Geography, Climate Change, and the UN Climate Negotiations

Some hope and ambition found

2011-12-09T20:13:00.012-06:00

The very last speaker at the COP 17 plenary session, American student Anjali Appadurai, speaking on behalf of the Youth NGO:

Occupy Climate

2011-12-08T16:30:00.002-06:00

One of the ruptures bubbling under the surface and threatening to tear negotiations apart every year at the climate talks is the divide between the have's and the have-nots. In a formal way, this is one of the reasons why the biggest bloc of countries is the G77 and China representing about 130 countries falling into the broader UN category of "developing". In many ways, this is simply a

Its not about climate

2011-12-08T03:52:00.006-06:00

The COP/UNFCCC process has become a perpetual rerun of some kind of Jennifer Aniston movie: the dysfunction between the characters ends up not being about yogurt flavors - even though that's what they keep arguing about - but their insecure childhoods.As we have often blogged about here, the ambassadors negotiating at COPs are doing so from positions of narrow, immediate economic and political

Environmental Outlook: Durban

2011-12-06T17:15:00.001-06:00

This morning on the Diane Rehm radio program their environmental outlook series focused on the Climate talks in Durban. Given the relative lack of mainstream coverage of the issue in the American media, it's worth a listen. It is a pretty good intro into the talks and especially the U.S. position on the talk even though there is the usual tangential drivel about the science being "unsettled".

NGO's call for greater US involvement

2011-12-04T15:32:00.000-06:00

On Tuesday the over a dozen environmental organizations sent an open letter to the US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton calling out the Obama administration for not living up to what he promised prior to taking office. Despite the economic free-fall since moving into the White House, President Obama has been criticized openly since the Copenhagen talks for not being aggressive enough in pushing

The Politics of Climate

2011-12-03T12:38:00.001-06:00

There are few concepts in science that I can think of that are more politically polarizing than climate. The story behind why this has occurred in some places (the US and the UK) and why it has never been the same kind of political issue in others (the rest of the world) is complicated. Most science focusing on the environment, in has some type of public policy element to it because people have

Global Forest Update

2011-12-03T09:51:00.001-06:00

The UN Food and Agriculture Organization recently completed their latest global forest survey. In it, they conclude that while deforestation is indeed continuing around the world, it is not necessarily as bad as expected. Not surprisingly, most of the forest loss is concentrated in the tropics worldwide. The clip below is a short interview with Adam Gerrand of FAO describing the methodology

Path Dependency

2011-12-02T16:32:00.000-06:00

In comments today, the US negotiator in Durban Jonathan Pershing clearly illustrated the American strategy and why so many other countries are so frustrated with us. Last year in Mexico, there was a target adopted by the conference of limiting warming to 2 degrees C (3.6 degrees F). While a great number of small and poor countries are trying to convince others to lower this target to 1.5

Remember the Maldives

2011-12-02T11:51:00.000-06:00

Interesting video clip of a short interview by Laura Flanders of The Nation of Mohammed Hassan, the vice-president of the Maldives. We've blogged before about the impassioned way representatives of the Maldives have, over the years, tried to put a face on the issue human vulnerability to climate change. The Maldives is a small island state in the Indian Ocean that does not receive much notice

Fake Plastic Trees

2011-12-02T08:29:00.002-06:00

I teach a Freshman and Sophomore level class at the University of Missouri on climate change. The first two thirds of the course are devoted to the science that grounds what we know about climatic conditions, patterns and trends. The last third of the course involves looking at what is involved in making the transition from science to public policy. How does science actually inform what we do.

White noise

2011-12-01T15:33:00.001-06:00

One of the things I remember as so striking when I lived abroad was the realization of just how insular the U.S. really is. Despite the fact that we are constantly inundated with news stories twenty-four hours a day and there are few respites from some sort of media, most Americans know shockingly little about the rest of the world. When we do happen to pay attention to international issues,

Do we go to Qatar?

2011-12-01T08:23:00.002-06:00

It's official. The next meeting of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change is to be held next November (2012) in Doha, Qatar. Personally, I was pulling for South Korea but they didn't ask my opinion. At least in Doha, negotiators will have a ready illustration of extravagance and living beyond your means. So the real question is virtual Qatar or real Qatar? Or will it matter

Analyzing Commitments

2011-11-30T18:42:00.002-06:00

If there is a theme to the climate meeting in Durban it may just be a quote taken from a member of the Climate Analytics group, "the ambition level is not sufficient". A cynic might suggest that this has actually been a fairly consistent theme since the UN process began in 1992. Despite the high hopes that the international process would be able to overcome this lack of ambition prior to the

Survey says...!

