COP26, hosted by the United Kingdom, in Glasgow, Scotland wrapped up just over four months ago in November 2021. I had the immense privilege and honor of attending COP26 with the University of Michigan's Student Delegation made up of 13 graduate students this year. These last 4 months, as my day-to-day life fell back into …
Category: Opinion
The US is back but is it better than ever?
Week 2 University of Michigan Student Delegates COP26 Glasgow Scotland Being able to attend an international United Nations conference has been a dream of mine for many years. Attending a conference like that as an observer feels energetic and inspiring. There are many like minded individuals all around you inspired to work on the very …
“Keep Polluters Out, Let the People In:” A Rallying Call for Climate Justice at COP25
Since 1995, the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) has hosted the yearly Conferences of Parties (COP) to facilitate international climate policy. Organizations from around the world gather to set the agenda for coordinated action on climate change. Marking its 25th meeting, COP25 suffered multiple setbacks beginning during the planning stages and continuing …
Charting a Course for Sustainability Under Trump
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 …
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The Election & the Paris Agreement: Part 2
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 …
A Graduate Student Reflection on the COP21 in Paris, Mayank Vikas
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 …
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The Business of Free. Something to learn for climate change?
“We could have saved [the Earth] but we were too damned cheap.” -Kurt Vonnegut, Jr., A Man Without a Country. Recently, I became aware of a Pew Research Center poll that found overwhelming support for requiring better fuel efficiency for vehicles (79%), funding for alternative energy (74%), and strong support for spending more on mass …
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Its Time to Move Beyond Sputnik Moments and Coors-Light Solutions
Since the publication of Silent Spring in 1962, environmentalism, especially in the United States, has largely been driven by Sputnik moments and Coors-Light solutions: catalyzing events that drove a call for silver bullet solutions. The events were emotional and tangible: a river on fire; a housing development built upon a toxic waste site; the explosion …
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Hope in the world of Bubba Gump
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 …
The future of oil and the wedge of hope
Most greenhouse gases that people emit come from fossil fuels, so understanding how much fossil fuels we're likely to burn in the coming decades is a crucial climate issue. I've been learning a lot about "peak oil" and related ideas lately, and have been having some heretical thoughts—or at least they feel heretical to me, …
Climate Blue 