Climate Blue — A climate meeting point

Ratification of Kyoto Protocol Extension unlikely this week

by Miguel Sossa December 2, 2010

Photo: Courtesy of Juan Cespedes, The University of Michigan COP 16 Envoy’s guest photographer
From inside the UN Delegation Hall:
Only 132 countries of the expected 190 delegations are present in today’s meetings. Only a few delegations – less than 25 by my count – have offered any indication that they will ratify an extension of the Kyoto [...]

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Putting Action-Based Learning to good use

by Miguel Sossa December 2, 2010

24 Hours.
That was all the time a fledgling organization, Living Forest, and the Mexican Ministry on the Environment had to create a full program promoting forest promotion and marketability. At their unique request, the University of Michigan Envoy was charged on Monday night with organizing, creating, and implementing an end-to-end communication strategy to promote the [...]

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UNFCCC COP 16 Executive Secretary Goes Blue!

by Miguel Sossa December 2, 2010

Photo: Courtesy of Juan Cespedes, The University of Michigan COP 16 Envoy’s guest photographer
Today, the University of Michigan COP 16 Student Envoy proudly presented Christiana Figueres, the Executive Secretary of the UNFCCC COP 16, with a UMICH COP 16 T-shirt designed by our very own SNRE student Katie Pethan. Executive Secretary Figueres promptly cheered “Go Blue!” [...]

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Adaptation Funding – A Real Need

by Miguel Sossa December 2, 2010

From inside the UN Delegation Hall – 2:00 pm:
Professor Thomas Gladwin, instructor for the University of Michigan’s annual Erb Seminar, asked his students to debate the following statement: “Humanity will be able to limit global warming to no more than 1.5-2.0 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels and will thus experience abrupt, irreversible, runaway and catastrophic [...]

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Hope in the world of Bubba Gump

by Doug Glancy December 2, 2010

As many will likely remember, Bubba Gump was a fictional character in a fairytale who’s largely oblivious to his surroundings. Unfortunately, after one day in Cancun, I’m coming to the conclusion that sometimes a fictional character can represent reality much more closely than hope.
The difference in setting could not be more stark between COP-15 [...]

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Google Earth and Climate Change

by Nick December 1, 2010

A very cool set of videos over at Google Earth.
Use Google Earth to learn about adaptation strategies that mitigate the effects of climate change. The Google Earth Outreach team and our partners have created this series of tours and videos. Fly over tree canopies in 3D, learn about how climate change affects our planet and [...]

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The End of the Honeymoon

by Doug Glancy December 1, 2010

Early this morning, I joined a hoard of honeymooners on a Delta flight to Cancun. Unfortunately, however, I wasn’t traveling to Cancun for 8 days of fun in the sun. In fact, I’d argue our collective honeymoon is already over. Don’t get me wrong: our best days can still before us, but my own personal [...]

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Patents and Climate Change

by Kevin Reed November 30, 2010

Quick post – Over the past decade there has been a growth in patents that relate to climate change, mainly in clean energy technologies. The growth in such patents really started following the Kyoto Protocol. This afternoon I was fortunate to listen to a side event sponsored by the European Patent Office (EPO) entitled “Patents, [...]

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Are Tropical Cyclones Changing?

by Kevin Reed November 30, 2010

Hello from Cancun and COP 16! This afternoon the U.S. Center sponsored a talk titled “Tropical Cyclones and Climate Change”. The speakers included Tom Knutson (NOAA), Scott Braun (NASA) and William Putman (NASA). The discussion focused on improving our understanding of how future tropical cyclones may change due to global warming.

Dr. Knutson presented the findings [...]

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Thoughts from newly elected UNFCCC Executive Secretary

by Miguel Sossa November 29, 2010

As doors open at today’s convention, newly elected UNFCCC Executive Secretary, Christiana Figueres of Costa Rica, is already making headlines. Instead of focusing on promoting the hope of a long-standing legal accord, she has channeled her vision for the convention’s success into these four areas of accomplishment:

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