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I (Gregg Walker) will post periodically from COP 27 (Conference of the Parties) in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt. This United Nations climate change event takes place from 06 to 18 November 2022.
Chatham House Virtual COP27 Platform
ReplyDeleteThere are three sessions taking place today:
I attended the first that provided an excellent discussion about managing cross-border risk.
The importance of research and actions being taken by both public and private interests was discussed.
09.00 – 10.00 GMT: Adaptation Without Borders: strengthening cooperation to manage cross-border climate risks
10.30 - 11.45 GMT: The water-energy-food nexus in the Sahel, North Africa and the Middle East
14.00 – 15.30 GMT: Scaling up climate adaptation finance in times of growing public debt, inflation and natural disasters
I hear a lot of things from different sources and they have made me wonder; What the difference is between climate change, global warming, and the global climate crisis?
ReplyDeleteWhy was Egypt chosen as the location of the 2022 climate summit? Is the location a rotating one or does it rely on other factors such as which country it is most convenient to host in?
ReplyDeleteThere is a rotation schedule, but the UN meeting relies on a country to volunteer to host it. Doing so is quite expensive and requires a lot of security. Prior COPs in Africa have taken place in Morocco, Kenya, and South Africa.
DeleteHave you been to all of those COPs listed in other countries? Which has been your favorite location &/or future location you are most excited for?
DeleteAfrica is an often overlooked country in many regards, how often are these climate summits in Africa rather than Europe or Asia? Have any taken place in South America?
ReplyDeleteCOP 20 took place in Lima, Peru in 2014. COP 16 took place in Mexico in 2010.
DeleteAs was the topic in the third session, I'm curious what you took away regarding inflation. I've never thought about how the two are related and I am wondering how it has an impact on the climate crisis and climate adaptation?
ReplyDeleteSince Nuclear energy is recyclable and not renewable would it be considered a positive way to help the climate change crisis?
ReplyDeleteThere are different views on this. Nuclear energy can be part of a post-fossil fuels energy mix, but there are significant concerns about waste.
DeleteCould you elaborate on some of the concerns regarding waste established with Nuclear Energy?
DeleteI have heard many scientists say that it is too late for humans to fix the climate change crisis. Due to your knowledge and expertise on the topic I am curious to how you would respond to these claims. Are they true? Can we prolong the effects?
ReplyDeleteSeeing how the US governement has a new Presdient every 4 years and each president can move the country in the direction in any way they want. Just as when Presdient Trump came into office and got reversed a lot of rules and laws from past administration. How do we get to the point were the government accepts what is happening and truly start fighting to make things.
ReplyDeleteWith the country rotating every year and some of the volunteers to host these countries may have poor human rights records (Egypt this year and UAE next year) how do you and other delegates balance a desire to show support for human rights and a desire to combat climate change? Do people ever boycott COPs because of the host country? Is international cooperation on climate change take priority?
ReplyDeleteIs there a general consensus on how we will transition fully away from a reliance on fossil fuels to renewables? It seems to me that in order to maintain a less than 2 degree Celsius warming that the Paris Accord of 2015 agreed upon we need to use nuclear energy to a greater degree than is presently considered as a result of the waste issue.
ReplyDeleteI happen to know a fair bit on nuclear energy from general curiosity in the past. Nuclear waste is actually nowhere near as dangerous as people think it is. To begin, modern reactors are often designed around thorium instead of the stereotypical uranium, which produces a lot less nuclear waste per power generated. Additionally, much of that nuclear waste can be reused in a specialized reactor to reduce the amount present. Finally, there will be some waste that will have to be stored long term, but even burying it directly beneath cities would cause less loss of life than the carbon byproducts we breathe in. While nuclear isn't the final solution, as it is not renewable, it is a perfect agent to transition from fossil fuels as quickly as possible.
Deleteas the conference is taking place in Egypt, I'd be interested to see whether Egypt specifically has been facing any effects of climate change, for example if it's been warmer there, if there are any effects on the local wildlife that we've noticed, etc.
DeleteMichael Balzer I agree with you entirely. Nuclear energy seems to be one of the best options for us to use as a transitional energy source to get away from fossil fuels to renewables as quickly as possible considering the urgency we are experiencing. The only thing that I am wondering now since you succinctly described the "waste issue" that doesn't really exist is how we get the general populace to consider it as a safe alternative. Nuclear energy has been vilified since the Chernobyl meltdown in 1986 and Fukushima nuclear disaster in 2011 and the public doesn't see it as particularly safe even though the cost of a few meltdowns and that radiation is less than that of the damage brought by the continuous emissions from fossil fuels.
DeleteMy question is: What makes you so passionate about climate change? When you were a college student what drove you to make an impact on climate change?
ReplyDeleteHow do you find which sources for climate change are accurate and which aren't? Is it pure knowledge of something you have been studying your whole life or does it go deeper than that?
ReplyDeleteAn additional question I have is people's takes on the fact that COP will take place in UAE next year considering it is a country built its entire economy from oil exports?
ReplyDeleteStudent ID : 934438995
DeleteI understand that you've gone to every one of these things for the last two decades, so has anything changed since the first one? Has it gained more value or popularity? Has it actually had a large effect on the health of the planet?
ReplyDeleteHow effective do you believe COPs are in encouraging nations to work together to collectively resolve an issue? Are most of the efforts actually effective, or do nations act differently to what they state at the conference?
ReplyDeleteSince you have been going to these conferences for so long would you say that they have grown in popularity? In more recent years has there been a shift in the audience it attracts?
ReplyDelete