Cate Cogger, an undergraduate anthropology major, and Adam Airoldi, a graduate student in forest ecology and management, sent letters with their observations and experiences at the conference.Cate spent the fall semester as an exchange student at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology in Trondheim, Norway. Since Copenhagen is only a short train and plane ride from Trondheim, she decided to travel there to be part of the international climate change conference, or in her words, "to witness what will surely be world history."
Cate begins her Dec. 15 letter with a description of marches by GreenPeace and other environmental organizations:
"Perhaps one of the most outspoken and well-known organizations here is GreenPeace. Having gained a reputation for frequent and passionate demonstrations in the past against a variety of environmental threats, disasters and injustices, demonstrators from the organization are here in Copenhagen in force. On Saturday, thousands of GreenPeace members and empathetic global citizens marched throughout Copenhagen with placards and banners proclaiming a variety of messages like: 'Act Now,' 'There Is No Planet B' and 'Nature Doesn't Compromise.' Their main message today during their march was that the selling and trading of carbon credits is unethical and not a solution to reducing rising CO2 levels within the atmosphere. ..."
Click here to read the rest of Cate Cogger's letter from Copenhagen, posted by Jennifer Donovan, on the Michigan Tech News.
On Dec. 14, Michigan Tech received a letter from Adam Airoldi, now a Michigan Tech graduate student, who earned his Bachelor of Science in Forestry degree at Michigan Tech in 2008. His advisor is Andrew Burton, an associate professor in Michigan Tech’s School of Forest Resources and Environmental Science. Airoldi is doing research in Norway this semester, working with the Norwegian Institute for Nature Research on changes in the alpine tree line around a small copper mining town in central Norway.
Adam Airoldi with the World Wildlife Fund's "ice bear" display at the climate change conference in Copenhagen, Denmark. (Photos courtesy Michigan Technological University)Adam is in Copenhagen this week on a graduate travel grant from the Ecosystem Science Center at Michigan Tech. Here is an excerpt from his first observations of the international climate change conference:
"Walking around the centrum (downtown), the first thing I noticed were all the police officers and vehicles stationed at every corner. In addition there are helicopters flying all over and skiffs patrolling the canals.
"The next thing I noted was the abundance of bicycles. It seems that the people of Copenhagen are taking personal responsibility for climate impacts, turning as a group to cycling for their means of transportation. The city is well set up for this, with bicycle lanes as wide as sidewalks, and although the cyclists can sometimes clog the bridges and intersections, it is hard to imagine the same number of cars fitting into downtown. The use of bicycles is not a recent development, however. It points to a culture that is active and sensible enough to make use of efficient personal transport. ..."
Click here to read the rest of Adam's letter on the Michigan Tech News.
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