2011-11-29T20:36:00.003-06:00

Today the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) released a provisional statement on the status of global climate in 2011. At this point it seems appropriate to point out that we have been here before and heard the same things stated over and over again. Based on data collected from the WMO around the world, they are concluding that despite the fact that 2011 was a La Niña year, it is

A carbon-neutral experiment

2011-11-29T16:04:00.002-06:00

This year is different for Mark and I in that we are experimenting with a (mostly) carbon-neutral experience. In 2009, we both traveled to Copenhagen. Last year I was in Mexico while Mark blogged from Columbia. This year we are both stateside and attending the climate talks on a virtual basis. The obvious advantages to this is the fact that we are not traveling around the world to attend the

Another one bites the dust

2011-11-29T07:36:00.002-06:00

Tom Toles of the Washington Post has been publishing editorial cartoons about climate change for many years - here is today's, dead-on as usual.

Kicking the Can

2011-11-28T22:46:00.002-06:00

In the Opening Plenary of the latest round of climate negotiations in Durban, South Africa, South Africa's president Jacob Zuma reiterated an increasingly ineffectual plea: "For most people in the developing countries and Africa, climate change is a matter of life and death." While few who understand the problem doubt the truth of this statement, the power it has to motivate political action

The Elephant in the conference room

2011-11-28T16:07:00.001-06:00

Last month, demographers from the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) released a report which estimates the population of the world now exceeds 7,000,000,000 people. This is a critical context for any solution or remedy to anthropogenic climate change. The fundamental challenge of climate change is that traditional means of social and economic development reinforce the release of greenhouse

Where did Hope and Ambition go?... not the middle way

2011-11-28T14:11:00.006-06:00

COP17 opens today in Durban: it's amazing to see how quickly expectations for serious progress through the UN process have fallen - from the precipice of an ambitious treaty to being drowned in the bathtub. Two years ago in Copenhagen there was a strong sense that world political leadership would have to see the writing on the wall, step up to the plate and agree to a treaty; certainly (it was

Jevons Paradox

2011-01-04T16:15:00.004-06:00

Can energy efficiency be bad for the environment? How can electric cars and LED lighting result in higher rates of overall energy usage when they are meant to have the exact opposite effect? This is the crux of the Jevons Paradox which indicates it is going to be even harder than previously thought for society to reduce the overall amount of energy usage (and therefore CO2 emissions).

Cancún Abridged

2010-12-16T22:17:00.001-06:00

Last year in Copenhagen, despite high expectations for a political solution to control international levels of greenhouse gas emissions (GHGe), negotiations broke down and produced a weak general statement referred to as the Copenhagen Accord. On November 29, the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) reconvened for the 16th time representatives from 193 countries to try

Deal Done

2010-12-11T04:58:00.000-06:00

Unbelievably, an agreement has been reached in Cancun building on the Copenhagen Accord and reviving the Kyoto Protocol for the moment. There seems to be a consensus that this is not a perfect agreement but it is more than people thought would happen. If will not by itself solve anything but it kicks the can down the road to Durban and next years meeting and offers some hope that the

Stay Tuned

2010-12-10T19:20:00.001-06:00

Perhaps the Kyoto Protocol isn't dead yet. Draft texts have been released and countries are now looking them over...and the AWG-KP text makes reference to a second commitment period for Kyoto.

Bring on Geoengineering!

2010-12-10T16:09:00.004-06:00

The hubris of science fiction has always been that we are in charge. People have the capability to exert control over their surroundings and reorder the world into something more suited to our needs. But it also is marked by the kind of idealism and sense of possibility that we all need a little bit more of these days. I certainly know I do. As the possibility of any real settlement coming

The Death of Kyoto

2010-12-10T13:19:00.001-06:00

Japan made headlines early last week when they came out and definitively stated that they would not support a continuation of the Kyoto Protocol. Based on what has happened up to this point in Cancun it may be time to formally declare the time of death for the Kyoto Protocol. This is especially worrisome to small island states and those countries that are considered most vulnerable to changing

Last Day

2010-12-10T11:43:00.000-06:00

After two weeks of negotiations here in Cancun, we are now in the final hours of the conference. It is yet to be seen what, if any, agreements will be made. There must be a great deal of talking occurring behind the scenes at the moment because so far most everything that had been scheduled for this morning have been canceled. Perhaps this is an indication of how far things have fallen apart.

Green Development vs. Social Development?

