It's just not fair

It's just not fair

by Guest writer
GDLN News
May 15, 2007

University students in the U.S. seek guidance from international climate change experts in Quito and Washington on ways to mitigate climate change.

Talk about slim chances: if you live in a developing country, you have an 85% probability of being affected by a natural disaster in this decade, according to a senior climate change expert at the World Bank. Now imagine the implications for all those of us who are trying to raise ourselves out of poverty. Indeed, “climate can act as another trap in keeping people in poverty,” said Ian Noble, the World Bank’s Senior Climate Change Specialist, during a discussion facilitated by GDLN Affiliates in Ecuador and Washington. These two partners made possible a complex videoconference that brought together nine universities throughout the United States, non-profit organizations, key policy makers, and international climate change experts. The interactive dialogue on April 20, 2007 focused on how energy consumption levels in one country or region can affect people living in other parts of the world.

During the session, moderated by Americans for Informed Democracy, a US-based NGO, participants were able to directly exchange ideas with an eminent and diverse group of panelists, including Mr. Noble, Tom Collina, Executive Director of 20/20 Vision; Congressman Edward Markey, Chairman of US House Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming; and Victor Hugo, Dean of Ecuador’s Environment, Geology, and Petroleum Engineering School. The principle of “common but differentiated responsibility” emerged as a key theme in the discussion - the idea that industrialized developed countries would take the lead in addressing the climate problem, grounded on the fact that developed countries are disproportionately responsible for the emission of greenhouse gases that warm the environment, while the consequences most severely affect the poorest people of the developing world.

Raising awareness about renewable energy sources emerged as another key theme of the dialogue - specifically with regard to policy makers, industry leaders, and citizens in the United States, the world’s largest consumer of carbon-based energy. The students participating in the dialogue would take themselves to task involving university campuses to help change behaviors that affect energy consumption levels. As an immediate outcome of the discussion, they proposed and committed to implementing a number of measures to promote awareness among their fellow students. "By taking small steps, we can help mitigate the impacts of climate change on poor people elsewhere," said one participant.