Tuvalu shuts it down

BANKSIDE, LONDON, UK -- Well, I am back! Sadly and kind of depressingly, really. But I can sure say I made the most of an unbelievable experience. More on this later, but for now, here is the latest article I have posted on G-1 Billion, "Tuvalu shuts it down."

http://g-1billion.org/?p=2325〈=en

Tuvalu shuts it down

11 DECEMBER 2009 BRANDON PERLOW 4 VIEWS NO COMMENT SHARETHIS

Brandon Perlow

COPENHAGEN, DENMARK – Wednesday morning during the second official Plenary of the COP 15, a serious rift emerged within the developing bloc.

Tuvalu, a small island state in the South Pacific, ultimately asked for a halt to negotiations and COP 15 President Connie Hedegaard granted it. Tuvalu, the third-smallest country by population and fourth-smallest by land area, has a maximum elevation of only 15 feet above sea level. As a result, any sea level rise of more than 4-5 feet would be catastrophic for the country, covering parts of every atoll and island in Tuvalu.

Six months ago Tuvalu submitted a proposed “Copenhagen Protocol,” representing the Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS). AOSIS consists of 37 United Nations member states stretching across all populated Oceans – the Atlantic, Indian, and Pacific – and represents 20% of the UN’s total membership. Individually they may not have much power, but on Wednesday they spoke with a collective voice. Furthermore, they received support from many states in Africa who are also most vulnerable to climate change; Sierra Leone, Senegal, Rwanda, Togo, Kenya, Gambia, Niger, and Mali all spoke in support of the Tuvalu proposal. The proposal is the strongest on the table for those in favor of “going far, fast.” It sets a legal maximum of 350 parts per million of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, the highest sustainable total according to the IPCC. It drastically enhances the Clean Development Mechanism and REDD and includes articles protecting indigenous people, financing for adaptation to climate change, regional technology centers for technology transfer, and a global mitigation insurance fund.

By contrast, China, India, and a small number of Middle East states proposed only amending the Kyoto Protocol, and opposed the idea of creating a new Copenhagen Protocol. They want Kyoto to be made significantly stronger, with large commitments from Annex I countries and the United States, but appear to not want any actual targets for themselves.

Tuvalu and AOSIS requested a working group be established to consider the Tuvalu proposal. However, a consensus is required to establish a working group, and because of the China-India protests, President Hedegaard denied it.

In response, Tuvalu demanded a halt to negotiations, and they received it. “We are here to seal the deal,” the Tuvalu diplomat said. “The time for procrastination is over… Now is the time to deliver!”

Negotiations re-open on Saturday morning.

COP15 Day 3

COP15, BELLA CENTER, COPENHAGEN, DENMARK --

Just got out of a press conference with the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, Lisa Jackson, who just two days ago issued the landmark Endangerment finding that Greenhouse Gas Emissions pose a threat to human health, giving Obama the legal ability (under the Clean Air Act and the 2007 Supreme Court Ruling) to impose legal emissions targets without Congressional approval.

In other news, the Daily Herald published a feature story about me in today's paper, check it out online here or pick up a copy!

http://www.dailyherald.com/story/?id=342734

More to come later!

http://www.cop15.state.gov/

New G-1 Billion Article:
http://g-1billion.org/?p=2003&lang=en

COP15 Day Two

BELLA CENTER, COP15, COPENHAGEN, DENMARK -- Back here at the computer center for round two of negotiations. Will post more later when I have an actual update, but for now, read this blog entry by the President of the COP15:

COP15: Time is up - the deadline is Copenhagen:
http://en.cop15.dk/blogs/view+blog?blogid=2854

BBC: This decade 'warmest on record':
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/8400905.stm

BBC: Copenhagen summit welcomes US emissions curbs:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/8400792.stm

BBC: Global warming maps: A glimpse into the future:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/8394886.stm

COP15 is officially open!

BELLA CENTER, COP15, COPENHAGEN, DENMARK -- The COP15 was officially declared open this morning with the election of a new COP President and advisers, after speeches by the Prime Minister of Denmark, Mayor of Copenhagen, Chair of the IPCC, and Executive Director of the UNFCCC. More to come later, but for now, check out:

The Guardian: Copenhagen: The African dilemma

BBC: Copenhagen summit urged to take climate change action

BBC: Copenhagen in graphics

BBC: Copenhagen in pictures

CNN: Key global climate talks begin in Copenhagen

More to come!