2010-12-10T00:01:00.001-06:00

Ban-Ki Moon has made climate change and the UNFCCC negotiations one of his highest priorities since taking office as Secretary General of the United Nations. For him, "the reason is simple, climate change affects everything the United Nations does: poverty, peace and security, and human rights. We cannot sustain gains in Millennium Development Goals or preserve ecosystems that sustain us. We

Hitting home...

2010-12-09T17:30:00.002-06:00

Since I have been in Cancún at the COP meeting, I have heard numerous stories from ministers and delegates alike about the climate changes that nations are suffering. Two days ago on the bus I met a delegate from Gambia (see Mike's post earlier) and heard about how their rainy season decreased by four months over the past 10 years. Yesterday I listened in horror as the Prime Minister of Palau

Bribery, Power and Respect

2010-12-09T16:00:00.001-06:00

Related to the Wikileaks Mark has been talking about in his posts recently, there was an interesting exchange between the Bolivian ambassador to the UN, Pablo Solon, and Todd Stern, the chief U.S. negotiator on climate. To a certain extent, much of this seems to be symptomatic of a much broader distrust that exists between the worlds most powerful nations and the smallest, least powerful. It

No Nukes

2010-12-09T14:44:00.000-06:00

There is a lot of interesting language in some of the draft negotiating documents that are being passed around between parties right now. One fragment that caught my eye was the stipulation in one of the documents to disallow for any "emission reductions generated from nuclear facilities to meet their quantified emission limitation and reduction commitments." Keeping in mind that there are

Needling China?

2010-12-09T13:50:00.000-06:00

As ministers from all around the world make their formal statements it is an interesting exercise to try and read between the lines and understand what it is the countries are actually trying to accomplish with the messages they convey. One interesting theme that has subtly started to pop up over the last couple of days is that members of the small island states have repeatedly made reference to

Short-term Mitigation

2010-12-09T12:22:00.003-06:00

Going into the Cancun talks, there was widespread consensus that it was unlikely that a legally-binding international agreement could be reached. With only two days to go in the conference this forecast is unlikely to change. That does not mean that meaningful steps could not be taken now to stall for time. There has been quite a bit of discussion and reference to the idea that short-term

The debate over REDD

2010-12-09T09:45:00.014-06:00

REDD, Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation, has emerged as a central focus of the COP negotiations. Its premise is appealing: paying people to conserve forests in less developed (especially tropical) nations. This sounds like a win-win-win: land cover change like deforestation is a major contributor to atmospheric carbon (20-30% of emissions - see Jon's recent post and mine from

Local change starts now

2010-12-09T08:51:00.003-06:00

The World Mayors Summit on Climate was held in Mexico City in November of this year. Yesterday, there was a meeting held with mayors from all over the world discussing the outcomes of the summit. 143 cities signed the Mexico City Pact and pledged to reduce their emissions voluntarily (only four of these were from the U.S.--Los Angeles, Burnsville, Des Moines, and North Little Rock). The take home

Wikileaks: Shell Oil & Nigeria

2010-12-09T08:28:00.005-06:00

The Guardian's latest release from the Wikileaks cables documents the infiltration of the Nigerian government by Shell Oil, and the US State Department's awareness of it. Nigeria is a major producer of oil, and has a sordid history in relation to oil, Shell, human rights and democracy - highlighted by the execution of Ken Saro-Wiwa. Further evidence of the lengths the fossil fuel system will go

Why We Should Care

2010-12-08T15:30:00.000-06:00

I had a long conversation yesterday with the Minister of Environment for The Gambia. As we were talking, I started to see just how interwoven many of the problems we all face are. I believe it is precisely because of these hidden interconnections it is critically important that at some point Americans push through the distractions and begin to understand the nature of the problem. Climate,

Plant for the Planet

2010-12-08T14:56:00.002-06:00

Hey you. Yes you. Stop talking. It's already COP16 and you are still talking. Why don't you just relax, take off your jackets, grab that shovel, and get your hands dirty: Plant something. "Plant for the Planet: Trees for Climate Justice" was at COP today. Early this morning at the Cancunmesse, children lined the halls petitioning for just that: less talking and more planting. The event was

Protests

2010-12-08T14:10:00.005-06:00

Here are some images from the protest marches that the security measures are attempting to contain (the barricades Mike mentions appear near the end of the video).Notice that one of the protesters' targets is REDD+ .

