Tuesday 30 November 2010
still overwhelmed on day 2
I headed into the conference center around 7:15 again today. I was the spokesperson for SustainUS on the spokescouncil, the group of youth NGO's decision-making body.
I spent the morning polishing the 1.5 degree policy statement and then attended a meeting of SBSTA (Subsidary Body for Scientific and Technological Advice), which I have to say was not the most enthralling meeting that I've been to. It was spent discussing the emission cuts to be put into place by the international air transport and marine transport industries. Then I made it back to Cancun Messe just in time for a side event being held by 350 and the center for biological diversity. It was an honest presentation about the urgency of climate change, and thus was scary; but the potential for political action in the US was discussed. Essentially, if green house gases are titled a pollutant by the EPA under the Clean Air Act, the federal government is required to mandate a sufficient decrease "to protect public health to an adequate margin of safety, reflecting current scientific knowledge." This limit would be 350 ppm or 1.5 degrees celsius maximum rise in global mean temperature.
After the fossil of the day, awarded to Japan for its open refusal to commit to an extension of the Kyoto Protocol :( , and a delegation meeting, I headed back to the hotel, hoping for an early night.
I spent the morning polishing the 1.5 degree policy statement and then attended a meeting of SBSTA (Subsidary Body for Scientific and Technological Advice), which I have to say was not the most enthralling meeting that I've been to. It was spent discussing the emission cuts to be put into place by the international air transport and marine transport industries. Then I made it back to Cancun Messe just in time for a side event being held by 350 and the center for biological diversity. It was an honest presentation about the urgency of climate change, and thus was scary; but the potential for political action in the US was discussed. Essentially, if green house gases are titled a pollutant by the EPA under the Clean Air Act, the federal government is required to mandate a sufficient decrease "to protect public health to an adequate margin of safety, reflecting current scientific knowledge." This limit would be 350 ppm or 1.5 degrees celsius maximum rise in global mean temperature.
After the fossil of the day, awarded to Japan for its open refusal to commit to an extension of the Kyoto Protocol :( , and a delegation meeting, I headed back to the hotel, hoping for an early night.
day 1 of COP
Today was the first day of the COP. We left around 7:15 to take the free shuttle to the Cancun Messe, where NGOs and country booths are, as well as our own SustainUS booth. First, most of my delegation attended the Spokes Council meeting of YOUNGO (youth NGOs). Today was fairly logistical, but we had a taste of the complexity of the deliberation process. I have been looking into and supporting the 1.5 review, trying to write a policy statement for it.
It's astonishing how cold the negotiating centers are! They keep the air conditioning up so high, ironically with the doors open.
I attended a side event put on by the Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency about how far the Copenhagen targets are from the 2 degrees commitment, which was interesting.
In the afternoon I made it over to the Moon Palace (about a 15 minute shuttle ride away) and sat in on a CMP (Conference Meeting of Parties). Countries were giving species on behalf of groups of countries about their hopes for the conference. It's amazing to see it in real life, to hear the opinions coming from real people's mouths.
I then headed back to the Cancun Messe for the presentation of the Fossil of the Day (the worst polluter/negotiator for a reasonable treaty). First, second, and third place were all given to Canada, for their tar sands, tabling of their climate bill by a non-congress, and their failure to pursue their already weak emissions reduction.
After a short delegation meeting, I headed back with the policy working group to the Moon Palace for a meeting about policy. This meeting revealed the complications of requesting 1.5 degrees to be the aim rather than 2 degrees as a maximum rise in global temperature. Apparently we have already committed ourselves (with our 390ppm) to a 1.4 - 2 degrees increase and carbon sequestration is not yet sufficiently developed. I do not know how that proposal will be received on YOUNGO, in fact my support for it has waned, after hearing the sophisticated arguments of my co-delegates.
I'm honored to be on this delegation, they seem to have their act together.
Supper consisted of free food at a reception on the "Moon Terrace" of the Moon Palace, which was pleasant because of the sea breeze.
Took the shuttle back to our apartment which took about an hour.
Heading to bed quite desperate for rest.
-Laura
1 day into the UN.
Another day the Conference of the Youth and my first day at the UNFCCC negogiations and how do I feel? Exhausted, to say the least. But simaltaneously wierdly excited. We managed to get 350 on board with our campaign, which is exciting stuff, almost finished our report, and I spent a lot of yesterday writing emails to encourage people to take notes for delegationsupport.
We also made contact with the delegation from Kiribati, a useful link to start with.
