It’s Getting Hot In Here

Image from Blog Michael Stoltze

Connie Hedegaard just resigned as President of the UN climate talks here in Copenhagen. The Danish Prime Minister to take over.

Did we predict this to happen? Not exactly, though the move is general procedure here at the United Nations. It seems that it is the number of Heads of State that pushed this decision, which makes it more appropriate for the PM to negotiate.)

The pressing worry of the coming days here is that the negotiators who have been involved in this for years are now stepping back and letting politicians make the decisions, with a politician running the talks. The experts are on the sidelines.

The brilliant part of this is that negotiations and consultations — for the first time — are being done on every single level of government. It’s remarkable. Leaders, ministers, negotiators, etc.

It’s all hands on deck – now, to sink or to sail?

The CBC (Canadian Broadcasting Corporation), Canada’s largest news service, asked this question yesterday on their Power & Politics program. My answer is below, and you can add yours or ‘agree and disagree’ with posted comments by clicking here.

No and yes.

The federal government knows, and agrees with, what the science is saying. The sticking point is it is acting in a manner that assumes Canada deserves to pollute more than other rich and industrialized countries.

The government should step up to the plate and commit to doing our part. Canada is now among the top 10 greenhouse gas polluters in the world and is among the top 3 polluters per capita. Yet, every single G8 country is doing more than Canada on global warming. The US, for example, is investing 14x more in renewable energy per capita this year than Canada.

[Read: It's like showing up to a world pot-luck where every one else has cooked a meal and Canada thinks it's appropriate to show up with a bag of potato chips.] Continue reading ‘“Do you think the government is serious about climate change? Should it be?”’

I’ve been scrolling through the stats of this blog for the past 20 minutes, and it suddenly dawned on me how incredible this haven of writing really is. Together our team of volunteer writers – 321 contributors – have created a blog at the helm of an issue of our time. ItsGettingHotInHere.org began with a few dozen writers in 2005. And now we’ve had well over 1 million readers in the last 3 years.

Once newbie-bloggers, Richard Graves and myself (officially tied at 76 blog posts apiece) had the honor of being placed in a publication next to the likes of R.K. Pachauri of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, Michael Specter of The New Yorker, and U.S. Special Envoy on climate change Todd Stern this past week. The U.S. Department of State put out Climate Change Perspectives, a special edition of their monthly eJournal publication, printed versions of which go to embassies around the world. Enjoy the read!

International Youth: Fired Up About Climate Change, by Richard Graves: An American entrepreneur and activist writes that the generations that will inherit the impacts of climate change want environmental leadership, responsible climate policies, and green jobs.

O Canada: How Good It Could Be, by Zoë Caron: A young Canadian environmental activist surveys the climate change challenges in her country and how Canadian provincial governments are acting to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

This is a fabulous image of how close countries are to meeting their Kyoto Protocol commitments.

As David McCandless says, “There’s a lot of talk of a new world climate agreement in Copenhagen in December to succeed Kyoto. I wondered how the signatories of the first one were doing. Make up your own mind.”

Some are completely on track (Greece, Germany, Sweden and England) while others are very close (including Poland, Romania and Hungary). There’s also a fair-sized group that can still meet it if they ramp it up a bit (such as France, the Netherlands, and Belgium).

At the bottom are those who, well… maybe have to re-think their strategy (including Canada, Denmark, and Switzerland).

Enjoy!

So here’s why I interrupted my frivolous YouTube watching of recent Glee episodes (which I watch primarily to life-plan for the day that climate change is solved and I can finally pursue my dream of amateur Broadway. It’s between that and becoming the Jodie Foster à la Contact):

It’s that time of month again. Alllll the countries in the world (that can afford it) are in Bankok for a United Nations meeting on climate change. There has been a handful of them this year, about once every 6 weeks. They are discussion and working meetings for countries to talk about their climate change commitments.

The last of this year (where all the decisions have to be made) is in Copenhagen in December. (Kind of like each week of So You Think You Can Dance Canada leading up to the final showdown, and everybody wins in their heart regardless of those who technically come out on top.)