Security

2010-12-08T12:15:00.002-06:00

There has been a significant military presence on the roads throughout the conference but things have become even more intense over the last few days as ministers and heads of state join the fray. This morning I noticed there are huge steel barricades built across the roads leading into the conference site that can easily be closed in case of...whatever emergency would necessitate closing the

REDD+

2010-12-08T11:43:00.007-06:00

Perhaps one of things that is often overlooked (especially in the U.S.) is that emissions from the tailpipe and smokestack are only part of the picture. Yes, we do need to reduce our CO2 emissions from both the transportation and the energy sector, but many don't realize that land-use changes account for around 30 percent of greenhouse gas emissions. Conversion of forests or peat bogs to

High Level Segment

2010-12-07T23:16:00.000-06:00

This afternoon was the opening of the high-level segment of the UNFCCC negotiations. As I mentioned in an earlier post, these two week conferences are normally broken up into two segments. The first is devoted to intense discussions among diplomats and negotiators who try and identify the main barricades to agreements and work out much of the technical details and language needed before

Fossil of the Day

2010-12-07T20:33:00.003-06:00

The experience of the COP16 would not be complete without the "Fossil of the Day" award, perhaps the only dis-honor that draws a crowd and paparazzi. Brought to you by the Climate Action Network, this award has been given out on a near daily basis at the COP's since the 1999 Bonn, Germany climate talks, and is given to the countries that have given their all to block the progress of negotiations.

Argumentative Fauna

2010-12-07T13:35:00.000-06:00

For all of you breathlessly waiting to see if the Polar Bear from Copenhagen would make the trip to Cancun to lobby on behalf of species everywhere endangered by the environmental effects of climate change - the wait is over. This very well-spoken Bear is once again walking the halls of the UN conference arguing for carbon dioxide levels to be reduced to 350ppm in order to restrict the most

Do your beans grow tall?

2010-12-07T12:13:00.001-06:00

Being here in Cancun in the middle of the UN talks it is easy to start to become obsessed with the minutiae of the negotiations themselves and lose sight of what is at stake. The UN actually does a pretty good job of outlining in some of their documents many of the social impacts that environmental changes from shifting climates are likely to have in locations around the world. Perhaps it is a

No comment

2010-12-07T10:48:00.006-06:00

Todd Stern, Chief climate negotiator for the U.S., and Connie Hedegaard, chair of COP15 and now the EU climate commissioner, were asked to respond to the Wiki-leaked cables about their efforts to garner support for the Copenhagen Accord (the last-minute non-binding deal that was struck by mainly the wealthy nations last year). Were they evidence of U.S. bullying and bribery tactics?Stern

The Trouble with Consensus

2010-12-07T08:00:00.000-06:00

Aside from public pressure (anywhere outside the U.S.), the greatest motivation for parties to come to some agreement, any agreement on climate change by the end of the negotiations on Friday is the threat inaction poses to the UN itself. Much has been made of the difficulties inherent in the UN process itself. This morning I heard someone say that it was absurd and unrealistic to expect an

Press coverage of Cancun

2010-12-06T18:01:00.008-06:00

Casual readers of newspapers would be forgiven if they did not realize that a global climate change conference was underway. Over the past week I've seen only a couple stories about it in the various news outlets I scan. None of the US nightly news broadcasts mentioned Cancun last week.Amy Goodman is broadcasting from COP16 during this final week. Here is one of her stories today, pointedly

ALERTS: Land-cover change for dummies

2010-12-06T17:54:00.003-06:00

Brought to you by the Planetary Skin Institute, this interactive map is a policy relevant interface accessible to the public to analyze land-use, land-cover changes. Using MODIS satellite imagery with an 8-day global refresh and advanced algorithms, ALERTS exploits historical variations to identify hotspots of land cover change as soon as it happens. Check it out!

Disturbing Street Art

2010-12-06T17:00:00.002-06:00

Comparatively speaking, the presence of the UN negotiations here in Cancun does not seem to have pervaded the city. For example, you are more likely to see billboards for Corona beer than anything associated with the negotiations. In Copenhagen, nearly every advertising space available was plastered with pleas for the negotiators to do their job and deliver on a binding international agreement.

Wikileaks and Climate change

2010-12-06T15:11:00.005-06:00

The Wikileaks story, rather than Cancun, dominated the American press last week. Now stories are emerging from the leaked cables that show some of the behind-the-scenes manipulation of last year's Copenhagen meetings.The Guardian has several stories on this:Tactics pursued by the State Department and CIA to pressure COP 15 negotiators, including paying small island nations like the Maldives in

Needs of the New Industrial Revolution

2010-12-06T13:22:00.002-06:00

The Mexican Pavilion this morning featured Sir Nicholas Stern, the renowned economist and Chair of the Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment. Linking global carbon emissions to our processes of production and consumption, Stern stressed the need for cooperation between ministers of the environment and ministers of finance to overcome the rising levels of greenhouse

