Middlebury's environmental voice is 130-strong
at UN climate change conference in Montreal
MIDDLEBURY, Vt.—On Friday, Dec. 3, more than 130 Middlebury College students quickly filled two charter buses, two college vans and a handful of passenger cars and headed north of the border to join international decision-makers at the United Nations climate change conference in Montreal.
From Nov. 28 through Dec. 9, Canada hosted the event, which included the first Meeting of the Parties (MOP1) in conjunction with the 11th session of the Conference of the Parties (COP11) to Climate Change, and launched the first-ever meeting of the 157 parties to the Kyoto Protocol, the 1997 landmark treaty designed to curb greenhouse gas emissions. The Middlebury students-25 of whom were registered as official observers-joined nearly 10,000 participants from more than 180 countries who took part in the worldwide event.
Middlebury students were out in force for the UN climate change conference in Montreal.
Many of the Middlebury students who attended are members of the "Sunday Night Group" —a college organization that gathers Sunday evenings to discuss climate change and related issues and was inspired by Assistant Professor of Economics Jon Isham's 2005 winter term class, "What Works: Strategies for the New Climate Movement."
With financial support from several Middlebury College organizations, including the Inter-Commons Council, the environmental affairs office, the political science department, and the Middlebury College Progressives, the students joined officials from governments, industries, businesses and other groups interested in climate change to participate in an impressive array of conference activities.
They began the day by attending a meeting with delegates to finalize the 'rule book' of the Kyoto Protocol—by which more than 30 industrialized countries are required to uphold specific and legally binding emission reduction standards. They also took part in an energetic youth caucus to develop key principles such as, "Solutions to climate change must address social and environmental justice."
Later, the group stood with others before the U.S. Consulate for the delivery of more than 600,000 signatures endorsing American support for the Kyoto Protocol. Rounding out the day was the well-attended March to Stop Global Climate Change, in which thousands of peaceful protestors braved frigid temperatures to share their collective opinion. According to participant May Boeve '07, "All the people in Montreal who witnessed our contingent of 130 students were astounded by our outpouring of energy."
Upon their return on Sunday evening, the students gathered for a follow-up meeting to discuss plans for moving forward with additional climate-conscious initiatives on the campus and beyond. "There was an amazing amount of creativity and ingenuity that conveyed our message to the people of the world," recalled Will Drucker '08.5 of the weekend. "This event has inspired me to take action here at school and at home."
In the coming weeks, the students who participated will conduct a variety of events to bring awareness to the issues of worldwide climate change, including "Get Outside Week," which will take place during winter term. Using the slogan, "It's in Tents," the group will encourage students and faculty to form teams so that at least one person can be outside in a tent on Battell Beach at all times during the week. Related winter workshops will include building snow shelters and learning the art of "outdoor cooking." Bill McKibben, Environmental Studies scholar in residence, will give the kick-off speech for "Get Outside Week." Look for more information on this and other events related to environmental awareness in January 2006.
— Blair Kloman