COLLEGE STUDENTS ATTENDING INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE
More than 190 nations will gather in Warsaw, Poland from November 11, 2013 to
November 22, 2013 to forge an international climate change agreement. As
representatives of the world's governments and international organizations
negotiate policy, a parallel conversation will take place among college and
university students.
Six students as well as their student mentor will officially represent the American
Chemical Society (ACS) at the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate
Change (UNFCCC) 19th Conference of Parties (COP19). Reinhard Bonke from
Kenyata University, Natalie Ingram and Margaret Williams from the University of
New England, Emily Bloomquist from the University of Alabama, Rachel Sobel
from Hamilton College, David Millard and Nicole DeLuca, serving as a student
mentor, from York College of Pennsylvania will travel to Warsaw, Poland as
Non Government Organization (NGO) representatives of the ACS where they
will participate in COP19.
The students will attend talks, take part in special events, discuss special
interests with other NGO’s, and interview world leaders. They will employ
social networking technologies—Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Blogs, etc.—to reach
out to their peers and educators back in the US. The purpose of this project is
to engage college and university students and educators in the international
climate change discourse and to increase climate literacy.
The students will be joined by three faculty mentors; Dr. Diane Husic from
Moravian College, and Drs. Keith Peterman and Gregory Foy from York College of
Pennsylvania.
November 22, 2013 to forge an international climate change agreement. As
representatives of the world's governments and international organizations
negotiate policy, a parallel conversation will take place among college and
university students.
Six students as well as their student mentor will officially represent the American
Chemical Society (ACS) at the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate
Change (UNFCCC) 19th Conference of Parties (COP19). Reinhard Bonke from
Kenyata University, Natalie Ingram and Margaret Williams from the University of
New England, Emily Bloomquist from the University of Alabama, Rachel Sobel
from Hamilton College, David Millard and Nicole DeLuca, serving as a student
mentor, from York College of Pennsylvania will travel to Warsaw, Poland as
Non Government Organization (NGO) representatives of the ACS where they
will participate in COP19.
The students will attend talks, take part in special events, discuss special
interests with other NGO’s, and interview world leaders. They will employ
social networking technologies—Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Blogs, etc.—to reach
out to their peers and educators back in the US. The purpose of this project is
to engage college and university students and educators in the international
climate change discourse and to increase climate literacy.
The students will be joined by three faculty mentors; Dr. Diane Husic from
Moravian College, and Drs. Keith Peterman and Gregory Foy from York College of
Pennsylvania.
BACKGROUND
The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) sets
an overall framework for intergovernmental efforts to tackle the challenge posed
by climate change. The annual Conference of Parties (COP) is the highest
decision-making authority of the UNFCCC.
The Kyoto Protocol was adopted in 1997 at the 3rd Conference of Parties (COP3) in
Kyoto, Japan. The major feature of the Kyoto Protocol is that it sets binding targets for
37 industrialized countries and the European community for reducing greenhouse gas
(GHG) emissions .These amount to an average of five per cent against 1990 levels
over the five-year period 2008-2012. The United States in the only industrialized nation
that has not ratified the Kyoto Protocol.
ACS participated as a UN-accredited NGO at a UNFCCC climate conference for the first
time in December 2007 at COP 13 in Bali, Indonesia where the Bali Roadmap was
adopted. The Bali Conference established the ‘Roadmap’ to reach a post-Kyoto
Protocol at the December 2009 Copenhagen Conference. ACS was accredited but not
formally represented at the follow-up COP 14 in Poznan, Poland (2008) and COP 15
in Copenhagen, Denmark (2009). COP15 in Copenhagen saw the largest gathering of
heads-of-state ever outside the UN in New York. Due to a political meltdown at
COP17, delegates could only agree to “take note” of the Copenhagen Accord.
In recognition of the 2011 International Year of Chemistry, ACS,
through its Committee on Environmental Improvement, sponsored two students to
represent The Society at COP16 in Cancun, Mexico. Students Leah Block and
Anthony Tomaine from York College of Pennsylvania blogged for C&E News under
Editor-in-chief Rudy Baum and used social networking technologies to reach out
to their peers. They did a superb job covering individuals and events,
especially considering that this was a pilot project without a roadmap. They
negotiated complex schedules based on published UN daily agendas. COP16
experienced an unexpected positive outcome in which all 194 parties except
Bolivia adopted the Cancun Accord—“a balanced package of decisions that set all
governments more firmly on the path towards a low-emissions future and support
enhanced action on climate change in the developing world."
