{"id":14273,"date":"2019-05-06T11:08:26","date_gmt":"2019-05-06T17:08:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sites.coloradocollege.edu\/bulletin\/?p=14273"},"modified":"2019-05-07T16:57:38","modified_gmt":"2019-05-07T22:57:38","slug":"sustaining-hope-students-leave-cop24-determined-to-be-part-of-the-solution-to-climate-change","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.coloradocollege.edu\/bulletin\/2019\/05\/sustaining-hope-students-leave-cop24-determined-to-be-part-of-the-solution-to-climate-change\/","title":{"rendered":"Sustaining Hope: Students leave COP24 determined to be part of the solution to climate change"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cThe struggle to combat climate change, it\u2019s a very international issue that requires a lot of cooperation,\u201d says Adam Holliday \u201919<\/b>. \u201cThere are a lot of countries with different agendas that are on different pages. They have different technologies, different backgrounds, so it\u2019s really all finding a way to come together to solve this giant issue that affects everybody.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

Holliday was one of the nine hand-selected, predominantly economics majors that Professor Mark Smith took to Katowice, Poland, for the COP24 \u2014 the informal name for the 24th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. \u201cThe main objective of the Polish Presidency at COP24,\u201d explains the COP\u2019s website, \u201cis to adopt a decision ensuring full implementation of the Paris Agreement.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

Smith\u2019s class spent two weeks during Block 4 in December 2018 at the conference and got to see the world wade through the process of coming together on climate change firsthand.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cMark really wanted students who were going to fully engage, because he went through a lot of effort to get the badges to go to the COP,\u201d says Holliday of the application process the student attendees had to go through. \u201cThat\u2019s not something that they just give out. So he really had to pull strings and knock on doors to get us in a position where we could go and he just wanted to be sure that we were the type of students that would take advantage of that opportunity.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

And take advantage they did. Each student was tasked with writing a paper on a pre-chosen topic for the COP24 and a community project. They met once a week during Blocks 1-3 to prepare for the intensely mental and emotional experience of showing up for 12-hour days packed with events and negotiations in cold, \u201csad,\u201d and soot-soaked Katowice. <\/span><\/p>\n

\"CC-BUL-SPR19-14_Hope1\" <\/a> <\/div> <\/div>
\"CC-BUL-SPR19-14_Hope4\" <\/a> <\/div>
\"CC-BUL-SPR19-14_Hope3\" <\/a> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"CC-BUL-SPR19-14_Hope5\" <\/a> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>\n

Most of them already plan on a life working toward sustainability, be it through construction, water management, or climate economics. Beau Burns \u201919<\/b> says, \u201cI really do think it\u2019s the most pressing issue of our time.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m interested in water markets,\u201d Burns adds, but not everyone in Katowice was. \u201cWater markets and pricing mechanisms and these economic terms for how to manage the scarce resource was met with a lot of … I wouldn\u2019t call it aggression, but that was maybe perceived as evil … they were talking about the Cape Town water crisis and I would ask a question. \u2018Well was there a pricing mechanism? Have they thought about markets as the solution?\u2019 And that was perceived poorly. People think you\u2019re talking about privatizing access to water.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

Paige Shetty \u201919<\/b> is currently a greenhouse gas inventory intern at CC, helping track the way to the college\u2019s goal of being carbon neutral by 2020. \u201cI want to be working toward climate change solutions and sustainable society through an economics and a capital market lens,\u201d she says. For her, attending COP24 gave her an appreciation for learning about the differences across the world and how others experience climate change.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cJust hearing from different people who are from an entirely different part of the world than I am, and facing so many different types of adversity from climate change than I could imagine having with my life here,\u201d she says. \u201cIt was really eye-opening, and I think it got me a lot more engaged in the topic that I was looking at, and just what my role would be in finding solutions for climate change.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The focus for Riley Hutchings \u201919<\/b> is on indigenous peoples. She says of COP24, \u201cThe most moving part was that I went to a lot of panels by indigenous speakers. And one of them talked about how the way the climate regime and the UNFCCC had approached climate change is kind of like paralleling the colonial mindset that people took when they committed genocide upon indigenous peoples in the U.S.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cSo, for example, there\u2019s a program called REDD+ and reducing emissions from forest degradation. And it essentially puts a price on a unit of forest, and … if you do that, if you monetize a forest, then you\u2019re just breaking the relationship with the land, which is exactly what causes climate change in the first place.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Still, Hutchings\u2019 resolve has been firmed since the experience. \u201cI think there\u2019s still reason to fight it as hard as we can even if there isn\u2019t going to be a crazy amount of change.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Holliday, who also served as the group\u2019s photographer, followed fellow students to their side events. \u201cThey had some really interesting events on sustainable construction, and it was amazing to see all of this technology that exists and is being used. Some of it, I didn\u2019t even think it was possible that that was already in existence. There was one example, in Norway specifically, how they already had a zero emission construction site, where they were building a large structure, and all of the equipment that they were using was electric.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Also in attendance were Provost Alan Townsend, Sustainability Director Ian Johnson, Board of Trustees members Marc St John \u201980<\/b> and Kishen Mangat \u201996<\/b> \u2014 and President Jill Tiefenthaler, whose presence made a big impression on students and alumni alike of how important combating climate change is to CC. <\/span><\/p>\n

St John, currently secretary of the CC Board of Trustees, raised his hand at a meeting when asked who would like to attend COP24 with the students. St John is from Colorado but resides in England. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI think this generation has handed a pretty lethal cocktail to the next generation\u2026 I really think there\u2019s a responsibility for our generation to try to do something. I mean, we\u2019ve already kind of ruined it. It\u2019s really up to our children.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

Calling CC Tigers: A Request and an Opportunity<\/span><\/h3>\n

The request:<\/strong> Professor of Economics Mark Smith is seeking to identify those with CC connections who are working in the climate change\/renewable energy\/sustainability arena. Please contact him at msmith@coloradocollege.edu<\/a> to let him know of your work and area of interest. He will invite you to join the Climate Change Professionals group within Tiger Link, CC\u2019s professional networking platform.<\/span><\/p>\n

The opportunity:<\/strong> CC is now an accredited observer organization with the UNFCCC. Last year, three alumni joined the CC delegation at COP24. This year COP25 is Dec. 3-13 in Santiago, Chile. Smith has the ability to obtain a badge for a similar number of alumni for COP25. Contact him if you are interested in attending, and he will send you more information. <\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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