By: Ed Wäisänen I recently attended a panel on Advancing Environmental Sustainability in the Trump Era, put on by the School of Natural Resources and Environment at UM. The conversation echoed a wider discussion among liberals and the Left about how to respond to the 2016 election and was, at the very least, an opportunity to frame the …
Continue reading Charting a Course for Sustainability Under Trump
By: Reed McCalib The COP 22 in Marrakech, Morocco has been blessed with incredible scientific and diplomatic talent from all over the world. Check out the previous post for three extraordinary examples. Despite the presence of industry leaders and celebrity statesmen, there were several notable absences. Perhaps it was because this COP was smaller than …
By: Reed McCalib Each year the UNFCCC Conference of the Parties brims with international talent, and this year is no exception. High level diplomats rub shoulders with CEOs, and heads of state share coffee and croissants with international NGO executives. Even among this distinguished crowd of participants, however, a few stand out above the rest. …
Climate denial has found itself a place in the highest office in the land. As Donald Trump assumes office on January 20, the federal executive, the largest branch of the federal government, will stop pursuing policy to combat the threat that is climate change. But no, this blog post is not about Donald Trump. The …
Continue reading When they go high (level), we go low (level)
The following blog is a contribution of Alan Miller, a lawyer and internationally recognized expert on climate finance and policy. Watching the election results from a hotel in Marrakech, the site of the latest climate negotiations, was a sobering experience. To realize that the future of the planet may now be so influenced by a person …
Today in the morning, US Secretary of State John Kerry paid a visit to COP 22. In his remarks he talked about the danger as well as the thrill of preaching to the choir, aka the attendants of the conference. With a sense of optimism, he lauded the COPs for their progress in achieving steps …
During his turbulent and controversial candidacy, United States President-elect Donald J. Trump put forward relatively few concrete policy proposals. Vague promises of renegotiating trade deals, funding infrastructure projects, and returning the country to a past state of ill-defined greatness were rarely accompanied by anything substantial enough to call a plan. There were, however, several concrete …
Continue reading Can Donald Trump “Cancel” the Paris Agreement?
Following Tuesday’s election, a lot of people back home have asked us, What does this mean for climate change, US climate policy, and the Paris Agreement? One aspect of this question, the impact of the new leadership on domestic actions, was addressed in Part 1 of this post. However, the election has a broader …
On November 9th, 2016 we woke up here in Marrakech as most of our American friends/family were sleeping (or maybe laying awake unable to sleep). As each one of us made our way downstairs, we thought Sachi was joking when she shared the election news – having to confirm via Google for ourselves (much to …
Walking around the COP venue is sort of trippy, at least for the first day or so. 25,000 people were projected to attend, and it is wildly apparent once you arrive in the city of Marrakesh that the event has in fact taken over the city. Every taxi has a COP22 sticker on it; the horse-drawn …
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