COP15

So what is the Copenhagen Conference actually all about?

Many people call it the COP15, which refers to the fact that this conference is the 15th meeting organised by the UNFCCC (United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change).

This conference is a sort of follow up to the Kyoto Protocol, which was signed in 1997.The worrying thing about the Kyoto Protocol is that it was signed in mid 90's, but it was put in practice only in 2005. We are hoping that if anything is signed in Copenhagen, it will not take as long as 8 years to be established, as currently we are running out of time. Most of you would probably hear about Kyoto, as the global powers like US, Russia and Australia were one of the countries that did not sign it. There are huge speculations whether or not US and China will commit this time; especially because these countries are the largest producers of CO2 emissions.

So back to COP15, as Kyoto agreement finishes in 2012, UN called up the meeting to work out what is going to happen once the protocol runs out, possibly continue the protocol with higher emission reduction targets or establish a completely new protocol.

So who is going to participate in the Conference?

There are around 180 countries' representatives planning to attend the conference, together with many NGO's, businesses, press and (for the first time) young people are allowed into the conference room.

The conference is a long process of negotiations, as to finalise it all the countries have to come to an agreement (there is no voting involved). It lasts 10 days with around 5 meetings going on at the same time. Most meetings are open to everyone; however there will also be talks happening between two or three countries (for example US and China) separately behind closed doors. These reduce the transparency of the conference, which seems to be crucial.

How can you get involved?
There are many possibilities of going to Copenhagen; but there will also be local campaigns happening all of the world (for example The Wave) I will post details of these actions later on.

I hope this little blog cleared things up about the conference(or maybe actually quite long, I wasn't planning to write this much)
Thanks for reading!!

Copenhagen Campaign Week

This week in UCL, People and Planet are organizing a campaign week about the Copenhagen Climate Change Conference, which is happening on December 7- December 18 2009 in Copenhagen.

The week will begin with an exciting talk:

"COPENHAGEN: LAST CHANCE FOR CHANGE?"
Tuesday: 7-9pm
Where: Gavin de Beer Lecture Theatre (Anatomy Building)
Speakers: Mark Marlin (Head of UCL's Geography Department and Director of the Environment Institute) and John Guillebaud (Optimum Planet Trust)

"THE AGE OF STUPID" FILM SCREENING
Thursday: 7-9pm
Where: South Wing Garwood Lecture Theatre (main building)
An inspiring movie about the current situation of Climate Change.
(I went to the London screening last year, and it was seriously great; it clearly presents all the data on climate change, putting things in perspective)
Click for Movie Homepage

"VISION OF THE FUTURE TALK"
Friday: 7-9pm
Where: Windeyer Edward Lewis Lecture Theatre
Speakers: Mustafa Abbas (Healthy Planet) and Eddie (Engineers Without Borders)
The speakers will discuss the health effects of Climate Change and appropriate technological solutions and innovations.

Apart from all of these events, there will be a stall in the Union building (next to Bloomsbury Cafe) Come along if you would like to find out more about Copenhagen or chat with our People&Planet members about any of the campaigns.

Come along and join us for the talks and wine reception after!!!

The Prince's Rainforest Project

"If we lose the battle against tropical deforestation,
we lose the battle against climate change"

Preventing the destruction of rainforests is considered essential in the fight against climate change. The rate at which the rainforests are disappearing is accelerating, and the time to change this has arrived

"the need for action is urgent"

Please sing the petition for the Rainforest SOS project. Sign Here

Climate Justice Speaker Tour

November 18th, Climate Justice Speaker Tour in SOAS.

For anyone interested in THE COPENHAGEN CONFERENCE, CLIMATE CHANGE and GLOBAL JUSTICE this seems to be a great opportunity to get some updates. There are more info in the leaflets posted below, or check out the website

Meeting, November 3rd

So let me tell you about our great stunt last Friday. We 'illegally' spread a banner across the front of the UCL quad's stairs (that felt good) and we organized a quick photoshoot ( photos coming up soon). Apart from all this, I think we raised the awareness about UCL's crap green position, plus we got 150 UCLers to sign our Go Green Petition. Woohaa!

Here's a link to the Green League website for those curious how other universities did in the ranking: Green League

Shiv went to the London Regional Meeting last weekend, and she shared some general facts about uni's environmental performance, which I will pass on to you here (some extra knowledge is always welcome):

• around 60% of university's waste still ends up in landfills
• a university produces around 3 mln tons of CO2 annualy
  
• University accounts for 9% of the office space

Oh yet another funny fact: if we cut out meat from our diet once per week nationwide, it would be equivalent to a whole year without cars.

Tim went to the Sustainability Committee, and it seems like there were no real goals set at the meeting. As the Committee is planning to meet only around 3 times per year, looks like we are not going ot move anywhere greener anytime soon ( Just a little crash course in how to be patient ;)

There are rumours of UCL setting it's goals 10 % of its emmissions by 2013. What do you think? Are we taking it easy ? ( EU plans to cut out its emmission 20% by 2020)

Come along to our meetings. (there will be one during the reading week, for those who are staying here )