UPDATE: My article is featured on G-1 Billion has just posted for today... check it out!
G-1 Billion: COP15 is open for business!

ALSO, I have now had over 1,000 blog views - thank you all very much for your support!

UPDATE 2: Back at the hostel now... CNN producers contacted me requesting the picture I had uploaded to G-1 Billion, so I sent it in and here you go:

http://www.ireport.com/docs/DOC-365804

Pretty cool! Apparently it already has been used, though I'm not sure where - if you see it on the CNN website send me the link! They also are profiling me and so more pictures/videos should be up hopefully in the next week.

In the meantime, a HUGE STORY just broke out of the US, basically allowing Obama to sign onto a deal here in Copenhagen WITHOUT the approval of Congress. The Supreme Court earlier ruled that climate change could be an executive decision if the EPA ruled greenhouse gases threaten human health. Well, they did that today...

BBC: US to regulate greenhouse gas emissions:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/8400323.stm

Copenhagen - Day Two

BELLA CENTER, COP15, COPENHAGEN, DENMARK -- Hello from the conference center! I will add more details later when I get a chance, but basically after a morning of wandering all over the city, we ended up back here at the actual site of the COP15, and stumbled upon a series of maybe 500 computers all ready to go, for "official delegate use," and I thought that it was too cool to not send an update.

In any case we also got our travel cards, and are off to Malmo, Sweden this afternoon!

More to come...

BBC: UN hits back at climate sceptics amid email row:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/8397265.stm

Times Online: Copenhagen, We've got them climate blues:

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/environment/copenhagen/article6945990.ece

UPDATE: Hello again, this time from back at the hostel. I have just uploaded a new article to the G-1 Billion website that I think pretty accurately describes my feelings upon arriving yesterday.

G-1 Billion: Copenhagen breathes efficiency:

http://g-1billion.org/?p=1566〈=en

Also, I had a great day in Sweden - add another country to the list! Matthew and I took the train across to Malmo and walked around... we saw the Malmohus Castle, which is about 600 years old and was originally built by a joint Danish-Swedish-Norwegian King who controlled all traffic into and out of the Baltic Sea. Today it is the Malmo Museum. From there we walked to the central Malmo Square, where they had a big lit-up Christmas tree surrounded by a mini-ice rink with little kids skating in circles around the tree... it was quite pretty! Somewhere there is a picture of me on that ice... I'll hopefully upload it later this week.

From there we walked down a long pedestrian corridor over a series of canals... most of the buildings in Malmo were quite colorful, much like Copenhagen (not really much of a surprise there). Lots of yellow and red, and some green to complement the more traditional white/brown/black. It's a beautiful mix with all the blue water! On one of the bridges over the canal we stopped at this small stand selling mini-fried donuts covered in powdered sugar, which was just delicious. We saw a local band that spontaneously decided to start playing on a Carousel, which was pretty funny too. We had lunch at a local cafe place, and then as it was getting dark figured we should hop back on the train to Copenhagen. About 40 minutes later we got back here, and viola!

Tomorrow is the opening day of the COP15, so look out for a full-on media blitz! Random: at the US delegation stand we saw them setting up their media center, which featured a video on green initiatives in the United States. They profiled three cities: Madison, Chicago, and Phoenix.

BBC: UN upbeat on Copenhagen global climate deal:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/8397742.stm

Copenhagen!

COPENHAGEN, DENMARK -- I have arrived! Day one was a blast... I am posting an article on G-1 Billion tomorrow that covers a lot of it, but I'll try to summarize here...

I woke up at 4:00am in London, finished packing, and was out the door with Matthew, my travel partner-in-crime on this trip (he's from Vancouver, lives 2 doors down from me at Bankside) by 4:30. Because it was so early the Tube was not running, so we had a nice 40 minute walk to the national rail station, where we caught a 5:25am train that made it to Stansted Airport at 6:10. We had already checked in online, and had no bags to check, so we just went through security (which in some ways is much easier here, in others is a total pain... they require you to only have 1 hand bag, which means I had bags packed within bags. My computer, of course, was within a bag within my big bag, and they needed me to lay it out... took forever!). Past security we hopped a tram to our gate, and then got on the plane where I got my window seat, Matthew took the aisle, and nobody sat between us so we had plenty of room for coats and bags, etc.

