On December 6, I fly to Paris with Nick, KC, and Kelsey (all of us University of Iowa graduate students) to attend COP21. That's shorthand for United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change Conference of Parties. I am attending as a civilian. I have no credentials to enter the Blue Zone where the actual negotiations take place. Nick and KC will have press credentials. Up close and personal with movers and shakers.
I have access to the Civil Society Space where, according to the official COP21 website, "a hall for screenings and debates, a designated area for cultural, scientific and educational exhibitions, and fun-based interactive activities will provide opportunities to show how civil society is dealing with climate issues and how it views tomorrow’s world." Other events will be held in other parts of Paris.
The University of Iowa Center for Global & Environmental Research has sponsored Nick, KC, and I. I am the eyes and ears of the Iowa United Nations Association, the University of Iowa College of Education & the Center for Human Rights. As a human rights educator, I am particularly interested in climate and human rights. This I do for the national network of human rights educators, HRE USA.
"The goal for Paris in December is pretty clear-cut: to achieve a legally binding agreement, with universal participation among all nations, to keep global warming below what most scientists say is the critical threshold of 2 degrees Celsius of warming. (This refers to the increase in globally averaged temperature since the Industrial Revolution.)" This statement (from cnn.com) appears, in various formulations, in most media outlets. The earth is heating up and the various natural filters in the water and air, and on the land cannot process the excess at a rate that balances the input. Mary Wood, Philip H. Knight Professor of Law at the University of Oregon School of Law and author of Nature's Trust: Environmental Law for a New Ecological Age, describes global warming like this: if you sit in your car with the windows rolled up in the middle of summer it will get pretty hot in there and the first thing you do is open the window to release the heat. The earth's natural window can no longer be rolled down enough. The heat cannot escape either efficiently nor effectively. The jury has returned its verdict: anthropogenic (human generated) warming is a fact. The ramifications can be seen in the inability to grow certain crops, changes is water run-off from the mountains that feed groundwater, the threat to various animal and insect species, and, the most obvious, melting glaciers. It's a tall order for COP21: get nations to agree to a legally binding agreement, then enact national legislation to implement the agreement and convince business to rethink their motives, and inspire citizens to adapt their lifestyle.
Alors, on y va!
I have access to the Civil Society Space where, according to the official COP21 website, "a hall for screenings and debates, a designated area for cultural, scientific and educational exhibitions, and fun-based interactive activities will provide opportunities to show how civil society is dealing with climate issues and how it views tomorrow’s world." Other events will be held in other parts of Paris.
The University of Iowa Center for Global & Environmental Research has sponsored Nick, KC, and I. I am the eyes and ears of the Iowa United Nations Association, the University of Iowa College of Education & the Center for Human Rights. As a human rights educator, I am particularly interested in climate and human rights. This I do for the national network of human rights educators, HRE USA.
"The goal for Paris in December is pretty clear-cut: to achieve a legally binding agreement, with universal participation among all nations, to keep global warming below what most scientists say is the critical threshold of 2 degrees Celsius of warming. (This refers to the increase in globally averaged temperature since the Industrial Revolution.)" This statement (from cnn.com) appears, in various formulations, in most media outlets. The earth is heating up and the various natural filters in the water and air, and on the land cannot process the excess at a rate that balances the input. Mary Wood, Philip H. Knight Professor of Law at the University of Oregon School of Law and author of Nature's Trust: Environmental Law for a New Ecological Age, describes global warming like this: if you sit in your car with the windows rolled up in the middle of summer it will get pretty hot in there and the first thing you do is open the window to release the heat. The earth's natural window can no longer be rolled down enough. The heat cannot escape either efficiently nor effectively. The jury has returned its verdict: anthropogenic (human generated) warming is a fact. The ramifications can be seen in the inability to grow certain crops, changes is water run-off from the mountains that feed groundwater, the threat to various animal and insect species, and, the most obvious, melting glaciers. It's a tall order for COP21: get nations to agree to a legally binding agreement, then enact national legislation to implement the agreement and convince business to rethink their motives, and inspire citizens to adapt their lifestyle.
Alors, on y va!