Victims of Comfort
Wednesday, 23 December 2009 by IsabelBottomsReality bites
Friday, 18 December 2009 by NewInternationalistToday will prove monumental not simply in the history of climate negotiations, or of civil disobedience, or even of global politics - it will prove truly historic in an unprecedented way: it demonstrated conclusively that climate change is a social justice issue, and not just a scientific or ‘environmental’ concern. (more…)
Buffers
Tuesday, 15 December 2009 by IsabelBottomsThis is one of those horribly difficult posts to write.
Monday was the worst day of the whole conference so far for us. I (Isabel) spent the day careering around from one place to the next trying to pull strings that I don’t have, and just generally being entirely at the mercy of the UN process. (more…)
The good, the bad and the grazers
Monday, 14 December 2009 by IsabelBottoms
The good…
Today we’ve been busy attending, taking notes and summarising the main plenary sessions for Kiribati. The talks have been tense and amongst the inhuman UN language there have been tears and anger from the official negotiators. We witnessed the spokesperson from Tuvalu break down as he spoke in utter desperation to save his culture, community and livelihood. The future of his whole country is in the hands of a few. (more…)
A quick fix?
Monday, 14 December 2009 by IsabelBottomsOn Thursday, we (Isabel and Jess – the two lawyers of the group) sat in on a side event entitled ‘Recognising and protecting human rights within the Copenhagen agreement’. As the talk unfolded, it hit us just how significant this issue is. It is so obvious, yet seems to somehow have eluded the general concerns surrounding climate change. (more…)
Drowning in the flood of information flying out of Copenhagen? We’re here to help
Monday, 14 December 2009 by IsabelBottomsYou may be following the whirlwind of stories in the press that is engulfing Copenhagen. Unless you’re superhuman you’re probably confused, as are many delegates here. For a country that can’t send many negotiators, keeping up with the endless simultaneous meetings, working groups and documents becomes an impossible task. Kiribati, the island state we are currently working with, are in this position. So to keep us all up to speed on who is saying what we went to a useful briefing on the positions currently being advocated at Copenhagen. (more…)
fair play? in the name of the UNFCCC?!
Monday, 7 December 2009 by IsabelBottomsToday was our first day in the negotiations. Sunday was a period of adjustment for all my fellow UNfairplayers, who have never been to a UNFCCC meeting before in their lives, afterall, it’s quite a strange thing to do. For me it was just great to see old friends and look around at all the new ones I could hope to make. Loads of wicked people all in one place-what more could you wish for?! (more…)
How appropriate
Monday, 9 November 2009 by IsabelBottomsSo about 5 weeks ago I started studying Law at Bristol University for the first time. Oh.my.god. Yes, it’s much more difficult and time consuming than I had thought, or even planned! Bang goes most of my time basically, hence my lack of time to write. You’ll be glad to hear however that the last month hasn’t been totally steeped in legal jargon and visits to the library. There is an amazing group/society called the Bristol University Sustainability Team (BUST) who are doing some really exciting things. (more…)
shoulda woulda coulda change your mind
Monday, 19 October 2009 by IsabelBottoms
So, you’ve all heard of 10:10 by now I’m sure (if not scroll down to an earlier post on it), I won’t go into it. BUT I do have exciting news! Simon Hughes, the Energy and Climate Change Spokesperson for the Lib Dems has tabled a motion in Parliament so that MPs have to vote on whether or not the House of Commons and the whole of government should join the 10:10 campaign. (more…)
Power Shift!
Thursday, 15 October 2009 by IsabelBottoms
Heyy, so today is Blog Action Day, so I’m going to blog about my amazing weekend at Power Shift last weekend. (more…)