Roughly two weeks ago, Sophie and I were able to attend an event called TippingPoint held at Columbia University’s Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory. TippingPoint is a UK organization which, until now, has held several conferences only in Europe. Its objective is to catalyze an “intense dialogue between artists, scientists, and others close to the heart of the issue” of climate change. The two day conference was a whirlwind of ideas, with addresses from important members of both the art and science communities, and representation from both camps (though there seemed to be a disproportionate amount of “artists”). One thing which made this event unique for me was an activity designated “open space technology,” during which participants submitted topics for discussion and grouped around those topics for discussion. Continue reading →
Welcome to the California Climate Champions program!
Follow the California Climate Champions as they blog live from the UN conference on climate change in Copenhagen December 6-12.
TippingPoint: New York
January 4th, 2010 — Written by: alexanderl — general
Post-Copenhagen
January 4th, 2010 — Written by: kaylac — general
I’ve been home for about four days now, but the preceeding ten days have left me with much to think about. I’ve come to respect foreign nations more, to understand international politics, and to realize the place of the United States, and American youth, in the effort against climate change.
Three things really stood out to me from the trip to Copenhagen, one very small, and two quite huge.
A few times during the week, all the climate champs would meet at a local college in downtown Copenhagen. Some of the older champions were staying here, (as opposed to the elementry school the youngins were staying at in the country side) so it was a sort of focal point for the lot of us. One of the evenings Melody, a consultant hired by the British Council to manage the venture, led us in a warmup before our debriefing that evening. It was a really simple song (two words) that sang ‘bella momma’ over and over. In Italian, that means beautiful mother, in Swahili, it means Mother Earth. This song repeated that phrase over and over, and without any music, the result was so beautiful. It was the melding of voices of teens from all over the world, there were about 30 of us at that point, that made you feel like yes, an individual representative of my country, but also a unified body. And it was that unity that really spoke to me. Continue reading →
Climate Champion blogs for National Journal
December 16th, 2009 — Written by: bc_admin — general
Check out Adam’s guest post on National Journal’s Copenhagen Insider blog.
100,000 people, 1 voice
December 14th, 2009 — Written by: kaylac — general
Climate Justice?
December 14th, 2009 — Written by: kaylac — general
Justice? Climate? Climate Justice?
If you drive under the influence in the state of California and hit another car, committing manslaughter (murder 3), you will go to jail for several years, pay a hefty fine, and have your license revoked. This is the State’s way of bringing people to justice who hurt others without intent, but ended with the same result of premeditated murder. The government holds those people responsible for their damaging actions, even though the party in question had no intent of inflicting pain on others. A society’s responsibility for its actions, both mistakes and successes, is crucial; and while the United States has this concept completely in check for physical injury to its own citizens, we cannot seem to apply the same to individuals in areas of the world hurt greatly by climate change.
Compliance
December 11th, 2009 — Written by: adamr — general
Today I attended the actual Conference of Parties plenary session where the nations in attendance took sides on issues and debated countries proposals in preparation for the high level negotiations next week. Island countries and some of the others most affected by climate change passionately voiced their concerns and called for greater action. India and China rejected the Tuvalu Proposal, yet gave very convincing reasoning for doing so.
The United States representative reached for the microphone and I leaned in on the edge of my seat. Expecting a grand speech, or at the very least a definitive position. Continue reading →
