Sunday, December 20, 2009

COP15: Week 2 in Review

With Saturday's arrival of the remaining 21 student delegates from UCSB, our climate team reached full force. Ready to deploy our expertise, represent the voice of American students on the international level, and soak up all that we could from an historic convergence of world leading politicians, business people, scientists, advisors, and activists, we descended upon the conference center. While the line outside was daunting, especially given the heavy snow that blanketed the scene, our fortitude was unwavering.

Those of us able to beat the crowds Monday had the chance to watch Steven Chu, Nobel laureate in physics and Secretary of the US Department of Energy, unveil a plan in conjunction with Japan, Sweden, Australia, Italy, Korea, Germany, and Norway to finance the development and deployment of renewable energy and efficiency technologies across the globe. This endeavor, termed Climate REDI (Renewable Energy Deployment Initiative), seems to be a step in the right direction for reshaping our collective energy future. Chu's speech, while somewhat thick with rhetoric, nonetheless inspired in me a confidence that though the US has not ratified the Kyoto Protocol, we are still engaging leaders from all over the world to work together for innovative and cost-effective solutions. Only time will tell the extent of this commitment.

After Monday's delays, a quota system was enforced on NGO delegates to limit capacity overflow. While somewhat discouraging at first, this proved to be an opportunity in disguise for our group, as our limited access motivated us to find alternative ways to engage the climate movement. Klima Forum, the people's response to the bureaucratic impasse between governments of the developed global north and those in the developing and least developed south that impedes the acceptance of an ambitious treaty, was an excellent avenue for such engagement. This conference explored alternatives to reform within the capitalist system, instead suggesting the need for deeper, paradigmatic and behavioral change to effectively address global climate change. The stark contrast of opinion, worldview, and approach between the COP and the Klima Forum provided a unique opportunity for personal value assessment, and will be an integral focus during UCSB's Climate Conference this spring.

I find myself more aligned with the systematic procedures defined by parties to the United Nations in the Framework Convention on Climate Change introduced at Earth Summit in 1992. While I realize that the task of developing an effective solution by utilizing market forces within existing political frameworks is daunting, especially given that it is these very models and frameworks that are largely responsible for the crisis at hand, I too understand how deeply these norms are ingrained within the human psyche. I am deeply intrigued by the arguments for an overhaul of global society and a reversion to egalitarianism and localized ways of life, but at the same time have trouble foreseeing a revolutionary break from the current systems and institutions that govern civilization. Call me cynical, but I truly believe widespread systemic change must start at the top, through government policy and business innovation.

This is not to discount the power of the grassroots. On the contrary, I believe organized activism will play an integral role in motivating the systemic shift discussed above, for it is the voice of the public, the global constituency, that shapes the political dialogue. In a functioning democratic society, it is the aggregated voice of the masses that appoints decision-makers and directs the discourse. The key is establishing the public political will to further mainstream the climate issue and effectively drive solution-based thinking from our leaders. This is where we, the youth, are empowered to effect change.

Thus, it will be the convergence of interests from the institutions at the top and the mobilized public, a product of grass root organization, at the bottom, that will generate an effective and- importantly- politically and economically realistic solution to the climate crisis. Unilateral action by any single group or societal rung simply won't do.

While the outcome of the negotiations was not the binding outcome many hoped for, the resolve demonstrated by President Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in the final days of negotiation to engage major developing countries like China, India, and Brazil in order to at last begin to bridge the North-South chasm that has until now precluded an effective international agreement was very promising. While I would have liked to see more substance from the Copenhagen Accord, I cautiously see the outcome of COP15 as a success, and believe we as a global community have taken at least a small step toward an ambitious solution. Post-Copenhagen negotiations in preparation for COP16 in Mexico City next year will make or break the outcome. Time is truly running out.


-Nick Allen

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