All in all for us quite a succesful day.
Yet nonetheless the somewhat tacky structures of the Moon Palace, the suit wearing serious negogiators and the complex array of actroynms and facts being thrown around made for quite an intimidating atmosphere. I suppose it is to be expected.
On the actual negogiations I here are a few highlights of what was said yesterday. The Mexican President made a hugely powerful opening speech about the need of strong action and the need for it now, he spoke of how leaders should not approach these negogiations as politicians but as ancestors of the human race.
The statement of aims made by all the groups were an interesting start with a lack of concrete commitments from anyone from the West and very concrete requests from the countries of the southern hemisphere.
Also interesting was the speech made by Venezuala on behalf of a number of South American countries which launched a vicious, if unnaming, attack on the lack of American participation in all the negogiations up to this point.
Almost unanimous among the speakers though, and perhaps the thing we really need to aim for in Cancun, was the need for a 2nd commitment period under the Kyoto Protocol. For those who don't know the Kyoto Protocol was set up to have a number of commitment periods, but in the original document they only included the targets for emmissions up to 2012, with the expectation that the ones for post 2012 would be written in the interim. So far, they haven't been.
If you want more detailed notes on the discussions check out delegationsupport.wordpress.com where more and more notes will be posted as the conference continues.
Since Laura hasn't posted for a while I will say that she is still alive and well and being as overwhelmed and excited by this process as I am.
Blue Skies
Lindsay
We also made contact with the delegation from Kiribati, a useful link to start with.
All in all for us quite a succesful day.
Yet nonetheless the somewhat tacky structures of the Moon Palace, the suit wearing serious negogiators and the complex array of actroynms and facts being thrown around made for quite an intimidating atmosphere. I suppose it is to be expected.
On the actual negogiations I here are a few highlights of what was said yesterday. The Mexican President made a hugely powerful opening speech about the need of strong action and the need for it now, he spoke of how leaders should not approach these negogiations as politicians but as ancestors of the human race.
The statement of aims made by all the groups were an interesting start with a lack of concrete commitments from anyone from the West and very concrete requests from the countries of the southern hemisphere.
Also interesting was the speech made by Venezuala on behalf of a number of South American countries which launched a vicious, if unnaming, attack on the lack of American participation in all the negogiations up to this point.
Almost unanimous among the speakers though, and perhaps the thing we really need to aim for in Cancun, was the need for a 2nd commitment period under the Kyoto Protocol. For those who don't know the Kyoto Protocol was set up to have a number of commitment periods, but in the original document they only included the targets for emmissions up to 2012, with the expectation that the ones for post 2012 would be written in the interim. So far, they haven't been.
If you want more detailed notes on the discussions check out delegationsupport.wordpress.com where more and more notes will be posted as the conference continues.
Since Laura hasn't posted for a while I will say that she is still alive and well and being as overwhelmed and excited by this process as I am.
Blue Skies
Lindsay
Sunday 28 November 2010
With a View of the Cancun Lagoon.
Quite a lot has happened since I sat in Mexico City airport trying to put together a few words to express what was going on in my head. Coherence is still, as Laura said, slightly lacking, but we're getting there.
My first day here I merely waited for Charlie and Laurence to arrive and was cooked for and taken out for a meal by our amazing hosts. During our meal we talked about Mexico, about it's problems and about the craziness of this place. To try and explain, Cancun was nothing about 30 years ago; it is now a city with a population of over 1 million. It sprung out of nowhere to fund tourism, and has a multi-million dollar hotel district next to the "regions" areas of impoverished Mexicans. On top of that a hurricane struck in 2005 with devastating consequences for everyone involved. I could go on, but suffice to say Cancun is a city riddled with beauty, confusion and contrast.
And then yesterday we attended conference of the youth. The workshops being offered were diverse and fascinating; I gained a basic understanding of the UNFCCC process (moral of the story: use less acronyms please.) and listened to an uplifting speech on how the youth movement MUST NOT turn into the biased, unrepresentative organization which is the UN. Regardless of what I learnt though the most amazing thing about COY was merely being surrounded by other young people who cared about climate change. And who were willing to dedicate two weeks of their life to the cause.
After grabbing some dinner and being astounded by the prices in the local supermarket we headed back to our lovely hosts house, where the real work began. We wrote a workshop for tomorrow's COY and discussed our long term aims at the conference. Which for those of you interested fall into three categories:
- Practical help for delegates (Kiribati etc.)
