{"id":3739,"date":"2009-12-07T21:02:02","date_gmt":"2009-12-08T05:02:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.kqed.org\/climatewatch\/?p=3739"},"modified":"2009-12-07T21:02:02","modified_gmt":"2009-12-08T05:02:02","slug":"hopenhagen-ii-a-delegates-view","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ww2.kqed.org\/climatewatch\/2009\/12\/07\/hopenhagen-ii-a-delegates-view\/","title":{"rendered":"Hopenhagen II: A Delegate’s View"},"content":{"rendered":"

Louis Blumberg is a COP 15 delegate and Director of Climate and Forest Policy for the Nature
\nConservancy in California.<\/em><\/p>\n

Update from Hopenhagen<\/strong><\/p>\n

By Louis Blumberg<\/p>\n

The sense of possibility pervaded the halls Monday, infusing energy and \u2028optimism into the delegates at the UN climate change conference in\u2028 Copenhagen, Denmark. As in prior years, the sheer magnitude of the event \u2028was inspiring. More than 10,000 participants attended today, thousands \u2028of whom (including this participant) waited patiently in line for hours\u2028 to get inside.<\/p>\n

In one room, representatives from 192 nations sat shoulder-to-shoulder\u2028 in the discussions, and each country was given an equal voice. Two seats\u2028 were allocated to Gabon and two for the U.S., two for China and two for\u2028 Monaco, and so on.<\/p>\n

At home in San Francisco, much of my work is focused on addressing\u2028 climate change in California, and we have made great progress as a\u2028 state. Now, seeing the whole world gathered in one room (figuratively\u2028 speaking), it is a powerful reminder that the work we are doing in \u2028California can be applied anywhere, whether in Australia, Peru or China.\u2028 We are all in this together and can learn so much from one another.<\/p>\n

This is the 15th meeting for the “Conference of Parties” (hence “COP 15”), a follow-up to \u2028the 1992 UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, which resulted in the first global climate agreement ratified by 192 nations, including the U.S. Each year preceding that conference, global delegations have \u2028met to discuss how to address climate change. The most notable agreement\u2028 happened in 1997 in Kyoto, Japan. Dubbed the Kyoto Protocol, it \u2028ordered 37 industrialized nations to cut greenhouse gas emissions. The\u2028 U.S. rejected that pact, and since then our federal government has shown little-to-no leadership on the issue.<\/p>\n

But what a difference a year makes. In its first public statement at the \u2028conference, the United States addressed two key issues head-on with commitments for action: First, a pledge to reduce emissions of\u2028 greenhouse gases by 17% by 2020; and second, a $10 billion pledge with\u2028 other nations intended to help developing countries grow their economies\u2028 while cutting emissions. U.S. envoy Jonathan Pershing spoke forcefully,\u2028 signaling that a new regime in Washington meant real leadership on\u2028 climate change for the world.<\/p>\n

Despite public skepticism, it has become clear that something is going\u2028 to happen here. People from all over the world have come together to solve the most serious problem of our lifetime. Nothing less than the \u2028future of nature and humanity is at stake. I just hope the agreement is\u2028 sufficiently strong and that action happens quickly.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A California delegate finds hope and substance at the start of the climate convention.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":221,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[140,143,179,193,298,435,593],"coauthors":[],"series":[],"affiliates":[],"programs":[],"collections":[],"interests":[],"class_list":["post-3739","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-government-business","tag-cop-15","tag-copenhagen","tag-economics","tag-emissions","tag-international","tag-policy","tag-the-nature-conservancy"],"acf":{"template_type":"standard","featured_image_type":"standard","is_audio_post":false},"yoast_head":"\nHopenhagen II: A Delegate's View | Climate Watch<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/ww2.kqed.org\/climatewatch\/2009\/12\/07\/hopenhagen-ii-a-delegates-view\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Hopenhagen II: A Delegate's View | Climate Watch\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A California delegate finds hope and substance at the start of the climate convention.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/ww2.kqed.org\/climatewatch\/2009\/12\/07\/hopenhagen-ii-a-delegates-view\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Climate Watch\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2009-12-08T05:02:02+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Craig Miller\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@voxterra\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Craig Miller\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/ww2.kqed.org\/climatewatch\/2009\/12\/07\/hopenhagen-ii-a-delegates-view\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/ww2.kqed.org\/climatewatch\/2009\/12\/07\/hopenhagen-ii-a-delegates-view\/\",\"name\":\"Hopenhagen II: A Delegate's View | Climate Watch\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/ww2.kqed.org\/climatewatch\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2009-12-08T05:02:02+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2009-12-08T05:02:02+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/ww2.kqed.org\/climatewatch\/#\/schema\/person\/f7222c517400a6c4b0336fca3652c323\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/ww2.kqed.org\/climatewatch\/2009\/12\/07\/hopenhagen-ii-a-delegates-view\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/ww2.kqed.org\/climatewatch\/2009\/12\/07\/hopenhagen-ii-a-delegates-view\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/ww2.kqed.org\/climatewatch\/2009\/12\/07\/hopenhagen-ii-a-delegates-view\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/ww2.kqed.org\/climatewatch\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Hopenhagen II: A Delegate’s View\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/ww2.kqed.org\/climatewatch\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/ww2.kqed.org\/climatewatch\/\",\"name\":\"Climate Watch\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/ww2.kqed.org\/climatewatch\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/ww2.kqed.org\/climatewatch\/#\/schema\/person\/f7222c517400a6c4b0336fca3652c323\",\"name\":\"Craig Miller\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/ww2.kqed.org\/climatewatch\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/dd8f4f4f978df3faac9db4c510939ea0\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/b91661df645e001a9cafe0861fa685f9?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/b91661df645e001a9cafe0861fa685f9?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Craig Miller\"},\"description\":\"Craig is a former KQED Science editor, specializing in weather, climate, water & energy issues, with a little seismology thrown in just to shake things up. 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