June 22nd, 2012
Today is the final day of the Rio+20 summit. The conference officially opened Wednesday afternoon with an opening plenary featuring speeches from the more the 119 heads of state in attendance and major groups including an unequivocal speech by the director of the Climate Action Network International, Wael Hmaidan. Comments like Wael’s were later followed up on Thursday with protests within RioCentro and a massive march in central Rio. Read More
June 21st, 2012
Yesterday was the official opening of the Rio+20 summit, with heads of state and government ministers descending on RioCentro for the opening ceremony. For all intents and purposes though, the negotiations are over and all that is left is for the politicians to makes statements about the final text. Given that we now have what will presumably be the final text, I decided to take a look and figure out the state of science in the text. Read More
June 20th, 2012
My 7th grade English teacher had a stuffed mouse and a small plastic box she used to teach us prepositional phrases. The mouse’s name was Preppy the Prepositional Mouse and everything he could do with the box was a preposition; he could be on the box, in the box, near the box, etc. When I read through what will most likely be the final version of the Rio text, I am reminded of Preppy. Read More
June 20th, 2012
Twenty years ago, the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change was one of the major outcomes of the original Rio Earth Summit. It has since been ratified by 195 countries, including the United States. Now world leaders gather once again in Rio de Janeiro at the Rio+20 Summit. The fundamental issue hasn’t changed. The solutions remain clear as ever. And they are even more urgently needed. Read More
June 19th, 2012
Today is a bit of a rest day at RioCentro. Late last night/early this morning, the Brazilians closed their negotiating session by presenting a consensus text which was approved by all of the countries, although there still is a lot of concern about the content. Read More
June 19th, 2012
I’m not in Rio de Janeiro. I’m in DC now, although as the weather heats up to the 90s today, and maybe up to 100 tomorrow, I’m thinking more and more that I should have found some excuse to go to the Rio+20 meeting. Even on the warmest days the beaches and the breezes, not to mention the great music and culture, make Rio a wonderful place to be. Even if you’re there to try, against all odds, to get the world’s leaders to take the environment seriously. Read More
June 19th, 2012
Welcome to week two of our coverage of Rio+20. This Wednesday will mark the official start of the summit, when ministers and heads of state gather to work out the final details of the negotiations. Read More
June 18th, 2012
This week, representatives from over 190 countries, including some 130 leaders, will be in Rio de Janeiro for the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development. Read More
June 15th, 2012
My day begins at around 6 in the morning. The songbirds and roosters usually wake me up before my alarm does. I get ready and make my go to breakfast is mango, toast, and queso fresco (“squeaky cheese” as one of my fellow grad students used to call it), with a glass of coconut juice (have to resupply those electrolytes). Read More
June 15th, 2012
Yesterday marked the official start of the Rio+20 pre-meetings, with government negotiators and NGO staff descending on Riocentro convention center (which, despite its name, is some 25 miles from the center of Rio) by the thousands. Read More
© 2013
