Degrees and vulnerability – A personal account of climate activists at COP21
Monday morning the climate summit started with scores of state leaders arriving in their black cars, delegates and press mostly in hybrid shuttle buses. But Espace Générations Climat – the forum for all the non-accredited NGOs and activists, remained closed. They were not allowed to open until Tuesday, evidently for security reasons. The amount one has to pay […]
Ulysses in Paris – Climate narratives and avoiding the siren’s song
In the ancient mythical saga Ulysses, sirens were beautiful creatures with enchanting voices who would lure sailors to shipwreck on the rocky coast of their island with their sweet intoxicating music. Ulyses, curious to hear the the siren’s song, ordered his men to bind him to the mast. He implored the crew, who had their ears […]
How data journalism is impacting the climate change debate
Climate conferences serve multiple purposes. Besides being important political events, they are also global media spectacles which push the topic of climate change to the top of political, scientific and public agendas. Scientific data is always at the heart of the way climate change is discussed. Whether it be weather records, measurement of greenhouse gasses in […]
Was the “failure” of the Copenhagen climate summit key to expected “success” in Paris?
Recently, a journalist asked me in passing – which was the best COP so far, which the worst? Honestly, I have not been a good observer of these meetings. All I know there were many and the next is #21. There was Copenhagen, sometimes labelled Hopenhagen by enthusiasts. It was COP15 and the year was […]
COP21: A new chance for common sense and common action?
The 2015 United Nations Climate Change Conference opens in Paris today. This is the 21st ‘Conference of the Parties’ or COP since the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) was adopted at the Rio Earth Summit in 1992. Since then each year, without fail, governments have discussed when, where and how much to cut greenhouse […]