Efficiency First

The second in a series of dispatches from the 2009 climate change summit sent to us by Amy L. Jarvis of Environmental Resources Management

After standing in line for over three hours yesterday in the bitter cold, I was able to register for the conference without a glitch. During which, I witnessed a couple of protests which were quite peaceful. If anything, it was really interesting to hear the Aussies proclaiming, with a blow-up kangaroo, that they need to stop shipping coal as an export.

Inside the conference is an interesting blend of people from all over the world, so hearing all the different languages is something that I will remember for a long time. Now that I have had the opportunity to walk around yesterday and get an understanding of how these conferences flow, I was able to attend the daily BINGO (Business and Industry Non-Governmental Organization) meeting that discusses the previous day’s activities, any new groups or organizations that were formed under the direction of the Chairman of the conference, and side events which may be of interest. This morning I was able to listen to various countries discuss their concerns/needs/questions to Forestry and Sustainable Development to the Chairman. Basically everyone here speaks English with the exception of a few, in which you have to don your headset for.

An observation that I have made is that there are two layers to this conference. The first layer is the volunteer organizations and environmental groups that are creating some of the flavorful protests and passing out pamphlets, etc. and the second is the members of delegations, non-governmental parties, and political leaders that are working to achieve a compromise on these important issues. I am lucky to be able to witness both sides of the issue. Everyone here is one when it comes to their motivation.

Interesting points made during this morning’s meeting:

1. There are many industrialized countries that have the capacity to further reduce their CO2 emissions but have yet to pronounce so. Meaning, the U.S. could proclaim it is meeting a certain percentage quota for a specific year but could actually do more.
2. The fact that the EPA may be leveraging their executive power to start implementing their emissions reduction goals by making the statement that CO2 and five other pollutants are harmful to human health and the environment in the U.S. EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson is going to be speaking here on Wednesday, and I look forward to hearing further on this regard. It could prove to lead to very interesting discussions.

In downtown Copenhagen, “The King’s Square,” there are displays of locations all over the planet that are at risk due to climate change. Interestingly enough, there was a picture of a forest in Quebec, Canada, which is very close to where I grew up in the Adirondacks, which was a sort of hitting home moment.

– Amy L. Jarvis