Tuesday, November 30, 2010

COP16 Begins in Cancun


The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change meetings aka COP16 opened yesterday in Cancun. I see in the news that Canada has picked up where we left off in Copenhagen. We were awarded the Opening Day “Fossil of the Day Award”. We won first, second *and* third place. Perhaps we will go for a clean sweep and the Canadian flag will populate that entire ignominious display board. It is not such an absurd thought. There are few other nations that are willing to swim so incredibly boldly against the current. One year after my trip to Copenhagen, and I still wonder if most Canadians understand how spectacularly obstructionist we are acting and how much the rest of the world actively detests us for our climate change posture.

I leave for Cancun on Thursday and I’m looking forward to participating in some excellent, informative side events and seminars. The United Nations and COP organizers have made a great effort to make the material and the discussions available online. So in the meantime, I am following the goings-on avidly online. With the webcasts you can follow every line. It’s almost like being there.

I’ll file my notes from Cancun starting on Thursday Dec 2. In the meantime, check out the UNFCCC live feed and YouTube channels for on the ground coverage.