One would think, hope, etc, that the United Nations is an efficient and effective playground for ideas and decisions that ultimately impact the world for the better. Today in “plenary”, the main hall in talks that include all countries, Canada dragged out the conversation for a little longer than I would deem allowable, even by democratic standards.

Continue reading “World Compares Apples to Apples” here…

I can’t stand either. (Read: Major gaps existing in otherwise quite good material and design.)

Said tights.

Among the most important memos of the 21st century (aside from ‘It’s highly respected to still know all the words to New Kids on the Block’s ‘Step by Step’” and ‘No, it’s not okay to wear tights as pants, especially the slitted ones from American Apparel.’) is: ‘All other governments in the developed world are doing way more on climate change than Canada’.

Memos are what they are. Pop culture stands strong, fads fade (or are imagined), and the ambition of government tends to fall out of their pocket unnoticeably as they run down the halls of Parliament to their next meeting.

Continue reading Slit-leggings at American Apparel and Current Climate Policy in Canada

Yesterday’s online conversation with Canada’s Chief Negotiator, Mr Michael Martin. Read below for both the actual and the between-the-lines versions of this exchange. If you have questions you would like to ask him, email adoptanegotiator@campaginhub.org .

The questions:

1. What was Canada aiming to achieve with the intervention made in the Finance sub-committee [yesterday]?
2. What is the primary objective for the Canadian delegation this week?
3. Is the Canadian delegation going to (or want to) give the chair/facilitators a mandate to revise the text?

Continue reading “Update from Canada’s Lead Negotiator” here…

Cross-posted from Adopt a Negotiator campaign.

Governments have before them (in the aforementioned LCA session) anegotiating text: a framework of what the next step after, or within, the Kyoto Protocol will be. This document is public and available for download here.

(Note: this text appears to only currently be available in English. Don’t worry though – I hear that English is becoming the universal language anyway. The United Nations is probably testing the waters for a United Language – and where better than to test it then in practice!)

The chair who is running the LCA session has also written a personal note to set the tone for the talks. (Note: Also only in English, in true United Language fashion).

You may also… Wait for it…  Watch the web-cast LIVE of the UN negotiations. (!!!)

(Warning: This may bring feelings of over-stimulation. Who needs Wii when you have Yvo de Boer?)

I emailed Canada’s Chief Negotiator this morning to check in on the United Nations climate change discussions happening this week in Bonn, Germany. He soothed my heart by responding immediately from his BlackBerry amidst the main LCA session.

(LCA stands for Long-term Cooperative Action – or, more descriptively, Leaders Can’t-get-enough Airtime — or, more solution-oriented, Lend Canada Advice — or, depending on the day, Let’s Clap for the Americans.)

We’re heading into five days of climate talks. Here’s where we left off, and where we need to go:

Continue reading ‘C’est Bonn? C’est Bon, Bon, Bon?’ here…

The most common question I’ve been asked since returning to Halifax from the Bonn climate talks, which ended last Friday, is, “What was the most inspirational thing that happened?”

The United Kingdom’s emissions are dropping year by year. China has committed $600 billion into green technology. There were 100 passionate young people present, ensuring the presence of another generation was seen and heard. The United States is fully participating at the negotiating table. Rich and polluting countries support the science that a 25 to 40% emission cut below 1990 levels by 2020 is completely necessary, and that we may need to go even farther.

Inspirational notes aside, the resounding feeling coming away from the talks, is the deep rumbling craving for one simple attribute: Ambition.

Don’t get me wrong, the Bonn climate talks certainly moved forwards – like how my little sister moves forwards out of bed to the kitchen for breakfast at 6am. I want the negotiators to rush to their United Nations meeting desks with an ambitious level of tenacity, focus, and recognition of opportunity – because, the climate knows, we need it.

What is it that is missing? How can a driving desire for success be created? Is there a deeper level of emotion that needs unearthing? Do governments crave praise? Support? Love? Good will? Public demand? Is there more incentive needed?  I’ve adopted Canada’s negotiators. And I’m fiercely concerned about our country’s position based on the past 2 weeks.

Here’s why: Continue reading ‘Canada Bonn Climate Talks Wrap-Up’ here…