The flight was good - got in about 10 minutes early, and was only in the air for about 1 hour and 20 minutes (about the same as O'Hare to Dulles). It was pretty crazy taking off from London at 7:30am and it still being absolutely pitch black, but once we were up in the air the sun came up in a hurry. The weather in Copenhagen is about 5-10 degrees colder than in London (low 40s), but today it was cloudy without any precipitation, so at least it was dry.

We got off the plane, and instantly we were greeted by COP15 volunteers welcoming us, handing out maps, and answering questions... it was a really friendly service and I was quite impressed. Then as we headed to immigration, we had our own private line for the COP15 delegates. The Star Alliance lounge was converted into a COP15 lounge. There were banners all over the airport... seriously, it was pretty incredible.

After some issues getting our metro tickets (turns out you can't use a credit card without a PIN anywhere in this city... lucky for me, I have my Bank of America debit card/ATM card, and also my UK HSBC debit card, so I should be fine, but yeah, definitely a bit of a pain!), we hopped on the super-fast, super-clean, and supper-efficient metro into the center of the city. Only 15 minutes and about $3 later, we got off at our stop, and it was a 2 minute walk to the hostel, which we found almost immediately. We got a locker, dropped off our bags, and walked all across the town! We found a delicious pizza place that was unlike anything I had ever had before. The pizza was Sicilian/square in shape, with a thick crust, but really light tomato sauce and a unique cheese that I had never tasted. Really delicious! After that we walked down the Stroget, which is the longest pedestrian-only street in Europe, towards this large public square that was showing an exhibition of artwork that was essentially a series of pictures of 100 cities under threat of a 2 degree C temperature rise, including, go figure: Copenhagen, London, and Chicago. The picture of Chicago was fabulous... from an airplane, at night, over downtown, you can imagine! London was an aerial shot as well. The Copenhagen picture was of the Nyhavn canal area, which was gorgeous... I encourage you to click on the link and take a look at some of those pictures. Even if you weren't aware this was in Copenhagen, I'll bet most of you have seen an image like that before (I know I had).

From the Nyhavn we turned around towards the Danish Parliament. I know, you're expecting another gorgeous Capitol Building, something grand like Westminster or Vienna or Paris, right? Wrong. This was without a doubt the most disappointing part of the day... there were literally no signs regarding the fact that the building we were walking by was indeed Parliament, and amazingly, somehow, we walked right in without so much as seeing a single police officer or tourism official or anything. We walked clear through to the other side, with no welcome sign or anything really. We were so shocked we had to look it up on my phone just to make sure the building we had just walked through was indeed Parliament, and it was! Copenhagen is a city with a ton of pride, but they sure don't exhibit that through the Parliament of Denmark.

Anyway despite that disappointment, we trekked on, and came across another environmental display within a few minutes that was a polar bear ice sculpture, coupled with pictures of polar bears in the wild in Canada, Alaska, Norway, Greenland (Denmark), and Russia. Past that we returned back to the hostel, switched up some of our paperwork, and then went back to the Metro, over to the Bella Center, where the COP15 is, and we got our official delegate badges! Don't worry, I have taken pictures, and will post them as soon as I can. What is nice is that with our badge we can travel on the public transportation now for free, so cheers to that! After some photos in the lobby area we headed back, grabbed dinner at some local sandwich place that was kind of like a cross between Subway and Quiznos, which was pretty good. We stopped at a convenience store on our way back and viola, here we are!

I have a ton of emails and whatnot to get caught up on, so I'm going to end this post here, but please do pay attention to the G-1 Billion website in the event that I don't have time to post more here in the upcoming days.

Speaking of which, my latest article was published this morning:

http://g-1billion.org/?p=1198〈=en

There should be one more either later today or tomorrow.

Have a great weekend everyone!

1 Day to CPH!

BANKSIDE, LONDON, UK -- Well, 24 hours from now I will be on the ground in Copenhagen, and I suppose that means it's time to start packing! In the meantime, check this out:

Daily Herald: Young people know need for change:

http://www.dailyherald.com/story/?id=341509&src=

UPDATE:

Well as I am wrapping up packing, I must say that I am not entirely sure when I will be able to post again. I am bringing my computer, however, so hopefully sometime tomorrow night from Denmark!