Think Locally, Act Globally

2010-12-06T12:00:00.006-06:00

For decades the mantra of the environmental movement has been "think globally, act locally". Those of us going to school in the 1970's and 1980's grew up with this slogan. I still think of the green "ecology" flag every time I hear it. For environmental issues such as pollution, this was a very effective way of getting people involved in local campaigns to fight pollution and generate

The Dhaka Declaration

2010-12-06T08:13:00.003-06:00

To build on some of the points made in the last post, it should be said that climate change is not just an issue of temperature. The effects of a changing climate will ripple through environmental systems and impact both ecosystems and human society in a variety of different ways. This is not just a problem for climatologists, this is a problem that will literally affect us all in one form or

The necessity of caution in unofficial side events

2010-12-06T01:51:00.000-06:00

Tonight one of the unofficial side events was entitled “The Greenest Heroes Gala”. A number of delegates and NGO’s were represented at this event, which featured a multi-course vegan meal, illustrating to those present how food consumption plays a large part in climate change and commend those whom have been leaders in the fight against it . Among the 'heroes', present were

The Population Elephant

2010-12-05T20:09:00.001-06:00

The are enough "elephants" in the room whenever climate change is discussed that it is amazing that there are ever any rooms big enough in which to hold these conversations. One such elephant that few want to discuss but all acknowledge is critical to understanding cumulative impacts and social vulnerability is population. As part of the background conversation, the United Nations Population

Multilateralism and the UN: the Ghost of Copenhagen

2010-12-05T12:53:00.000-06:00

Normally, today would be considered the one day during the two week period of negotiations where no formal business is conducted. Normally, this would be an intermission where all parties involved would gather their collective breath for the final push expected to come next week for an agreement - whatever that agreement will look like. So it was unusual and unexpected to wake up this morning

The Mystery of the Hidden Documents

2010-12-04T19:53:00.001-06:00

As it turns out, there wasn't any. But there was a widespread fear that nefarious things were happening in back rooms that the negotiators did not know about. Today there was a COP plenary whose intention was to take stock of where negotiations are halfway through the conference. The President of the COP had to spend the first ten minutes convincing all the assembled nations that rumors of

Disappointed Again

2010-12-04T13:19:00.000-06:00

This morning the Daily Programme, which is essentially the schedule for everything that goes on each day at the conference, indicated that there would be a talk given by the head of the U.S. Department of Energy, Steven Chu (as in "Sputnik Moment" Steven Chu). The hope was that he could explain a little better the U.S. position on the development and implementation of renewable energy and

What is going on here?

2010-12-04T13:06:00.001-06:00

Things are getting interesting here in Cancun. Not necessarily in a good way, but interesting nonetheless. Late yesterday afternoon an alliance of nine Latin American countries called ALBA (Alliance for the Americas) threatened to walk out on the Cancun negotiations is documents being prepared for the high-level ministers due to arrive next week do not include provisions to extend the

Bhopal

2010-12-03T18:05:00.002-06:00

Though I mentioned Bhopal in a recent post, it was still a little shocking to see this creepy sight walking around the Cancunmesse conference center this afternoon. There was a silent march held by a number of people from India remembering the 26th anniversary of the Bhopal disaster when the Union Carbide pesticide plant had a "problem" that led to the release of a cloud of cyanide gas that

Cryptic, Untransparent and Opaque

2010-12-03T13:31:00.000-06:00

Had to share this interesting article posted on The Guardian site especially as it follows the thread of climate justice I touched on in the previous post. My favorite line in the article is the complaint made by some that: "...countries must be at as many as six meetings at the same time to follow the talks which are "cryptic", "untransparent" and "opaque"." Having sat in on COP meetings in

Green Fundamentalism

2010-12-03T10:59:00.002-06:00

One of the comments made by an NGO (Climate Justice Now!) during the last COP plenary session was interesting. It represented what has been called by some "green fundamentalism". He began by saying many of the same things the other NGO's were reiterating - action needs to be taken by the member states now, here at this COP meeting to ensure that conditions don't spiral out of control for the

Quiet Day

2010-12-02T21:27:00.000-06:00

Continuing a tradition we came to enjoy last year in Copenhagen, the environmental non-profit group Climate Action Network has been staging a daily "Fossil of the Day Award" where they give booby prizes away to countries that are seen as acting irresponsibly in their emissions or in the ongoing negotiations. Today though, was the first time that I have seen them decline to give a prize. While

