– This editorial is re-posted from the Yale School of Forestry & Environmental Studies official COP 17 blog, found here. It was originally titled, “Speaking but not listening: meeting but not engaging.” – After four days of COP negotiations it’s apparent that parties need to spend less time delivering statements they have prepared in advance and more time listening to […]
Nebulous
The Challenge of Maintaining Ecosystem Services
n 1997, New York City decided to allocate $1.5 billion to preserve and restore the Catskill/Delaware Watershed, an ecosystem over 100 miles outside of the city limits. The venture was more than an act of ecological good will; it was a savvy investment in the well being of New York City’s 8 million residents. Unlike many cities, the five boroughs—and […]
Occupy COP17 & the Women’s Rural Assembly
Protestors have gathered outside the fenced perimeter of the massive COP17 conference center to encourage world leaders to keep the Kyoto Protocol alive and, in the words of one sign, “keep the coal in the hole.” Today the Women’s Rural Assembly arrived to support the protest. At least a hundred smiling women marched in to the familiar drone of vuvuzelas, […]
South Africa and the Climate Conference accelerator
The Yale student delegation is staying in a hotel as far away from Durban, and the COP17 conference center, as physically possible. A muddy trek up a hill, past hasty developments of car dealerships and construction supply companies, brings you to the COP17 “shuttle” pickup – aka the parking lot of a bustling BP gas station. An hour and a […]
Do you know your COP IQ?
– The following has been re-posted from the Yale School of Forestry & Environmental Studies official student delegation blog, found here – he COP17 events kicked into high gear at the welcome party at City Hall last night (seriously, the African dancers were doing these super high kicks as part of their routine, very impressive). UNFCCC Secretariat Christiana Figueres and […]
COP17: What to Expect When You’re Expecting Climate Change
What can we expect from this year’s climate conference? With well more then 15,000 delegates likely to be in attendance (COP15 had more then 24,000!) we can expect a lot, at least on the discussion side of things. At the risk of missing something, I will say only that two of the main issues on everyone’s mind will be: 1) […]
COP17: On the Ground for the Latest Round of Climate Talks
It’s that time of the year again. Leaves are changing. Warm jackets are emerging from attic closets. Forgotten winter boots reappear in mudrooms. And diplomats, from all corners of the globe, are gathering, as they do this time every year, to contemplate the future of our planet and, quite possibly, engineer a solution to the greatest crisis our world has […]
Audacious Hope: An Interview with Environmental Activist Sharon Smith
Author, activist, and Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies student Sharon Smith knows a thing or two about organizing.
Activist and Social Entrepreneur Jeff Gang on Green Organizing and Green Buying
If an environmental advocate has sent you an email, called your phone, or knocked on your door in the last two years, there’s a pretty good chance you’ve made the acquaintance of Jeff Gang. In his year as a Green Corps organizer, Jeff jetted from California to Maine to Minnesota, leading environmental campaigns and striking fear into the heart of […]
Night Swimming in the Amazon
“The Peruvian Amazon never fails to impose quandaries.”
Conservation scientist Sarah Federman describes one night’s mishap near a far-flung research station in the isolated Peruvian Amazon.
Fishing for the Future of Fish
Angela Orthmeyer reports on fishers across America who are voluntarily changing the way they fish so that their kids will someday be able to fish as well. She visits four towns to talk to four innovators who are fishing for the future.
The Anti-Sushi (of Miya’s Sushi)
The concept of “sustainable seafood” has become an oxymoron, but not at Miya’s Sushi, where chef Bun Lai is tossing out old standards in favor of the local, the safe, the clean — the under-appreciated.