Craig Johnson was a delegate with our Window into Marrakech, COP22 program in 2016. He is an educator at the School of Environmental Studies in Apple Valley, MN. COP23 in Bonn is the 7th UNFCCC Climate Change Conference I have attended and the 8th to welcome School of Environmental Studies (SESEF) student delegates as official […]
Since I served in the Peace Corps in Liberia in the 70s and again last year, I am eager to hear the voice of Africans in these climate change negotiations. Today, I attended a large side event called Africa Day, and I want to share some of their voices. Denis Sassou Nguesso, the President of […]
During COP this year, there has been a large focus on small islands because the host, Fiji, is a small Pacific Island nation. Many other small islands in the Pacific have sent delegations to COP23. Many of these islands are struggling with different facets and effects of climate change. Throughout this conference, many of these […]
Watch our Education webcast in partnership with the Climate Literacy Network (CLEAN), featuring our delegates John Olson and Adri Arquin. When the U.S. announced that it would pull out of the Paris Agreement, it was quickly realized that others would need to step into the leadership vacuum. In addition to cities, states, colleges and universities, […]
Letter from the Executive Director This month kicked off with our growing community of supporters and delicious beer, thanks to partnerships with Rahr Corporation and Indeed Brewing who generously hosted fundraisers for us. Our multi-sector COP23 delegation had the opportunity to meet other local delegations and Minnesota’s Lt. Governor Tina Smith before they began their […]
Today was my second day at COP23, and I was very excited to see what I was going to witness. I started by going to a talk about how many people native to the South Pacific Islands felt they were being treated at COP and how they are affected by climate change. Many of the […]
Today (Tuesday) was fast-paced, and I will describe a few highlights. It seems attending press briefings and reading summaries from organizations are some of the best ways to find out the conference’s progress on the issues that are being negotiated. The Climate Action Network reports that there is progress on defining rules for national reporting […]
Today, I dived into the deep end of the public policy pool and listened to economists almost all day. My agenda for the day revolved around one main question: which public policy tool achieves the most carbon pollution reductions for the lowest cost – cap and trade or carbon tax? Economists from the Massachusetts Institute […]
The involvement of the U.S. government in the Bonn Climate Talks remains limited as the only scheduled event was held yesterday. Moderated by Francis Brooke, an aide to Vice President Mike Pence, the panel promoted the use of fossil fuels and nuclear energy and featured executives from the natural gas company Tellurian, coal mining company […]
It was a great day. I didn’t get much sleep, but I was rocking it out at 7 a.m.!! I got a nap in, though! Check the pictures! Got my accreditation badge – I need that to get in and out of the UN Center. They had an old picture from my previous UN attendance […]