Environmental Education Media Project

Attending the 15th Convening of the Parties (COP 15) of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in Copenhagen was an extremely intense experience. Given the ambition of gathering thousands of organizations and 10’s of thousands of individuals together, in order to collectively address human impact on the Earth’s climate, it is not surprising that the conference was confused and ended without a legally binding agreement. Perhaps the most disturbing outcome is that somewhere along the way, the Climate and the Environment have taken second place to the politicized negotiations. We need to put our priorities back where they should be.

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After listening to the head of the United Nations Environment Program, Achim Steiner, say, in regard to the negotiations here in Copenhagen, that "we are losing faith, we are losing trust, we are losing confidence, we are getting angrier with each other, and we are beginning to lose the sense that we can do it," I pondered possible outcomes. The lack of an agreement would represent a profound failure for all involved, and there are thus tremendous incentives to avoid this -- especially with the signals sent in the ramp-up to the process: American, Chinese, Indian, and Brazilian announcements.

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We screened "Hope in a Changing Climate" yesterday during an event dedicated to agriculture and rural development and then participated in a distinct event entitled "Forest Day 3." During various sessions at "Agriculture Day," much was made of the fact that forests are ahead both in terms of scientific understanding and their full inclusion in the COP 15 negotiations.

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Listening just now to Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack speak in Copenhagen at Agriculture and Rural Development Day, I was reminded of how important meetings are to generating hard deadlines. According to Vilsack, the USDA will issue "The Effects of Climate Change on US Ecosystems" before President Obama travels here this coming week. While we cannot be sure, the report appears to be a serious effort, drawing in high-powered academic researchers, to examine the fundamental relationship between climate and ecosystems.

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How we remember, what we see in our mind’s eye, is of course intimately connected with words and language. And while endless pieces far more clever than I aim to be have been written about the alphabet soup of acronyms that are spawned whenever governments and multilateral organizations convene, there is a more deeply serious aspect to language that matters very much.

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