Civil Disobedience

2010-12-02T13:09:00.003-06:00

There was a side event organized by the advocacy group 350.org the other day that raised a number of questions that everyone here is asking, either privately or vocally. Namely, "what is the role of the U.S. in these negotiations and what will it take to mobilize support within the U.S. for taking the issue of climate change seriously." Good questions. The answers proposed were all over the

Science vs. Policy

2010-12-02T12:11:00.003-06:00

Sitting in on a European Union presentation entitled "Roadmap 2050" I can't help but think that one of the fundamental problems separating public policy and many traditional views of the scientific enterprise is that empirical science primarily looks backwards as a key to understanding what might happen in the future while policy primarily looks forward with the present and the past used as a

Tuvalu and Goliath

2010-12-01T17:44:00.003-06:00

One of the most amazing things to see last year in Copenhagen was the leadership and statesmanship shown by representatives of some of the smallest nations. That phenomenon has continued into Cancun. This afternoon the major players were not the United States (who was invisible), the EU, China or India. Rather those who spoke eloquently and moved the discussion were the representatives from

Fighting Climate Change

2010-12-01T13:54:00.002-06:00

One thing that is becoming clearer and clearer is that there is often a dissonance between groups of people who talk about "fighting" climate change. Some see it as trying to reduce greenhouse gas emissions with the aim of decreasing or mitigating the worst effects these gases will have on how quickly and to what extent climates are affected. Others interpret fighting climate change to mean a

Japan and the Kyoto Protocol

2010-12-01T12:15:00.002-06:00

As expected, Japan is making a bit of a fuss about the possible extension of the Kyoto Protocol. Yesterday they indicated that there was no way they would support an extension of the emissions targets as found in the KP. This appears to be a bit of brinksmanship on their part. By closing off the possibility of extending Kyoto, they are essentially forcing countries with far different

A Sputnik Moment?

2010-11-30T17:28:00.002-06:00

Steven Chu recently pointed to how far the U.S. has slipped regarding the development and innovation of renewable and alternative energy by saying that an assessment of what is happening around the world should be a "sputnik moment". In 1957, the U.S. was so startled by the Soviets being able to launch Sputnik into low-Earth orbit that it triggered the space race that led us to the moon. Can

Is climate disinformation immoral?

2010-11-30T13:22:00.001-06:00

A few weeks ago there was a short op-ed that appeared in The Guardian by the environmental ethicist Donald Brown. In it, he argues that the decades old disinformation campaigns waged against climate science by corporations that have much to lose are irresponsible, immoral and perhaps even criminal. His argument is based on two notions that are difficult to deny and are well documented. The

What can we hope for?

2010-11-30T07:48:00.002-06:00

Much has been made of the "modest" expectations for the Cancun climate talks. On the heels of the dramatic meltdown that occurred in Copenhagen last year, what exactly can we reasonably expect to come out of the talks here in Mexico? What we cannot reasonably hope for is any agreement being reached on a legally-binding international agreement that would limit greenhouse gas emissions (GHGe)

Access, Security, and Democracy

2010-11-29T20:38:00.001-06:00

It is hard to imagine that the experience of the Copenhagen conference last year wasn't part of the reason why relatively inaccessible locations were chosen for this conference. While the Bella Center in Copenhagen was not downtown, the mass transit system is so efficient and interconnected in Denmark that security was constantly a concern for the Danish organizers and the UN. Marches in the

Logistics

2010-11-29T14:48:00.004-06:00

After having seen the way in which Copenhagen played host to last years climate talks I was skeptical when I heard that Mexico was locating the talks this year in Cancun. Well, that is a misstatement, the talks are actually about 20 miles south of the city itself. Most of the participants, those representing governments, Non-governmental organizations (such as me) or Intergovernmental

Water in the 21st century US

2010-11-28T08:35:00.002-06:00

One major reason that it is difficult to achieve consensus about acting to reduce greenhouse gas emissions is the difficulty in grasping the magnitude of the climatic changes they will produce. The significance of a number like 3 degrees Celsius global warming over the next century is lost on most people: for one, many places experience that amount of temperature variation everyday, and much

When The Water Ends

2010-11-01T08:37:00.010-05:00

One of the most difficult aspects of understanding just how a changing climate will manifest itself is that many of the environmental responses will be different from place to place. By all accounts, the most vulnerable locations are likely to be those regions already at the highest risk of experiencing water stress. Marginal lands where drought is common like Sub-Saharan Africa or the Great

Continuance

2010-10-28T14:26:00.000-05:00

Quite some time has elapsed since our last entry. Given the widespread sense of deflation that set in following the Copenhagen talks at the end of 2009, perhaps the hiatus was needed. However, environmental adjustments to changing climatic conditions occur regardless of political action or inaction and for the negotiators of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC),