- Our website delegationsupport.wordpress.com, which hopes to publish unbiased "minutes" of every UN strand meeting
- A report called "Filling Information Gaps" which Charlie among others wrote and which we hope to gain media attention for as well as some kind of protest/action.
After working on this for a good number of hours I passed out on my bed.
I wrote a long post because I get the feeling they're going to get shorter and shorter as my time is more and more restricted.
"You become needed in the movement, when you realise you are not needed in the movement"
Blue Skies
Lindsay
My first day here I merely waited for Charlie and Laurence to arrive and was cooked for and taken out for a meal by our amazing hosts. During our meal we talked about Mexico, about it's problems and about the craziness of this place. To try and explain, Cancun was nothing about 30 years ago; it is now a city with a population of over 1 million. It sprung out of nowhere to fund tourism, and has a multi-million dollar hotel district next to the "regions" areas of impoverished Mexicans. On top of that a hurricane struck in 2005 with devastating consequences for everyone involved. I could go on, but suffice to say Cancun is a city riddled with beauty, confusion and contrast.
And then yesterday we attended conference of the youth. The workshops being offered were diverse and fascinating; I gained a basic understanding of the UNFCCC process (moral of the story: use less acronyms please.) and listened to an uplifting speech on how the youth movement MUST NOT turn into the biased, unrepresentative organization which is the UN. Regardless of what I learnt though the most amazing thing about COY was merely being surrounded by other young people who cared about climate change. And who were willing to dedicate two weeks of their life to the cause.
After grabbing some dinner and being astounded by the prices in the local supermarket we headed back to our lovely hosts house, where the real work began. We wrote a workshop for tomorrow's COY and discussed our long term aims at the conference. Which for those of you interested fall into three categories:
- Practical help for delegates (Kiribati etc.)
- Our website delegationsupport.wordpress.com, which hopes to publish unbiased "minutes" of every UN strand meeting
- A report called "Filling Information Gaps" which Charlie among others wrote and which we hope to gain media attention for as well as some kind of protest/action.
After working on this for a good number of hours I passed out on my bed.
I wrote a long post because I get the feeling they're going to get shorter and shorter as my time is more and more restricted.
"You become needed in the movement, when you realise you are not needed in the movement"
Blue Skies
Lindsay
Friday 26 November 2010
in a snazzy youth hostel
I arrived last evening to Cancun, grateful to be on the same flight from Miami as the head of our delegation. There are 5 out of 19 of us here so far. We are currently staying in a hostel in central cancun which has free wifi and a rooftop patio with hammocks and a jacuzzi.
Today we went to COY6 (the 6th conference of youth) at the Universidad del Caribe. There were over 100 youth there, from over 22 different countries. I attended a workshop titled "a crash course on the UNFCCC," which helped to clarify the structure in my mind. Then we moved from the the university to a hotel patio where we learned about the different working groups and met some NGO representatives. It will be difficult to remain focused since so many different, interesting, and relevant things will be happening at the same time. I might be involved in forests, making the point of 1.5 degrees C rather than 2, or something more strategic. I went with Ethan Case and Valida Prentice to a meeting about strategy with youth from all over the world, which was fascinating but quite complicated and a bit political.
I'm hoping to have more clarity as the days go by, am sure I will.
-Laura
Today we went to COY6 (the 6th conference of youth) at the Universidad del Caribe. There were over 100 youth there, from over 22 different countries. I attended a workshop titled "a crash course on the UNFCCC," which helped to clarify the structure in my mind. Then we moved from the the university to a hotel patio where we learned about the different working groups and met some NGO representatives. It will be difficult to remain focused since so many different, interesting, and relevant things will be happening at the same time. I might be involved in forests, making the point of 1.5 degrees C rather than 2, or something more strategic. I went with Ethan Case and Valida Prentice to a meeting about strategy with youth from all over the world, which was fascinating but quite complicated and a bit political.
I'm hoping to have more clarity as the days go by, am sure I will.
-Laura
Thursday 25 November 2010
In Mexico City Airport.
Not much time before my connection to Cancun leaves but just enough.
So after a whirlpool introduction to Southern American culture with big cars, friendliness and turkey I've managed to make it to Mexico.
Currently on my mind are my chances of making it to the place I'm staying alive, and the fact that I spend 50 pesas on a 30 pesa phone card, which I didn't use.
It has also been wierd to watch the unfolding scenes of Chaos on the streets of Britain, whilst half way across the world, not to mention the bombing by north Korea.
