COP OUT/CAN'T CUN

I am beginning my second week here in Cancun and it comes as no surprise that there is little to show in the way of a strong global commitment on climate change. Poor children. Adaptation, REDD, and carbon markets seem to be where the discussions lie and although there is some sort of hope in these areas, the general mood around the conference center is pessimistic.

Although that didn't stop the NGO's from throwing a straight up spring break frat party at a cheesy tourist bar on the hotel strip Saturday night at the mid-point of the 2 week negotiations. It's a tradition I hear, regardless of whether there is something to celebrate or not. The soiree was just a few shots short of a Girls Gone Wild video shoot when I arrived with a bunch of pink cheeked white girls on stage bumping and grinding to American top 40 trash. If the nations of the world can't figure out how to save it, might as well kick out the jams as we head toward oblivion. The whole affair sorta reminded me of that scene in the Titanic when the band continued to play as the ship went under.

I'm not really surprised by the failing process, but I am by my emotional reaction to it. I'm disgusted. There's a lot of legitimate concern here but this annual conference has turned into an expensive energy intensive joke as we make no progress toward lowering the expected 1.5 degree rise in global temperatures.

I have produced news stories about the culture of these talks and the typical rifts that emerge between the first and third world. This has been an ongoing theme for developing nations and I often wonder why these negotiators keep coming back. Maybe it's the exotic locales, per diems, room service, cocktail parties, and sexy NGO eye candy. Or maybe some just dig the tons of pamplet swag. I have no idea how folks can keep from being completely depressed as they board their flights home after 2 weeks of accomplishing nothing to slow the destruction of the natural world.

It has been much more difficult to consistently access this blog to write everyday than I had initially hoped. Between transportation logistics, intense security, trainings, a field trip to the Mayan jungle, and intermittent wifi connections, I have been lucky to just file brief stories everyday.

Below are the stories that I have produced thus far. More to come...

REDD HOPES IN CANCUN (for Free Speech Radio News)

NGO's put pressure on for strong climate deal

Religious groups gather in Cancun to pray for climate agreement

Dr. Saleemul Huq's comments on tranistioning to a post fossil fuel economy

Arrival

I have been fortunate enough to be awarded a 2010 Climate Media Fellowship from Earth Journalism News to cover this year's United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP 16) in Cancun. This is a phenomenal opportunity for me to participate in bringing attention and awareness to what I feel is one of the most crucial and defining issues of our time. Last year, I reported from outside the highly anticipated COP 15 summit in Copenhagen and was blown away by the amount of activism and engagement in the streets and underwhelmed by the UN's lack of progress toward coming to a binding agreement on how to address climate change.

This year, thanks to Internews' Earth Journalism Network, I will be on the inside reporting on the UN negotiating process itself. As there's a steep learning curve on the complex process of United Nations climate negotiations, I've started this blog in part to document the learning process, post links to my work, and try to make sense of the world's attempts to solve the problem of climate change.
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I am not fond of Cancun. To me, it's a place that represents the extreme juxtaposition between the ultra rich and the ultra poor, an anachronistic first world tourist haven where mostly affluent white people from the United States get served and waited on by mostly brown skinned people who live in relative poverty. It's the kind of place that epitomizes the class war between the first and third world. The fact that this class war, the divide between the rich and poor nations of the world, is at the heart of the climate change debate, is not lost on the choosing of Cancun as the host city to this year's negotiations. So, it's with this resort town / slum town as the scenic backdrop to these important meetings, that I start my work. Please stay tuned for my reports.