Climate Change Conference, Paris
Former Costa Rican president José María Figueres is a man who wears many hats. Apart from being the former president of Costa Rica, he is a consummate businessman, a conservationist and a leading advocate for renewable energy. During his presidency, he was noted for stressing on environmental protection and making sustainable development the bedrock of …
Continue reading UMich Delegates to COP21 talk climate with former Costa Rica President in Paris
Last week we heard from Mayank Vikas who attended the COP 21 climate talks in Paris. But things were moving so fast at the conference that the attendees from the University of Michigan had a whole other team back in Ann Arbor to support them: Ground Control. Bonnie Applebeet, Rackham Communications' Grad Student Staff Assistant, …
Continue reading Supporting the COP21 Climate Talks from Ground Control in Ann Arbor
The 21st Conference of Parties (COP) under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, 1992 (UNFCCC) was recently held in Paris from November 30 to December 11, 2015. The COP was attended by over 40,000 delegates which included representatives from more than 190 countries who got together to come to a decision on responding …
Continue reading A Graduate Student Reflection on the COP21 in Paris, Mayank Vikas
In the light of the historic agreement in Paris, I was inspired to write my two cents on the dialogue between current University of Michigan President Mark Schlissel and the Divest and Invest initiative covered by the Michigan Daily. For transparency’s sake, I study many of the terrifying outcomes and potential innovative solutions in regards …
Continue reading A University Divided Against Itself Cannot Stand
by Mayank Vikas In Detour de France: An Englishman in Search of a Continental Education, Michael Simkins famously wrote that “Paris is a place in which we can forget ourselves, reinvent, expunge the dead weight of our past.” For the last two weeks, diplomats and world leaders from over 190 countries met in Paris precisely …
EXPERTS ADVISORY ANN ARBOR—University of Michigan faculty experts shared their reactions to the Paris climate agreement announced Saturday. Also, reaction from two graduate students who attended the event as part of a 10-person U-M delegation. Richard Rood, professor of climate and space sciences and engineering, teaches a course on the climate change problem solving that …
Continue reading U-Michigan experts: Reaction to Paris climate deal
by Dr. Ricky Rood The Conference of the Parties - 21, COP21, is starting to wind down, and our University of Michigan Delegation first-week flight of students is back and the second-week flight is in Paris. I hope that some of you have followed the students on Facebook and Twitter. ( @ClimateBlue on Twitter, http://www.facebook.com/ClimateBlue …
Today is the last day of negotiating before tomorrow’s midday deadline for the draft text. Things are not looking promising. One of the many newsletters from NGOs stationed here suggests the COP presidency will have to meet with countries individually to figure out their negotiating positions and where there can be movement…all before Monday, when ministers …
This morning we had our interview with Jose Maria Figueres, so we arrived at the venue only around 11:30. We ran into some youth demonstrators outside the negotiating area (wow!), then split off to attend IPCC briefing and yet another interview. Today is Youth Day, so now we're at the Intergenerational Inquiry with Christiana Figueres …
I’ve just arrived at Le Bourget and am sipping on a coffee—fairtrade organic, served in a returnable *EcoCup* of course—in the 25 min before COP plenary gets underway. Feeling quite hopeful about COP21, after witnessing some promising things yesterday. And, as you may have heard, instead of awarding a Fossil of the Day “award” yesterday, …
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