Today I had the pleasure of attending a side-event on “Policies and Actions for Addressing Climate Change in China” organized jointly by Tsinghua University’s Institute of Energy, Environment and Economy, the China Green Carbon Foundation, the Certification and Accreditation Administration of the Peoples’ Republic of China, and the China Certification and Accreditation Institute. All of the presentations were fascinating and demonstrated some of the finer points of China’s efforts to address climate change. For an agenda of the event, see here. In particular, Professor Fei Teng gave a presentation on the Tsinghua Institute’s research to promote a “New Climate Economy,” which aims to address climate change through integrating smarter economic growth, energy security, and environmental protection. I urge you to check out the report here.
Category Archives: green revolution
Can social media offer a voice and a virtual seat at the climate change table?
It is estimated that one in four people worldwide use some form of social media. While this statistic may cause concern among some populations, should climate change advocates around the world rejoice in this? According to news about Instagram , the International Center of Photography is working hard to bring climate change front and center for every social media user. This eight-year project aims to showcase beauty of untouched areas of the world and appeal to the senses of ‘what could be lost.’ Some of the photographs highlight climate catastrophes such as deforestation in Borneo and melting glacial fields. This is not, however, an overt cry for change. The idea is to expose Instagram users to these images and spark conversation which would not happen when one walks solo through the ICP’s Midtown Manhattan gallery. The onsite exhibition coordinator, Pauline Vermare, explains, “It’s not about art, it’s about changing the society.”
View of the junction of the Colorado and the Little Colorado from the Navajo territory. The Grand Canyon National Park begins after this junction. This is one of the ICP images.
Click the image to enlarge. Copyright Sebastião Salgado/Amazonas Images
Using social media to raise climate change awareness is not novel: three years ago, Al Gore started “The Climate Reality Project,” created a FaceBook page and asked the public to commit to hosting view-parties for online climate change events. Today, this page has almost 321,000 ‘likes’ and still acts as a news source for climate-savvy FaceBookers. Others add climate change inspired ‘hashtags’ that cross social media boundaries from FaceBook to Twitter and Instagram. This was evident during People’s Climate march as over 400,000 participants gathered in the streets of New York City – most uploading photos with #peoplesclimatemarch.
While these social media campaigns may subconsciously expose us to issues or overtly alert us to climate news, do they really make a difference to the leaders on the road to Lima and Paris for upcoming UNFCCC and Kyoto negotiations? It seems as though, while a good way to stay informed, there is little evidence that party leaders actually take social media into account when devising negotiating plans. This doesn’t mean social media has no influence on policy; it may just mean that this is one channel for negotiators to monitor the thoughts of citizens and for constituencies to keep tabs on issues. Since 2008, the UNFCCC secretariat and Information Services Coordinator have stated that virtual participation in convention sessions is a priority. Growing numbers of Convention delegates, lack of funding for some Parties/organizations to send delegates and a new host city each year make virtual participation a timely choice. With increased virtual participation via social media, an active FaceBook page for UNFCCC and a plethora of citizen groups pushing climate change awareness, WE MAY ALL HAVE A VOICE and a front row seat (at least, in front of a laptop) at Paris COP21. As for Lima, have confidence that the blogging, hashtagging and tweeting will keep the masses informed.
New appointment to Obama’s CC team
Will John Podesta’s transition from a White House “outside advisor” to an official “inside advisor” have an impact on the next round of ADP discussions coming up in March, 2014?
As this Grist article notes, Podesta is a veteran political insider, having served both the Clinton and Obama administrations before taking up his position at the Center for American Progress (CAP). While it’s reported that his portfolio will include health care, his real focus is expected to be on climate change, specifically on seeing the President’s Climate Action Plan through by getting the maximum use of executive power to push the U.S. to lower its GHG emissions.
The US team at the penultimate ADP negotiation session at COP19.
Grist emphasizes Podesta’s vocal opposition to the Keystone XL pipeline, but I’m more curious about his potential impact on Stern’s negotiating team and its approach to the upcoming meeting in Bonn. Given the shift to nationally determined commitments, a country’s domestic climate change policies are critical to the shape and scope of a new international agreement. This recent report from CAP indicates that the U.S. is in a neck-and-neck race with China and Germany for first place in the “green revolution” leaders’ circle. It concludes by proposing “that the United States take advantage of its true national strengths: the ability to innovate from the state and local levels up, and to combine policies that work for different regions of the country into a coherent whole. … an integrated set of regional energy strategies. This is our competitive edge.”
*** Hat tip to LLM candidate Heather Croshaw for alerting me to this Grist article. ***