Junior lobbies UN on climate change
Andrea Winter
Issue date: 12/10/07 Section: News
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"We are trying to manipulate India and China in a way that will cause division within the conference and effectively slow and impede negotiations and progress," said Greenman in an e-mail to Student Life.
Greenman, an environmental studies major, said that the United States is attempting to persuade the India and China to declare at the upcoming United Nations Conference on Climate Change that they will refuse to accept any binding limits on emissions of greenhouse gases.
"This will cause the divisions with in the parties that is likely to impede progress at the negotiations," said Greenman.
She is one of 22 delegates of SustainUS, a youth delegation of the internationally recognized SustainUS-Agents of Change program, which was implemented to encourage youth involvement in international policymaking and advocacy for a sustainable future.
Travelling with Greenman are a Rhodes Scholar, a Watson fellow and an elected official; among all of the young adults in the delegation, 13 languages are spoken.
For the last six months, the student delegates have been researching platforms and writing policy proposals to prepare for the conference.
Greenman arrived in Bali on November 30 to coordinate efforts with the other delegates and will remain there until the end of the conference on December 14.
The conference is particularly important for determining goals for post-2012, when the Kyoto Protocol's first commitment period is over.
As of last Monday when Australia ratified the Kyoto Protocol, the United States is the only industrialized country that has not yet ratified it.
In Bali, Greenman is focusing on adaptation, which includes actions that can be taken to prepare for future risks that will result from climate change. Last week, Greenman participated in a demonstrated on "emergency swim lessons."
"Our message was that, as delegates, leaders must take action to mitigate the effects of climate change so that adaptation in the form of swimming lessons, which clearly isn't an effective adaptation strategy, doesn't need to take place," said Greenman.
Greenman has had past experience in international policymaking.
She has traveled to Washington D.C. several times to present Climate Change Legislation to representatives and Senators.
In 2005, she attended the 11th Conference of the Parties in Montreal in 2005, as a part of an international youth caucus of over 100 youth from around the world. Greenman learned of the delegation in Bali through contacts from the conference in Montreal.
At the University, Greenman is a program leader for VERDE, an environmental education program through the Campus Y.
Viewing Comments 1 - 1 of 1
David Shane
posted 12/10/07 @ 10:14 AM CST
Unfortunately, we need to impede progress at the negotiations. The UN denied the International Climate Science Coalition the opportunity to speak at the meeting because they weren't towing the proper alarmist line. (Continued…)
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