For some good reading about Copenhagen:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copenhagen

http://wikitravel.org/en/Copenhagen

2 Days to CPH!

BANKSIDE, LONDON, UK --

CNN: Climate change threatens life in Shishmaref, Alaska:

http://edition.cnn.com/2009/TECH/science/12/03/shishmaref.alaska.climate.change/index.html

BBC: Can we go 100% renewable:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/8388669.stm

BBC: Climate e-mail hack 'will impact on Copenhagen summit':

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/8392611.stm

BBC: An animated journey through the Earth's climate history:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/in_depth/sci_tech/2009/copenhagen/8386319.stm

The Guardian: India reveals carbon emissions targets:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/dec/02/india-reveal-carbon-emission-target

The Independent: China: Where the air is like lead:

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/china-where-the-air-is-like-lead-1833162.html

Washington Post: Oceans, forests less able to absorb CO2:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/12/02/AR2009120203732.html?hpid=moreheadlines

3 Days to CPH!

BANKSIDE, LONDON, UK -- I have posted the permanent links to the two articles I have on display at G-1 Billion thus far.

G-1 Billion: Writing for G-1 Billion: Brandon Perlow:

http://g-1billion.org/?p=716

G-1 Billion: National emissions targets are emerging worldwide:

http://g-1billion.org/?p=766&lang=en

BBC: UK energy smart meter roll-out to be outlined:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/8389880.stm

BBC: Australian Senate rejects Kevin Rudd's climate plan:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/8389909.stm

The Guardian: Spain's windfarms set new national record for electricity generation:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/nov/09/spain-national-record-power-windfarms

The Economist: No misbehavin' in Copenhagen:

http://www.economist.com/blogs/gulliver/2009/11/how_to_behave_in_copenhagen

CNN: UN halts funds to China wind farms:

http://edition.cnn.com/2009/BUSINESS/12/01/un.china.wind.ft/index.html

The Economist: Fuel-efficient tyres: Rolling out the changes:

http://www.economist.com/sciencetechnology/tm/displayStory.cfm?story_id=15009201

New York Times: Most world leaders to attend UN climate summit:

http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/2009/12/01/news/news-us-climate-copenhagen.html?_r=2

Washington Post: Moves by US, China induce India to do its bit on climate:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/12/01/AR2009120102591.html

4 Days to CPH! G-1 Billion launch!

BANKSIDE, LONDON, UK -- Well, we are getting down to the wire! Happy December everybody. Yesterday I handed in my last piece of written work for this term, which felt great... from an academic standpoint I can now not have to expend so much energy, letting me focus instead on the COP15 and climate change. Four days until I am in Copenhagen, six days until the start of the COP15, and 13 days until I am back home. It's crazy to think it has already been well over 2 months since I've arrived here, but I am loving every second of it.

Good news: the G-1 Billion website has launched! My profile is currently the featured story (though it is changing by the hour, in which case my bio is listed under "Policy and Government"), and hopefully my first actual article will be posted sometime later today or tomorrow. Currently I am writing two additional articles in order to have three before Saturday, when I leave for CPH.

Weather update: I am seeing the sun right now for the first time in a week. Sports update: Chelsea smashed Arsenal 3-0 to keep a commanding lead on top of the table. Blackhawks return home tonight looking for 2 points.

News today:

BBC: Major sea level rise likely as Antarctic ice melts:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/8387137.stm

BBC: Climate of hope: US cities lead the way:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/6366349.stm

BBC: Australia opposition vote deals climate law blow:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/8387653.stm

BBC: Hydro-electricity in Wales: Turning streams into cash:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/8387449.stm

CNN Video: Himalayan glaciers melting:

http://edition.cnn.com/video/#/video/world/2009/11/30/mates.himalayas.glacier.melt.itn

CNN Video: Brazil's eco balance:

http://edition.cnn.com/video/#/video/world/2009/12/01/snow.brazil.deforestation.itn

CNN: G20 needs to 'quadruple' emissions cuts:

http://edition.cnn.com/2009/TECH/science/12/01/global.carbon.emissions.pwc/index.html

LA Times: India: Amid droughts and failed crops, a cycle of poverty worsens:

http://www.latimes.com/news/nation-and-world/la-fg-climate-loanshark1-2009dec01,0,6707832.story