Good Greif Must update

This is a bit old. Copenhagen is done and over and while it was a fantastic experience, the world leader action was disappointing. it is now time to update this page for Alaska Climate news....stay tuned.

Update coming.............................

It is all winding up to the finale

It is Wednesday here in Copenhagen, or Hopenhaven, as many are calling it. Snowing and cold but the work continues. Many world leaders have began to arrive now and security is very tight. Access to the COP 15 Bella Center has been severely restricted. NGO's such as the Arctic Athabaskan Center  which had allowed our class to be a part of their NGO have now been given a few passes of which our class has four. One must have these passes, in addition to the registration badges to get into the Bella Center to hopefully then have access to another pass to allow them into the actual COP 15 event. On Monday COP 15 attendees were told that this was coming. So from 27 thousand participants on Monday  the special passes yesterday allowed many less. Today 9000 will be allowed entrance, and by Friday the rumor is that 90 special passes will be issued. Our four people from the UAF RuralDEvelopemnt program are out there now, hoping their pass will get them in.

One of my class mates who managed to get in yesterday with teh specail pass told me that security is much tighter. She said the plice who were helpful and smiling last week and tense and terse and very abrupt. So so surprising, since most of the leaders on the planet will be at the Bella Center this last 2  to 3 days.

The rest of us are still attending the many side events taking place at the Klima forum ( see link on right side of blog),  and the many other NGO's and IPO's that are still taking place. There is a rumor that there may be some sort of protest action within the COP 15 meetings by indigenous groups, but this is just a rumor.
If you want to watch the meetings they are available live webcasts   on the COP 15 website  at www.COP15.dk.

Enjoy and tune into KCAW.org to hear a few stories that should hopefully air today or tomorrow. Still having feed problems but am hoping they were sent sucessfully today!

COP 15 update

I really need to update this, but internet servers are so overloaded that I can't upload. WIll try again later. Sorry, but keeping this current is not succeeding well.

COP 15 Daily Log

Pretty interesting day here in Copenhagen. I am at the Bella Center, which is where the "official" COP 15 is taking place. It is a huge maze of a building with a ton of exhibits, meetings of the United Nations and all sorts of  very cool side programs. Technically the COP 15 is the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change or UNFCCC. There are 192 countries participating in the official events and meetings and around 15000 people from around the world here at just the UN happening.
This morning I observed a cleansing ceremony by several different Indigenous Peoples groups, ( see Video ) and  sat in on the United Nations Committee on Subsidary Body for Scientific and Technological Advice (SBSTA) which was largely procedural, but interesting anyway.  Although not on the agenda, several UN delegates to the committee requested that a priority for this committee must be to urge the UN to make deforestation an integral part of the final agreement. This really means funding to mitigate the effects of deforestation, much of which is taking place in developing nations. UN REDD is a great link to learn more about this issue.

Here is the UNFCCC definition of the SBSTA

The Subsidiary Body for Scientific and Technological Advice (SBSTA) advises the COP on scientific and technical questions. The SBSTA meets twice a year, and it works for both the climate convention and the Kyoto Protocol.

 The UNFCC  has a pretty good explanation of how it does the work if any interest in that. Here's the link UNFCCC How it works 

 There are many other unofficial events which will be the "alternative" program...those should be really interesting! Meanwhile enjoy the pics and be well and happy.

CT

I am here in Copenhagen

I have arrived here in Copenhagen and aside from all my clothes being lost en route( ah life) I have slept....recovered from jet lag and just about to go to me first day of  the COP 15. More later!

Day One COP 15 On my way

Holy Moley....finally getting on the plane to beautiful Copenhagen here in Seattle, Washington USA. Pretty excited     ( darn excited!!!! ) to be going to this  world changing event. There are literally hundreds of thousands of folks expected to participate from all over the planet, whether  in person or online. It is going to be a revelatory two weeks and hope to be able to give a sense of what is happening on the ground in Copenhagen. I hope to be able to  bring the human side to bear here....let the hard news folks handle those  breaking news stories.

If you care, I live in Sitka, Alaska a small and vibrant community in Southeast Alaska. Check out these links to get a sense of Sitka.  Sitka Conservation Society      Sitka Tribe     Raven Radio Public Radio in SE ALASKA

I am a very part time person with Raven Radio in the News Department and hope to be able to do a few stories for them about COP 15, so check out the web site in to catch the audio  and see pics. Also working on my BA degree in Rural Development program with University of Alaska Fairbanks UAF and University of Alaska Southeast University of Alaska SouthEast

My head is stuffed full of Climate Change and Global Warming ....really will be nice just to be on the ground and experience  the actual event::))

These are a few of my favorite blogs...

See the right side of this blog for a few of my favorite blogs that I follow on a regular basis...