Great revolutions

2009-12-29T22:38:00.000-06:00

The idea that humans have the potential to shape the world around them is nothing new. People alter their surroundings directly to suit their perceived needs and those actions have indirect effects on still other environmental systems. Look up from the computer and gaze around you right now. What do you see? Our species is remarkably effective at creating new spaces, new worlds, to suit our

An unstable world

2009-12-29T15:17:00.002-06:00

In 1915, an astronomer/meteorologist named Alfred Wegener suggested that the very ground people stood on was unstable. Whole continents had drifted over geologic time to their present-day positions but the map as we knew it was not always the map as we knew it. Though the idea made sense of a great deal of circumstantial data collected about past histories of the world, continental drift was a

Skepticism

2009-12-22T15:22:00.007-06:00

Mark's recent entry highlighted the Republican press conference held in the closing days of the Copenhagen Climate talks. Framed in the context of the UN conference that had been ongoing for two weeks, their out and out dismissal of the concept of climate change was a little bizarre and surreal. Among the 192 nations present at the Copenhagen talks, the only hint of doubt I heard from any of

It's your fault...

2009-12-22T09:50:00.007-06:00

As Obama rightly predicted in his speech on the floor of the Bella Center, the Copenhagen Accord has disappointed many of the party nations involved, to say nothing of the civil society organizations that were shut out of the Bella Center and feel as though their voices were marginalized when it mattered the most. It did not take long for the blame game to find willing participants. So let's

climate illiteracy

2009-12-22T04:38:00.013-06:00

Several Republican delegates from the US House of Representatives came to Copenhagen on the last day of the conference, mainly to hold a press conference that spelled out their problems with what was being negotiated and make clear that climate legislation (such as cap & trade) in the US is far from a done deal - countering John Kerry's speech from two days prior.Among the chief complaints are

Viewpoint of the Developing Countries

2009-12-18T21:38:00.007-06:00

During my time in Copenhagen, I spoke to many delegates from developing country parties. The viewpoint from them is that the Developed country owes a debt to the developing country. They see any money from Copenhagen is part of a reparation and is not development or aid money. While the developed world is to blame for the situation that we find the globe in from the last 200 years of pollution

Copenhagen Wheel unvailed at COP15

2009-12-18T21:20:00.010-06:00

http://senseable.mit.edu/copenhagenwheel/ During COP15 MIT unvailed a hybrid bike (Dec 15 2009) that takes the technologies of hybrid viechels and integrates them into a bike. This bike uses impressive engineering to make a compacted powerful enginee that produces zero emissions and charges itself from downhill movement. The bike integrate geographic technologies through a iphone platform

Energy Map

2009-12-18T20:17:00.005-06:00

http://www.energymap.dk/ EnergyMap.dk is a website where users can find information about the latest energy and climate related technologies, projects, solutions, cases and events in Denmark. This website uses neogeographic techniques to communicate and promote the green economy of Denmark. The company had a booth in the the Bella Center during COP15. Although they admitted in many ways

Hopenhagen

2009-12-18T19:54:00.007-06:00

Hopenhagen is a play on the city's name used to represent the movement, energy, and hope within the people who gathered in Copenhagen for COP15. The city transformed the city plaza into the open air arena with concert stage and booths. Plaza featured green lite building, prefabricated and in the shape of shipping crates. Projected global displayed an animated map of the world. Different

Use of Maps in COP15

2009-12-18T19:14:00.007-06:00

Maps and geography were used throughout the COP15 to convey points, give global perspective, and to convey information. These are a few pictures from the conference: Protester NGO in the Bella Center wearing shirt with a global map on it. "Don't Bracket our Future" is referring to the practice of bracketing lines of text in the document negations for further review. Often a method to delay

Endgame

2009-12-18T15:00:00.001-06:00

In many ways, the final hours of negotiations are coming down to the question of whether or not China and the US can come to terms on an agreement (most likely political) that will not only satisfy both of them but also the rest of the parties involved in the UN climate conference here in Copenhagen. Realistically, any deal that does not include both will be considered a political failure and

Methane and uncertainty

2009-12-18T08:00:00.001-06:00

Another one of the feedback mechanisms that introduces a level of uncertainty into existing climate models is methane gas. If significant quantities of methane are added to the atmosphere as temperatures in the high latitudes increase, the amount of warming predicted by the models may in fact, be a serious underestimate of what actually occurs. Methane is critical because it is a greenhouse

