COP15: What you need to know!

Follow all of Marcia’s copenhagen coverage at http://youngvoter.org/cop15

Hi! My name is Marcia Lee and I am a volunteer of the Wisconsin affiliate of The League of Young Voters and Education Fund. I have been on location in Copenhagen since last Monday and will be providing some information on what has been happening inside the center where the officials have been meeting to negotiate a treaty and basic feedback on the last couple of weeks. Please comment and let me know if you have specific questions and I will do my best to answer! I’ll start with the basics

1) Why is this meeting called COP15?

The conference is not called COP15 because it is based in Copenhagen. COP actually stands for Conference of Parties and the number 15 follows because this is the 15th year that these meetings have been happening. In 1990, the United Nations General Assembly decided to work on climate change and the first meeting occurred in 1995 in Berlin.

2) What is the purpose of this meeting?

According to the official COP-15 website, “The overall goal for the 2009 (COP15) United Nations Climate Change Conference hosted by Denmark is to establish an ambitious global climate agreement for the period from 2012.”

This meeting between the highest environmental ministers in the UNFCCC (United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change) is supposed to decide how we will move forward as a globe to address climate change in light of the fact that the Kyoto Protocol is supposed to expire in 2012.

3) What is the Kyoto Protocol?

The Kyoto Protocol was the only document on climate change that was agreed upon as legally binding guidelines (countries that have agreed to the guidelines have to follow through according to international law). The guidelines are aimed to reduce four greenhouse gases that impact the ozone layer that protects us from the sun. The agreement was made in 1997 and formally ratified in 2005 when a certain number of countries signed on.

4) What has the U.S. done to apply the Kyoto Protocol?

The U.S. has not done anything. Our government rejected the Kyoto Protocol and is also one of the greatest hindrances to a deal in this negotiation.

5) Why is this meeting such a big deal if they have been meeting for 15 years?

This conference is a big deal because there are over 150 heads of states that are gathering today and tomorrow to work on coming to an agreement. This is very important because the heads of states for most countries have the ultimate power to make decisions for the country. It is a bit more complicated in the U.S. because we have to get approval from the Senate and House as well. But if President Obama does agree to something, it will have much more weight than if a representative for the U.S. did.

Posted by:

Marcia Lee

Cold in Copenhagen!!! Report from #COP15.

League of Young Voters Education Fund members, Jayme Montgomery,
Christina Polcari and Courtney Hull on the streets of Copenhagen
discussing the protest they will attend on the morning of December 16,
2009 – follow their trip at http://youngvoter.org/cop15

“There is a big protest in COP tomorrow morning – delegates will walk
out of convention to join thousands in the streets (esp 20,000
people). People are really pissed here because it doesn’t look like
we will have a bold agreement that all countries agree on by the end
of the week. We will be at the protest tomorrow to report!” – Heather
Box

Check the video after the jump!

… Continue Reading

Posted by:

Biko Baker

Hit Down Hard in Copenhagen

Heather and Jayme interviewed by Current TV

The League of Young Voters Education Fund is on the scene in Denmark! It was inspiring to fly all the way across the world last night only to disembark from the plane and see dozens of familiar faces walking through the streets of beautiful Copenhagen. Some good friends, some co-workers, some acquaintances; all allies, but the quality they had in common was a visible, tangible feeling of exhaustion. As I jumped up and down in the streets of Denmark, taking in the experience and excited to connect with the people I knew to find out where I should be in the AM to get the best story I was stopped in my tracks by their warnings:

“Heather, lower your expectations. It seems like the decision to make no decision is already set.”

It’s stunning, honestly. So I am in search of the silver lining – the good news from Copenhagen – which I know is here, I just haven’t found it yet. A group of international youth sitting next to me right now are discussing the need for the United States Senate to mandate action in order to make the US move in Copenhagen. They are talking tactics for pressuring Congress. Many people are considering an international push on the US Senate; district by district pressure in the States, massive global direct action … I wish I could jump in the conversation with the answer but there are still so many questions.

What I can say with confidence is that we need to fight the exhaustion and keep pushing our elected officials. We don’t have time for exhaustion, only for action. We need to join the small nations, the independent voices, who are crying out for true change, for diplomacy and equal treatment.

Off to join the conversation – will send updates soon. Less than 24 hours on the ground and it’s a different world…

What’s the view from America?

Posted by:

Heather Box