by Sara Löwgren This is a personal story. It is different from our regular blog posts and may present a different perspective. I have written about the impacts of climate change for years. Seeking to inform, animate, and provoke action, I put words to emotions I did not yet know. I am extremely privileged: I still do not know what it feels like when a drought threatens your family’s daily meal, when your house is washed away in a flood, or when you know that within 50 years,

Written by Thule van den Dam, Aura Silva Martinez, and Rachael Goldberg COP23 (Fiji) in Bonn officially started today and we are caught between a rock and a hard place. The Paris Agreement is a watery, empty promise, and a Polish presidency for COP24 is promising to be as dark as the ‘Coal Summit’ that will be hosted at the same time. To hold developed countries accountable to anything, however, this watery, empty promise needs implementation and clarity, never straying from

By Jenna Farineau It’s unusually hot for this time of year. It reaches almost 40 degrees Celsius every day and the rains are few. Now, it’s not unusual for Ghana to have such intense heat or lack of constant rains, but this is something concerning. The end of February/beginning of March generally marks the start of the rainy season here, and it is welcomed with deep appreciation from farmers. Because there isn’t proper infrastructure to transport water to farms in most of the

By Zebadiah Campbell My name is Zebadiah Campbell. I am an eighth generation lobster fisherman and a second generation oyster farmer from North Haven, Maine. North Haven is an island 12 miles out to sea in Penobscot Bay. The island is home to a year round population of 350 people and 45 of these islanders are licensed commercial fisherman. This small number of fishermen make for a close knit, and sometimes high tension relationship between the fishermen themselves. We all wor

By Sara Velander, Jenna Farineau, and Elaina Burress. After the final text of the Paris Agreement was adopted mid-December 2015, several land-focused organizations analyzed the different ways land use and agriculture are positioned in the agreement, in order to identify the future trajectory of land use in international climate policy. According to Climate Focus, the Agreement made specific references to land use in various articles including Article 5 on forests, and a refer

At every COP meeting, constituencies have the opportunity to address opening and closing plenaries through interventions. The closing of the Subsidiary Body for Scientific and Technological Advice closed today at COP22, and a member of our COP22 delegation, Jenna Farineau, gave the speech on behalf of the UNFCCC youth constituency (special thanks and shoutout to all the people who worked on the intervention behind the scenes: Laura Berry, Caroline Jeanmaire, Amalie Cordes, an

by Elaina Burress and Jenna Farineau “I raise up my voice—not so I can shout, but so that those without a voice can be heard…we cannot succeed when half of us are held back.” ―Malala Yousafzai Just two days ago, Sada Albachir and Agnes Leina from the Indigenous Peoples of Africa Coordinating Committee along with Tafadzwa Dhlakama of the Zimbabwe Environmental Law Association spoke on a panel that raised issues of human rights and gender. This side event was moderated by Hindo

by Andrea Fontana On Thursday November 10th, civil society mobilized with a series of events to ask for legal protection and immediate action for climate migrants. The call to action was sparked from the fact that the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change does not offer legal protection for the average 21.5 million people that are displaced every year by the adverse impacts of climate change. One day after the new president of the United States was elected, the action too

by Andrea Fontana On Thursday November 10th, civil society mobilized with a series of events to ask for legal protection and immediate action for climate migrants. The call to action was sparked from the fact that the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change does not offer legal protection for the average 21.5 million people that are displaced every year by the adverse impacts of climate change. One day after the new president of the United States was elected, the action too

by Aneesa Khan It has been almost an entire year since parties to the UNFCCC gathered in the home of fine fromage and disastrous climate deals. The 31-page Paris Agreement came into existence through its adoption on December 12th, 2015 and its birth was met with thunderous applause and tears of joy from rich countries and the French Presidency of COP21. On the frontlines of climate change and amongst the groups that fought for justice, there were tears as well. Miserable tear

by Aneesa Khan It has been almost an entire year since parties to the UNFCCC gathered in the home of fine fromage and disastrous climate deals. The 31-page Paris Agreement came into existence through its adoption on December 12th, 2015 and its birth was met with thunderous applause and tears of joy from rich countries and the French Presidency of COP21. On the frontlines of climate change and amongst the groups that fought for justice, there were tears as well. Miserable tear

By Laura Berry & Margherita Tommasini “As we open COP 22, 100 parties have ratified the Paris Agreement. All together, we have made possible what they said it was impossible and we have done it with determination, we never gave up, this is a historic moment” ~Ségolène Royal, President of COP21 The official Opening Ceremony and first plenary session of the COP 22 climate negotiations in Marrakech, Morocco took place today, signifying the formal return to the negotiation table

By Laura Berry & Margherita Tommasini “As we open COP 22, 100 parties have ratified the Paris Agreement. All together, we have made possible what they said it was impossible and we have done it with determination, we never gave up, this is a historic moment” ~Ségolène Royal, President of COP21 The official Opening Ceremony and first plenary session of the COP 22 climate negotiations in Marrakech, Morocco took place today, signifying the formal return to the negotiation table

Guest blog by Rebecca Haydu When I ask myself this, I am met with more questions than answers. Where does positive change actually come from, and who decides what that looks like? What does it mean to engage in an international space like the United Nations as compared to working at home? Where does the movement for climate justice begin and end? How does someone like me fit in all of this? It’s easy to find a linear narrative of struggle and hope to latch onto, but much hard

Guest blog by Rebecca Haydu When I ask myself this, I am met with more questions than answers. Where does positive change actually come from, and who decides what that looks like? What does it mean to engage in an international space like the United Nations as compared to working at home? Where does the movement for climate justice begin and end? How does someone like me fit in all of this? It’s easy to find a linear narrative of struggle and hope to latch onto, but much hard

by Klever Descarpontriez Climate change threatens to alter the world as we know it. It poses an environmental and social crisis. Climate change affects genders differently, yet not all genders participate equally in coming up with solutions. Institutional sexism at the decision-making process, prevents women from meaningfully engage in negotiations and politics. This exclusion results in policies that are not gender-responsive, nor gender-sensitive, and that further exacerbat

by Klever Descarpontriez Climate change threatens to alter the world as we know it. It poses an environmental and social crisis. Climate change affects genders differently, yet not all genders participate equally in coming up with solutions. Institutional sexism at the decision-making process, prevents women from meaningfully engage in negotiations and politics. This exclusion results in policies that are not gender-responsive, nor gender-sensitive, and that further exacerbat

guest blog by Daniel Voskoboynik, This Changes Everything UK For all the dispiriting truths I know about the world, inside of me I still carry impulses of hopeful naiveté: that there are no bad intentions but misguided ones, that things are being constantly improved, that there are always saviours somewhere, that all problems find their cures. These intuitions, engraved in me through innocence and illusion, come and go, but never have they encountered such a direct challenge

guest blog by Daniel Voskoboynik, This Changes Everything UK For all the dispiriting truths I know about the world, inside of me I still carry impulses of hopeful naiveté: that there are no bad intentions but misguided ones, that things are being constantly improved, that there are always saviours somewhere, that all problems find their cures. These intuitions, engraved in me through innocence and illusion, come and go, but never have they encountered such a direct challenge

By Aura Silva Martinez Climate change disasters displace millions of people each year. This is a present reality affecting multiple communities around the world. Despite having the very emblematic figure of the small island states in the Pacific, who are among the most impacted and vulnerable in respects to the effects of climate change, the definition of climate refugees is still at a very early stage. The issue of climate refugees is one of population mobility. The most vul