COP17 in Durban, South Africa hosted five United States students sponsored by the
ACS. The conference was exclusively covered by these students using social media
networking. They published blogs daily throughout the conference and continued to
blog regarding the final outcomes of the conference after they had arrived back home.
Most notably, the conference in Durban established a second commitment period under
the Kyoto Protocol for parties of the conference.
COP18 brought the UNFCCC, as well as four ACS students from the United States,
to the oil rich country of Qatar. The four students expanded on the previous year's social
media work, engaging more students and their communities in climate change discussion.
Each of the students wrote blogs leading up to, during, and after the conference to relay
their experiences and insights back to the United States. The global youth population was
a major influence at COP18, with numerous demonstrations aimed at policy makers to
encourage them to work together to quickly agree on policies that would legally bind countries
to mitigate their emissions and halt or dramatically slow down the progression of climate
change. Unfortunately, the largest outcome of the conference was a weak extension of the
Kyoto Protocol, making a Second Commitment Period, of which many countries dropped out.
an overall framework for intergovernmental efforts to tackle the challenge posed
by climate change. The annual Conference of Parties (COP) is the highest
decision-making authority of the UNFCCC.
The Kyoto Protocol was adopted in 1997 at the 3rd Conference of Parties (COP3) in
Kyoto, Japan. The major feature of the Kyoto Protocol is that it sets binding targets for
37 industrialized countries and the European community for reducing greenhouse gas
(GHG) emissions .These amount to an average of five per cent against 1990 levels
over the five-year period 2008-2012. The United States in the only industrialized nation
that has not ratified the Kyoto Protocol.
ACS participated as a UN-accredited NGO at a UNFCCC climate conference for the first
time in December 2007 at COP 13 in Bali, Indonesia where the Bali Roadmap was
adopted. The Bali Conference established the ‘Roadmap’ to reach a post-Kyoto
Protocol at the December 2009 Copenhagen Conference. ACS was accredited but not
formally represented at the follow-up COP 14 in Poznan, Poland (2008) and COP 15
in Copenhagen, Denmark (2009). COP15 in Copenhagen saw the largest gathering of
heads-of-state ever outside the UN in New York. Due to a political meltdown at
COP17, delegates could only agree to “take note” of the Copenhagen Accord.
In recognition of the 2011 International Year of Chemistry, ACS,
through its Committee on Environmental Improvement, sponsored two students to
represent The Society at COP16 in Cancun, Mexico. Students Leah Block and
Anthony Tomaine from York College of Pennsylvania blogged for C&E News under
Editor-in-chief Rudy Baum and used social networking technologies to reach out
to their peers. They did a superb job covering individuals and events,
especially considering that this was a pilot project without a roadmap. They
negotiated complex schedules based on published UN daily agendas. COP16
experienced an unexpected positive outcome in which all 194 parties except
Bolivia adopted the Cancun Accord—“a balanced package of decisions that set all
governments more firmly on the path towards a low-emissions future and support
enhanced action on climate change in the developing world."
COP17 in Durban, South Africa hosted five United States students sponsored by the
ACS. The conference was exclusively covered by these students using social media
networking. They published blogs daily throughout the conference and continued to
blog regarding the final outcomes of the conference after they had arrived back home.
Most notably, the conference in Durban established a second commitment period under
the Kyoto Protocol for parties of the conference.
COP18 brought the UNFCCC, as well as four ACS students from the United States,
to the oil rich country of Qatar. The four students expanded on the previous year's social
media work, engaging more students and their communities in climate change discussion.
Each of the students wrote blogs leading up to, during, and after the conference to relay
their experiences and insights back to the United States. The global youth population was
a major influence at COP18, with numerous demonstrations aimed at policy makers to
encourage them to work together to quickly agree on policies that would legally bind countries
to mitigate their emissions and halt or dramatically slow down the progression of climate
change. Unfortunately, the largest outcome of the conference was a weak extension of the
Kyoto Protocol, making a Second Commitment Period, of which many countries dropped out.