate.

So, here is the sad part of the mosaic. Our trip involves six flights. Two flights to get to Lima, two to get back to the states, and two flights while in Peru (to Cusco and back). During this, we will be emitting about 7000 pounds of one of our favorite greenhouse gasses. That is equivalent to burning 3410 pounds of coal (EPA). If any of my past readers will recall I posted a photo of 8 pounds of coal on a plate. It would take just over 426 of those plates to account for that much coal, or the biggest dinner party you have ever been to. In my mind, things have changed as I have corrected the numbers. Instead of 3 of those plates of coal, it is 426. This is a big investment. We need to make it worth it.

October 4, 2014October 3, 2014

What Can You Do About Climate Change?

On September 23, our SUST 500 class at Dickinson College had the pleasure of meeting James Balog, a world-renowned photographer best known for taking pictures of climate change’s effects on glaciers and ice sheets around the world. Students got to sit down and have a discussion with him about his work and his perspectives on climate change.

He said many interesting things, but the thing that stood out for me was his response when asked what individuals could do about climate change, “I don’t know,” he said. Balog went on to explain he responded in that way because he didn’t know anything about the person asking the question. Different people have different lives, and while some people are in a position act on climate change at a national or international level, some people can do important things at a more community or personal level.

I thought this was a really important point to make, and one that I had not heard before. Generally, when people talk about action on climate change, they discuss doing the little things such as riding a bike to work or recycling or purchasing fuel-efficient cars. While these things are all very important, I feel these kinds of actions sort of lump us all into one generic response. In fact, there are extreme differences among people across the United States and in the world in terms of age, wealth, access to resources, and other things. All of these factors play a part in what actions it is possible to take regarding climate change. More important than doing the generic “ride a bike, recycle, drive fuel-efficient cars” is to take a look at your circumstances and situation in life and make progress where you are able to make the most change.

In the civil rights era, Malcolm X, after taking a pilgrimage to Mecca in 1964, changed his views almost completely on white allies. Whereas before, he was staunchly against joining with white people, he now had this to say: “Where the really sincere white people have got to do their ‘proving’ of themselves is not among the black victims, but out on the battle lines of where America’s racism really is—and that’s in their own home communities…That’s where sincere whites who really mean to accomplish something have got to work” (Autobiography of Malcolm X). Malcolm X was still against having white people join the Black Panthers, but now it was because he believed it was not their place to make change. White people had influence in places where most black people at the time did not, and X believed it was in these places that white people could really do the most work.

This relates to climate change in that people should work to mitigate climate change in the realms they have the most influence. Some can influence high government functions, while others can do more work at a community level. Others might only be able to do small things at the community level. People should work to make changes in line with the circumstances surrounding their lives.

October 3, 2014

Star Gazing Glacier

James Balog, recipient of the 2014 Sam Rose ’58 and Julie Walters Prize at Dickinson College for Global Environmental Activism is an American nature photographer and scientist who has been following rapid glacier melt due to climate change. Founded in 2007, his project, the Extreme Ice Survey, was as a method of educating those on the immediate impact of climate change and showing them how humans play a role in climate change. He enjoys nature and he had a hard time figuring out what is an effective way to make the public understand that climate change is occurring on a day-to day basis. He wanted to make skeptics of climate change question their views and that is just what he did.

He was sent to take a picture of ice for the National Geographic magazine that he thought he couldn’t complete. That mission soon led him to think about how ice is melting at a rapid pace due to climate change, which in turn made him pursue his project, the Extreme Ice Survey. By traveling to multiple locations where there are glaciers, he monitored the rate at which they were melting. The footage he captured was just amazing.

His pictures speak more than a thousand words. There was a free showing of his documentary, “Chasing Ice” at the Carlisle Theater and hundreds of people showed up to the screening. As the documentary was playing, you can hear the sounds of concern the audience was making. Having had the privilege of being able to speak to him multiple times one-to-one (and getting a picture with him!), I can say that he is truly invested in his work and his passion burns inside in out. Despite injuring his knee quite too many times, he still perseveres and completes his ongoing, never-ending mission. Balog’s next project deals with forrest fires…let’s hope he makes another documentary leaving people awe-struck and that too without melting his equipment!

October 2, 2014

The Redefining Of A Movement

This past summer, I had the opportunity to attend the NYC 4th Annual Climate Justice Youth Summit. Young people of historically marginalized backgrounds participated in learning circles that focused on climate justice issues like waterfront justice, frontline resiliency, zero waste, policing/militarism and the Dig, Burn, Dump Economy. In conjunction with those learning circles, we also learned about Direct Action and how one could use non-violent action tactics to demand climate justice solutions. The main purpose of the Summit was to create a safe environment for young people of color to plan their own direct action for climate justice and prepare to implement their direct action at the annual People’s Climate March on September 21st.

Many of those whom I met there were unaware of climate change. They have heard of it but did not learn much about it. It is not in the curriculum unless you build it in, which many educators fail to do. The youth present at the summit were just in shock when presented with the facts. What I found very unique and new was the way the facts were presented. UPROSE, a partner of the summit had performers come in and explain what they’re doing about climate change in a way that can relate to the youth present at the summit. They had an graffiti artist that did work on climate change as well as spoken word poets share some of their work. The youth seemed to respond to it very well. Below are some images of that same group of young coming together and marching at the People’s Climate March.