Nova Scotian activists return home from the Copenhagen climate conference with one adjective in their hearts: disappointed. Thea Whitman, a Kings County member of the Canadian Youth Delegation, is distressed that so little has resulted from 15 years of conferences. “While the Copenhagen Accord cites a goal of limiting warming to two degrees,” she says, […]
Copenhagen
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Emily Rideout Post-Copenhagen Debrief
I asked Sierra Club Atlantic representative and Dal student Emily Rideout for her post-Copenhagen thoughts. What were her feelings about the conference and the outcome, and what’s next for the climate movement? Here is Emily’s response: There was some progress made in terms of process that may help us create a real climate deal within […]
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Thea Whitman Post Copenhagen Debrief
I asked Kings County activist and member of the Canadian Youth Delegation Thea Whitman for her post-Copenhagen thoughts. What were her feelings about the conference and the outcome, and what’s next for the climate movement? Here is Thea’s response: I am disappointed – you might even say devastated – to see this as the result […]
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Andrew Weaver: “Global leaders have abdicated their responsibility”
Andrew Weaver, a climatologist at the University of Victoria, is considered Canada’s foremost climate scientist. He is respected internationally as well, as he is the lead co-author of the last three reports issued by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the world body charged with studying climate change. When I interviewed Weaver in September, he told me that the UN conference on climate change to be held in Copenhagen in December was humanity’s “last chance” to avoid reaching irreversible climate change. “If agreement isn’t reached at Copenhagen, we might as well forget about it,” he told me at the time.
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They Failed Us
oops we failed again It ended with a whimper. Humanity should be so lucky. After 12 days of bitter arguments, leaked documents, sit-ins and arrests, negotiators agreed it would be the lowest common denominator all around. Poor countries didn’t want rich countries verifying their results. They got what they wanted. Rich countries didn’t want citizens […]
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No Deal
photo by Chris Benjamin Twitter was so right. Hours before the Globe and Mail posted the story rumours started circulating that leaders had failed to make a deal and had been asked to stick it out another day. The PMO’s office denies it but says “negotiations are still ongoing.” Somebody should tell Russia’s Medvedev that; […]
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Final Day, Maybe
It’s the final day of the Copenhagen climate conference. In the words of WWF Sweden CEO Lasse Gustavsson, “world leaders have arrived and negotiated overnight with little or no progress.” Shocking that even with 120 super-egos in the room they couldn’t save the world overnight. You think maybe they should have allotted more time for […]
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Q & A with Dr. Claire Campbell in Copenhagen
Q. Is this your first experience at an international conference of this nature? Like many academics I go to international conferences occasionally, though I’ve never been to a COP. I was just in Copenhagen in August, actually, for the first World Congress in Environmental History. Denmark is my favourite country in the world after Canada, […]
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The People Won’t Stop
A few old lessons I’ve re-learned from the Copenhagen climate conference so far: -The rich and the poor resent each other. They don’t trust each other. -Assembly and free speech are no long accepted human rights in the corridors of power. Our so-called democratic leaders would rather crack the whip than listen to millions of […]
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VIDEO: NGO Smackdown at COP15
“I couldn’t get in today even though I have all the right badges,” Emily Rideout tells me. “It’s total BS.” She confirms reports that NGO workers have been mostly shut out of today’s negotiations and plenaries in Copenhagen. UN climate chief Yvo de Boer is claiming responsibility for booking more than 46,000 people into the […]
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Real Negotiations Begin in Copenhagen
Everyone’s going gaga over the arrival in Copenhagen of the Prince of Wales, who is really the Prince of England, who really has no power except the influence media and celebrity worship afford him. Yep, things keep getting weirder in Copenhagen, or maybe we’re just better equipped to witness the weirdness and paying more attention […]
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Canada’s Copenhagen Backslide
Pembina Institute’s Matthew Bramley After getting called out by the Yes Men mega-pranksters, it seemed Canada had hit rock bottom in Copenhagen. Not so. Late yesterday afternoon CBC got its publicly funded paws on a draft presentation by Environment Minister Jim Prentice. “It proposes regulations for greenhouse gas emissions for the oil and gas and […]