Sierra Club Blog Posts
Canada Wins 1st & 2nd Place Fossil of the Day award - Toronto Mayor accepts award
Submitted by Emily Rideout on ven, 2009-12-11 16:30
The two main negotiating groups have been suspended since Wednesday and Thursday so there isn’t much to report from the negotiations themselves. People here are still debating the merit of the Tuvalu proposal calling for a transparent discussion about the legal outcomes of COP, as well as the splitting of the G77 into a group that consists of India, China, Brazil, South Africa and other emerging economies and another group that consists of small island nations and least developed countries.... Read more »
A Sesame Street Perspective
Submitted by Ben Liadsky on ven, 2009-12-11 12:51
Hi everybody,
The news from Copenhagen is coming left, right and centre. New numbers and draft texts are being tossed around, images and videos of protesters and press conferences are being beamed around the world, while analysts, journalists, and people the world over try to make sense of it all.
Today, I thought I'd lighten the mood a little bit with a video. I've found it useful over the years to use Sesame Street as a way to explain the ways of the world. What's going on now is no exception.
In the following clip, Grover tries to predict the weather, but much to his chagrin, the weather keeps changing suddenly. It is a classic Sesame Street moment, but one that nonetheless accurately describes the unpredictability climate change will bring.
Hope you enjoy!... Read more »
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Tuvalu? A small island state makes a big impression.
Submitted by Geert de Cock on ven, 2009-12-11 11:50
Morning briefing with Canada's lead negotiator Michael Martin (Friday, December 11, 2009)
Submitted by Geert de Cock on ven, 2009-12-11 08:32
This morning, I got to the conference centre around 8AM in order to attend the daily meeting between NGOs and Canada’s lead negotiator, Michael Martin. I didn’t gain a lot of information from the meeting … that guy is made of pure Teflon. Any attempt to get a Canadian quote about a specific issue from him is consistently answered with references that this is a global exercise: First, the United States needs to decide and emerging economies also need to pull their weight in reducing emissions … Canada as a laggard essentially!... Read more »
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In Search of Leadership - A Rant
Submitted by Ben Liadsky on jeu, 2009-12-10 17:17
Canada has been descirbed as a country that functions in spite of itself. In essence, it has worked - and worked well - despite being the most decentralized federation in the world. This is not a new observation. Yet, with constant municipal-provincial-federal bickering, with more and more interest groups demanding this and that, and with globalization making global problems more interconnected, questions of leadership on a national (read "Canadian") level are becoming ever more crucial.... Read more »
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Comment on Canadian media coverage of Copenhagen summit
Submitted by Geert de Cock on jeu, 2009-12-10 14:14
The original intention of this blog was to provide a ‘non-mainstream’ news source about the Copenhagen summit. That this is badly needed is obvious by the current coverage of the Copenhagen conference in the Canadian media.... Read more »
Thanks for the email Kevin
Submitted by John Bennett on jeu, 2009-12-10 12:15
I received an email the other day from a gentleman (whose first name was Kevin) in response to a media interview I had just done. Let me start by thanking Kevin for his email. However, I must disagree with much of what he said.
Kevin writes:
“John,
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Bill C-311 Sent Back to the House!
Submitted by John Bennett on mer, 2009-12-09 17:46
The Liberals told me they had two reasons for not supporting Bill C-311. Both, in the words of a former Sierra climate campaigner, are "dodo."
First, there is a section in the bill that refers to Canada's National Inventory of Greenhouse Gases. The Liberals say this would prevent international emissions trading, which they say they can't support it.
Second, the bill gives the federal government the authority to impose emission reduction plans on the provinces. This, they say, could trigger a constitutional crisis.
I responded by questioning their interpretation of the inventory reference and asked why - if this is a problem - didn't they work with the NDP and the Bloc to ammend it?
... Read more »
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Tuvalu is the Hero of the Day, Canada the Villain
Submitted by Emily Rideout on mer, 2009-12-09 15:27
Day 3 has certainly been an interesting one: Tuvalu (a small island nation) walked out of negotiations which were temporarily suspended but were awarded the first ever Ray of the Day award, Canada won its second Fossil of the Day in a surprise-twist award ceremony. NGO’s react to the leaked Danish text.... Read more »
US Announcement Good for Global Agreement
Submitted by Howie Chong on mer, 2009-12-09 06:07The biggest news out of Copenhagen on Monday did not originate in the Danish capital, but rather from Washington DC, where the US Environmental Protection Agency declared that Carbon Dioxide and the five other major greenhouse gas emissions are harmful to human and environmental health. The annoncement makes the creation of a binding global agreement more likely, even if it doesn’t occur at this summit.
Even with President Obama joining over a hundred leaders in the high-level talks starting next week, the entire world is fully aware that the climate change legislation currently making its way through Congress faces significant challenges in the Senate, where there are enough Republicans and Democrats in coal-producing states to scuttle any significant attempt at passing a strong bill.... Read more »