Yesterday Laura and I read through an Oxfam briefing paper on possible outcomes of Cancun and I'm starting to believe that Collapse may be a favourable result; due to the publicity and re-energization it would hopefully prompt.
I'm excited to start taking part in the conference of youth tomorrow, but before then I can't wait for a friendly face and warm bed after a long lonely day of travelling.
Blue Skies.
Lindsay
So after a whirlpool introduction to Southern American culture with big cars, friendliness and turkey I've managed to make it to Mexico.
Currently on my mind are my chances of making it to the place I'm staying alive, and the fact that I spend 50 pesas on a 30 pesa phone card, which I didn't use.
It has also been wierd to watch the unfolding scenes of Chaos on the streets of Britain, whilst half way across the world, not to mention the bombing by north Korea.
Yesterday Laura and I read through an Oxfam briefing paper on possible outcomes of Cancun and I'm starting to believe that Collapse may be a favourable result; due to the publicity and re-energization it would hopefully prompt.
I'm excited to start taking part in the conference of youth tomorrow, but before then I can't wait for a friendly face and warm bed after a long lonely day of travelling.
Blue Skies.
Lindsay
Monday 22 November 2010
Stage 1.
So we've arrived in London, and will board our flight to Tennessee tomorrow.
Thanks very much to everyone who came to wave us goodbye and wish us good luck; we may well need it.
Our inboxes our flooded with conference emails, our minds our full of hopes and dreams and we've both managed to miss out key parts of our university applications; whatever will be will be.
Farewell to this island for now.
Thanks very much to everyone who came to wave us goodbye and wish us good luck; we may well need it.
Our inboxes our flooded with conference emails, our minds our full of hopes and dreams and we've both managed to miss out key parts of our university applications; whatever will be will be.
Farewell to this island for now.
Thursday 18 November 2010
3 days till departure.
We're slightly too excited by the idea of having a blog to form a coherent passage on our impending departure.
So a little bit of background. I (Laura) am going to COP16 with the US youth delegation- Sustain US. I am slightly intimidated by the concept of attending a UN negotiation, though I have always been excited by model UN and the UN building in NYC. Fear: that the youth/realistic people's opinion will not be taken seriously; and that I will be emotionally overwhelmed (this is certain). Hope: that I will learn from the experience, so that I will have a better ability to have a positive impact on addressing climate change in the next few years of my life.
And I, Lindsay, (I can tell this is going to get confusing) am attending the conference with the UNfair play delegation. We have been kindly sponsored by Global Changemakers (http://www.global-changemakers.net/) in order to help the underrepresented delegates have their voices heard in cancun. Along with a number of other United World College students (http://www.uwc.org/) I plan on doing anything I can to help make the United Nations system as fair as possible. Fear: that we will fail to secure any kind of deal at what could be our last opportunity. Hope: That I will learn enough to teach idealistic young people how to have influence in the real world.
So before we fly off to Tenessee on Tuesday we have a fundraising event to plan/run. Our "pub quiz" format seems to be gaining some interest so fingers crossed we will raise a fair amount of money on Saturday night to help pay for the costs of flights.
Keep checking this blog and we'll update it as often as possible with our discoveries, frustations, and who knows maybe even successes.
Blue skies.
So a little bit of background. I (Laura) am going to COP16 with the US youth delegation- Sustain US. I am slightly intimidated by the concept of attending a UN negotiation, though I have always been excited by model UN and the UN building in NYC. Fear: that the youth/realistic people's opinion will not be taken seriously; and that I will be emotionally overwhelmed (this is certain). Hope: that I will learn from the experience, so that I will have a better ability to have a positive impact on addressing climate change in the next few years of my life.
And I, Lindsay, (I can tell this is going to get confusing) am attending the conference with the UNfair play delegation. We have been kindly sponsored by Global Changemakers (http://www.global-changemakers.net/) in order to help the underrepresented delegates have their voices heard in cancun. Along with a number of other United World College students (http://www.uwc.org/) I plan on doing anything I can to help make the United Nations system as fair as possible. Fear: that we will fail to secure any kind of deal at what could be our last opportunity. Hope: That I will learn enough to teach idealistic young people how to have influence in the real world.
So before we fly off to Tenessee on Tuesday we have a fundraising event to plan/run. Our "pub quiz" format seems to be gaining some interest so fingers crossed we will raise a fair amount of money on Saturday night to help pay for the costs of flights.
Keep checking this blog and we'll update it as often as possible with our discoveries, frustations, and who knows maybe even successes.
Blue skies.
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