Yale President Richard C. Levin once asked, “How do we prevent the continued consumption of fossil fuels from warming our planet to the point that ecosystems are destroyed, food supplies are threatened, and rising sea levels force hundreds of millions to relocate?” Last month in Doha, the world sought to find an answer at the 2012 United Nations Climate Change Conference, […]
COP18
“We Are All Neighbors with Joined Doors”: Climate Justice and the UNFCCC
ednesday, December 5th: deep within the bizarre landscape of minarets, oil refineries that stretch out into the sandy horizon, and a wildly ad hoc, opulent, and strangely 1970’s-going-on-the-future skyline, the annual UNFCCC conferencemoves along in its second week. In these last days of COP 18, much still remains open and on the table. Itappears that there will be a second commitment […]
The Hunt for Accountability, From Rio to Doha
Before I started my graduate studies in August, I was campaigning incessantly with the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) to drive the Rio+20 Earth Summit process towards real actions and accountability. I am carrying on the same mission to the UN Climate Conference in Doha with fellow students from Yale, but with a new tool at hand – a smartphone and web […]
Paleo-what?: Introducing the Ancient Climate Record into Modern Negotiations
s the COP18 in Doha cranks along into its second week, onlookers follow the proceedings and ponder how the results of continued negotiation will affect them. Frustrated environmental activists bemoan the slow progress made by the UNFCCC over the past two decades and call for more ambitious action, industry groups look out for any changes in emissions reduction targets or […]
New Zealand’s ultimate “COP Out” of the Kyoto Protocol
New Zealand’s government announced in a statement on Nov.9 that it is not in the country’s interests to be “stuck in the Kyoto space for another eight years,” only a few weeks before nations met in Doha for the next round of climate negotiations. Like most Kiwis, I pride myself with New Zealand’s commitment to a “100 percent green and clean image.” But […]
A new smart phone app seeks to hold climate negotiators accountable
This week negotiators from around the world will meet in Doha, Qatar to once again hem and haw their way through an international climate conference. Though we can expect the usual commitment dodging and grandstanding from the world’s leaders, assembled onlookers hoping to hold their representatives accountable will have a new tool in their arsenal this year: a smart phone […]
A Garden in the Heart of Doha
I was one of many surprised when Qatar was chosen to host this year’s COP. Qatar is the world’s largest liquefied natural gas producer and home to the world’s third largest natural gas reserves. The country’s pro tennis tournament is the Qatar ExxonMobil Open. An OPEC member chairing a climate change conference? Simply put, carbon has made modern Qatar what it is today. […]