Going down in flames

2009-12-18T05:32:00.023-06:00

The statements by heads of state this morning all staked out fairly hard line positions largely defending their own interests - positions that you would expect at the beginning of negotiations, but not at the conclusion of a successful meeting.Wen Jiabao (China) said that China is making great strides in developing toward a low carbon economy, but as a poor (Annex 2) country, does not have the

Document Leak

2009-12-18T04:20:00.004-06:00

Andy Revkin of the NYTimes posted a copy of a leaked UN memo circulated among party nations here in Copenhagen that details the current commitments being offered by both Annex I and non-Annex I countries. The conclusions of the document highlight something John Kerry mentioned when he was here a few days ago, even if a binding agreement is reached here in Copenhagen it will not be ambitious

Obama Arrival to Bella Center: Danish News Coverage

2009-12-18T04:14:00.005-06:00

Obama representing the last great hope for progress to be made in a substantive agreement in Copenhagen dominated the Danish news who followed his every move from landing to arrival at the Bella Center. His plane arriving was carefully covered. Commentary of his arrival was about the "No Fly Zones" around the plane and limos, the secret service, and the presidential seal of the plane. The US

Alternative sites

2009-12-18T03:48:00.009-06:00

It's our last day in the greater Copenhagen metroplex. The conference has been shut down to all but the highest level people, so the organizers have set up an alternative site in Copenhagen for NGO delegates. We went there ("The Forum") yesterday to see what was happening, and as you see below, not much. The Forum seems to be a venue for concerts (Pink, Rammstein and Riverdance are coming) and

A look inside the Bella Center: Picture Tour

2009-12-18T02:44:00.006-06:00

This post will give you a peek inside the meeting spaces and setting of the conference meetings. The Karen Bilxen Hall, the smaller of the two halls used for full party negations. Many negitions took place here with the G77 and the African Group. Tranlator headset that use infrared transmissions to beam translations to participants. They only worked within the conference rooms. Watching the

Explore your World: Google Earth at COP15

2009-12-18T02:04:00.005-06:00

One of the most popular booths at COP15 near the Main Conference room attracted world leaders, NGOs, and Party delegates alike. This booth show the fascination with knowing the geography of the world. The 300 Degree visualization booth gave delegates a virtual fly through the globe. Connected directly through the internet, the platform provided everything that would be seen in a typical

Green Energy and Dirty Energy Landscape of Copenhagen

2009-12-18T01:35:00.009-06:00

While it is true that Denmark consumes less imported coal than it did in 1990 (Denmark has no domestic coal reserves), still 50% of Danish electricity, steam and heat supply still derives from the combustion of imported coal. Looking at the landscape around Copenhagen out to the surrounding areas, one will find multiple Coal Burning Power plants next to their green cousins the infamous

Cap and Trade: NGO Access to COP15

2009-12-17T22:31:00.014-06:00

The last week of COP15 famously left NGOs delegates out in the cold. Long lines, overcapacity, and a disorganized UN response pushed out NGOs participation. This impacted all NGO delegates and even some of the parties involved. Within the long lines to COP15, it was not uncommon to hear delegates say: "If the UN can not coordinate an international conference, how do they plan on

Making tracks

2009-12-17T15:12:00.005-06:00

Talks continue to sputter along here with (officially) one day left to go. I have heard from a number of sources that the expectation is that it will continue into Saturday even though it was only scheduled to last until Friday. Morale is pretty low among the delegates I have seen. The train ride home to Sweden last night (where many of the NGO delegates are staying) was full of downcast

A cautionary tale

2009-12-17T14:02:00.003-06:00

Imagine 100 families owning property around a lake. Five of them are mega-rich and have enormous mansions and estates while the rest have very little and some have nothing but the land they live on. For years, the owners of the mansion had enormous gardens where they grew everything they needed and even enough to sell to others. The plants in the garden were difficult to grow and took years to

Learning from Past Mistakes: Involving Congress in COP15

2009-12-17T10:33:00.010-06:00

Map of Countries who ratified Kyoto Protocol (Green) as of June 2009 Looking at the map above the big Red Country shows as a major road block in the Kyoto becoming a viable solution to Climate Change. In most people's opinion the source of the road block back in 1997 was the lack of Congressional involvement in the negations. Today and yesterday we seen congressional participation in Copenhagen

Winnowing complete

2009-12-17T02:13:00.003-06:00

Yesterday, the UN announced that today's attendance from NGO's would be limited to 1,000 people. Many of us took that to mean that no one was going to get in. Sure enough, this morning's programme announced that attendance would be limited to 300 people because of security concerns over there being 110+ heads of state in the Bella Center. Initially, I had tried to make the early train (5:48am)