Letter from Copenhagen: An Update from Alex
Alex Steffen, 16 Dec 09
I'm in Copenhagen, where I'm speaking at the Bright Green Expo (NYT coverage here) and the Copenhagen Climate Summit for Mayors, delivering a lecture for the Blekinge Institute of Technology, participating in several other events and giving a lot of media interviews. Meanwhile, the full mayhem of the COP15 summit itself is unfolding here.
COP15 is a pretty astonishing event, with thousands of delegates, journalists and advocates swarming around (or at least standing in lines in) Copenhagen's large convention center. (You can get the flavor of the event by reading the dispatches from Katie Fehrenbacher, Jonathan Hiskes and Kate Sheppard.)
Though Worldchanging isn't covering breaking news -- I'm here in Copenhagen more to be quoted than quote others -- I am updating my Twitter feed frequently, keeping folks abreast of the happenings. You can find follow me at @AlexSteffen.
Thanks Alex for reporting, meeting with the BTH MSLS students, and for being a window into what is happening over there. Keep on sharing!
Posted by: Melanie on 10 Dec 09
Astonishing, that's debatable. But helpful, not so much.
Posted by: Josh Stack on 10 Dec 09
“We don’t have any more time.”*
The need for a resolution at Copenhagen has never been more desperate.
Edson Ramirez, a world renowned glaciologist, offered the grim statement, "We don't have any more time," on the demise of Bolivia’s Chacaltaya glacier during a recent New York Times interview.* The 17,500-year-old glacier, once the highest ski resort in the world, officially vanished earlier this year. Millions of Bolivians obtain as much as 80 percent of their drinking water from glacial runoff. Now water-starved families throughout the country are struggling to survive.
Rick Crouthamel, executive director of IEDRO, www.iedro.org, the nonprofit, International Environmental Rescue Organization, weighed in on the subject, saying, “Understanding global warming is key to forecasting and preparing for these kinds of weather events. By salvaging environmental data in countries like Bolivia, and making it available to researchers, we can greatly expand our ability to predict the impact of global warming and take preventative measures.”
*To see the full New York Times video, click here:
http://video.nytimes.com/video/2009/12/13/science/earth/1247466103114/bolivia-s-glaciers-melt-away.html
Posted by: Andrea Kobeszko on 17 Dec 09
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