COP 17

It took a very hot and sticky Durban day to, again, be struck by the irony of cramming people into a boiling hot side event room and then literally blowing hot air at them through the “cooling” system.  It drew remarkable similarities between what was going on in the well air-conditioned plenary…… except in a totally different context.  This… Read more »

Yesterday Canada again received the fossil of the day award for undermining progress on climate change negotiations. But let’s step away from this for a moment.  The economic crash of 2008 was a consequence of amoral and reprehensible behavior.  If you haven’t seen it yet, watch the movie “Inside Job” … google and you can… Read more »

The Dr Jekyll/Mr Hyde personality that so many states exhibited at the negotiations, once again points out the harsh reality that world leaders are busy playing a chess game where rules are re-written in favour of the rich and powerful at the expense of the 99% while the board is wiped clean of any trace… Read more »

A long story, but there is a point at the end. The temperature was about 30 deg, humidity felt like 90%.  We had just finished our external side event, tucked away in an obscure corner closet of some mezzanine floor in a building at the University of KwaZulu-Natal.  Numbers had been few because we were… Read more »

At the launch of the SADC Climate Change Water Adaptation Strategy, I met with Martie-Louise Hunlun, a reporter for Radio Namakwaland, which serves an area from Olifants river in the south to Springbok in the north.  Interesting conversation about how heat stress and rainfall variability are affecting rural communities, and whether the unusual November rains… Read more »

The irony was stark this morning as our side event to talk about the availability (or lack of) climate information for decision making took place in a tiny side lecture room seating about 30 people in a distant building many kilometers from the COP17 exhibition venue.  Technology almost failed us to due to a lack… Read more »

Day 2 of the long awaited COP17, well at least long awaited for myself as I (with the help of the team) have been organizing CSAG’s attendance since May.  I must admit that I have been pleasantly SURPRISED, mostly due to the fact that I have learnt to be rather pessimistic. Logistically everything has gone very smoothly (despite officially been… Read more »

CSAG’s emotions currently range from sentiments of one syllable (“What A Waste Of Time”) through irritation at the arrogance of assertions by powerful entities, to unconvincing optimism that something positive will happen.  Pepper that with heat, humidity, distracting attractions of birthday braais, opportunistic conversations that open doors to new dimensions of collaborations, and its all… Read more »

In my transition from boyhood to adolescence, I was told by a computer to pursue a career in Meteorology. Unusually for someone of that age I did exactly what I was told. In the same year, negotiators at COP 3 agreed to sign the Kyoto Protocol. I’m not completely sure but they must have had… Read more »