Final Session for this semester

The green bug lectures are about going to finish for this semester. We had some nice evenings and interesting discussions. Hopefully we can continue next semester. The lectures are still in their infancy, and my pledge for the next semester is to organize the events longer ahead and to invite some external experts.

So what will we have for the coming green bug lecture? There have been busy times for all of us, and I had to deviate from the schedule again. Now I want to make the last green bug lecture your lecture! The idea behind the lectures is to exchange ideas and to talk about latest events and issues. So why not having “green bug lectures in a nutshell”? Have you stumbled over important news in the recent past? Have you heard of an interesting event? Do you engage yourself in an interesting organization? Do you have a good idea for taking action? Let the others now! Say what you want to say in 5-10 minutes and hear what the others think about it!
And last but not least: let’s talk about the future green bug lectures: what are your ideas and comments, what can be improved, and about what would you like to hear next semester?

If you have something you want to present you can let me know ahead, then we can post an announcement and some information ahead here on the blog. However, spontaneous contributions will be appreciated as well.

And I am very happy to announce that F.R.E.S.H. will provide us with some food again. Thanks and two thumbs up!

Tuesday, June, 30st, start 19:00h

Hope to see some of you there!

PS: Noch ein Hinweis für die der deutschen Sprache mächtigen: am Freitag in Tübingen: KLIMAPERSPEKTIVEN – BLICKWINKEL AUF DEN KLIMAWANDEL

Climate change policy: let's continue...

I want to thank all of you for your vivid and inspiring participation in the last green bug lectures. Two thumbs up for all of you who already signed in the "seal the deal" campaign!

Unfortunately I do not have the time to present an elaborate summary of the last lecture here. As provisional measure I make the PowerPoint presentation availible, so that you might have a look at the links again or maybe feel reminded at interesting topics you want to investigate further. I hope to provide more interesting material here in future. Of course all contributions are highly welcomed and appreciated. Get informed, get organized, get engaged! ;-)

DOWNLOAD FILE

Climate change policy: Get infromed (links)!

There is an international umbrella organisation of NGOs concerned about climate change, the climate action network (CAN). They provide a lot of material on their homepage (under „policy and information“). Look for their "ECO" newsletter, short but very well written crtical comments on ongoing negotiations.

Elaborate list of important links to climate change.

Official site of the UFCCC, which is a vast source of information. There is also a webcast of important meetings of the ongoing climate change talks in Bonn.

The german NGO german watch is very active in fighting for climate justice, but they also provide a lot of material.

A very good and critical report on carbon trade can be found here („this publication takes a broad look at several dimensions of carbon trading. It analyses the problems arising from the emerging global carbon market pertaining to the environment, social justice and human rights, and investigates climate mitigation alternatives. It provides a short history of carbon trading and discusses a number of ‘lessons unlearned’. Nine case studies from different parts of the world provide examples of the outcomes.“)

Discussion paper of „Bred for the world“ (a german NGO) on financing climate adaption.

The Green Bug Lectures: climate change policy

It has been announced for a while and finally the time has come: “The Green Bug Lectures” go Copenhagen. The coming Tuesday we will talk about climate change policy. We gonna try to answer questions like: Where are we after the Kyoto protocol? What to think of “Carbon emission trade” and “clean development mechanism”? What should we demand from Copenhagen? There will also be first hand reports from the climate action day, taking place this weekend during the “Bonn Climate Change Talks - June 2009” (preparatory meetings for the Copenhagen conference in December).

We are back at the TMS this Tuesday. And even better: F.R.E.S.H will serve food. Therefore, look forward to an informative and inspiring evening in good “out-of-lecture-hall” atmosphere!

Addition to "Darwins Nightmare"

Thank you all for your contributions after the movie. Unfortunately so far the discussion did not go on after this evening, although certainly further exchange could be fruitful.

I am gonna make a short contribution: for those of you speaking German, it might be worth to check the Wikipedia article about the movie (http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Darwins_Alptraum). The controversy around this movie is well documented with “external links”. If you follow the links to Arte, taz, or “Freundeskreis Bagamoyo” you will find the whole range of criticisms.

I am still sort of undecided. From a “scientific” point of view the movie has certainly distinct weaknesses. On the other hand it is art, and the main massage passed (“look, there is suffering in other parts of the world, and Europe is part of the cause”) holds true never the less.

I want to stress the point Katrin brought in, that education might be the only way out of the misery some people in Africa find them self in. One day later I talked to a friend of mine, who is very much engaged in “informal education” in Germany as well as in Africa. He does not run a highly-professional-mirror finish NGO, but he is very engaged and has interesting ideas. He always looks forward to talk to people and tries to motivate them to launch projects in there home countries:

http://www.edeju.de/english/Home_engl.html

Might be worth a visit, and maybe a first step from discussion into action!