Welcome to my Copenhagen Diary! This promises to be an exciting two weeks, and I'm glad you could join me as I participate in the UN International Climate Conference, which serves as the 15th Conference of the Parties (COP15) to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). My goal is to help fill in the gaps and bring some "color commentary" to what you may see in press coverage of the COP.
If you're reading this from Copenhagen, please feel free top drop me a line (as soon as I figure out a way for people to do that without inviting tons of spam.) I'd love to get together and compare notes. This event is way too big for one person to cover alone. And if you're reading this from elsewhere, please feel free to post questions and comments. I can't promise to respond to all of them, but I'll try my best.
Now, a bit about me. I'm one of the 2009 IEEE-USA Congressional Fellows, part of the
Government Fellowships program.. I finished my Ph.D. at Stanford in August 2008, and started working in my host Congressional office in January 2009. I will be completing my fellowship at the end of December, so COP15 is, in a way, the culminating experience of my fellowship. My legislative duties in my host office include energy, climate change, agriculture, science, and I even had a brief foray into health care. It's been an exciting year, to say the least, and I am grateful to IEEE-USA for the opportunity to experience the legislative process firsthand.
For those of you who aren't familiar with COP meetings or the UNFCCC, there are several resources I might suggest:
- The UNFCCC website includes the Conference Program and Conference Documents, as well as all sorts of background documents on the UNFCCC and Kyoto Protocol.
- The Danish COP15 website has news releases and information on other events being held in conjunction with COP15.
- Several international environmental NGO's have extensive information available online as well, including the Pew Center, US Climate Action Network, World Resources Institute, the Natural Resources Defense Council, and the Sierra Club.
- Copies and summaries of the House and Senate versions of US legislation making its way through Congress can be found on the House Energy and Commerce Committee website and the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee website.
- The New York Times has collection of articles on COP15 and climate change on its website.
Of course, what would a blog be without a few disclaimers? The views and experiences I will write about these next two weeks are my own and not those of IEEE or IEEE-USA, any Member of Congress, or any agency or branch of the US Government. Also, as since I am not speaking for my host office, I will not be mentioning by name the Member in whose office I serve. Instead, I will follow Capitol Hill etiquette for discussing work in public places and simply refer to him as "my boss" when necessary.
Finally, I would like to thank IEEE-USA for giving me the opportunity to attend this conference, particularly IEEE-USA President Grodon Day, Government Fellows Coordinator Erica Wissolik, who put the funding together, and IT Manager John Yaglenski for setting up this blog.
Thanks again for reading!
--Thomas
P.S. If you're interested in applying your science and engineering knowledge to help build sound policy in the United States, please consider applying for the
2011 IEEE-USA Government Fellowships. Applications are available now.
Posted By: Thomas Lee @ 8:57 PM |