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.
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