Cancun

UN COP17 Climate Negotiations kick off in Durban

The 17th UN negotiations to try and limit the harmful effects of greenhouse gas emissions and potentially catastrophic climate change began on 28th November, in Durban South Africa. Since the UN Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) entered into force in 1995, the Conference of the Parties (COP) to the UNFCCC have been meeting annually to assess progress in dealing with climate change.

With the slogan “Working Together; Saving Tomorrow Today”, it seems as though there is plenty of optimism and a will to achieve. However, recent COP meetings, in Copenhagen and Cancun, were felt by some to have failed to deliver lasting commitments from countries to decrease their greenhouse gas emissions.

Here’s an update from the UKYCC delegation in Durban on Monday 5 December:

“It’s the first day of the second week and the pressure’s started to build. This is the make or break week for the negotiations and I’ll be  honest – I’m afraid it’s going to be break time. There are some really important issues on the table – the one a lot of people are talking

about is the Kyoto Protocol. It’s the only legally binding treaty we have to reduce carbon emissions but it runs out in 2012. If we want to have emissions reduction targets (which we do), then we need action now.  The KP (as it’s called) only applies to developed countries. The US never signed up to it (they just don’t like playing fair or acknowledging that they’re part of the world) and now Canada is actively trying to kill it so it can sell highly polluting tar sand oil to every other country in the world for maximum profits. Japan and Russia are being lame too.

It’s not often I’m proud to be British but the EU, and the UK within it, are doing their best to keep it alive – I’m 100% of the way behind them. Say it loud and say it proud: ‘I heart KP!

Other important issues are having a broader mandate for a universal treaty that will cover both developed and developing countries come out of Durban. That, and money. Always with the money! But the UNFCCC want to create a Green Climate Fund to manage the money that will support mitigation and adaptation to climate change. The big question is, who’s going to take care of the money and where’s it going to come from?

For a more in-depth insight, check out the second UKYCC hand puppet video. If talking hands can’t explain what’s going on, nothing can!”

Websites to keep up to date with progress of the talks:

  • http://adoptanegotiator.org/ – A blogging platform which tracks the progress of the negotiations day by day
  • un.ukycc.org – the website of the UK Youth Climate Coalition, who have a delegation at the conference
  • http://www.cop17-cmp7durban.com/index.html – the main website of the conference; useful for full background information.

Go to Arcola Energy

Art in the Climate Change Village in Cancun | Inhabitat #COP16

A pop-top snake god? This alien creature was one of a number of interesting installations placed on show at this year’s COP16 Climate Change Village. Located between the UN Conference’s official venue and downtown Cancun, the bustling village hosted workshops, films, conferences and eye-catching art installations from all over the world. Never one to pass up the chance to take some art snaps, Inhabitat was on-site to document all of the excitement — jump ahead to see more of the fantastic creations!

Check it out here:  COP16: Art in the Climate Change Village in Cancun | Inhabitat – Green Design Will Save the World.

CSPA Quarterly: Calls for our next two issues

We are now accepting submissions for our next two issues:  The last of 2010 focusing on International Action, with a special section dedicated to COP16 Cancun, and the first issue of 2011 on art that makes the invisible visible.

International Action

Please share with us any work that creatively addresses global issues in sustainability.  We are particularly interested in projects happening outside of the United States that pay attention to global dilemmas including global warming, rising sea levels, disappearing cultures, and economic divides.  A special section will be dedicated to work at the UN’s Conference of the Parties, summit on climate change in Cancun in December.

International Action Deadline for Submission:  January 10, 2011

Invisible Visibility

For this issue, we are interested in art projects, installations, and performances that visualize invisible threats to our environmental, economic, or cultural sustainability.  How can our creative industries call public attention to major issues that are easy to ignore because they are ‘out of sight, out of mind?’

Invisible Visibility Deadline for Submission:  February 1, 2011.


The CSPA Quarterly explores sustainable arts practices in all genres, and views sustainability in the arts through environmentalism, economic stability, and cultural infrastructure.  The periodical provides a formal terrain for discussion, and seeks to elevate diverse points of view.

Please send your opinion articles, project case studies, researched essays, and photos to: Miranda@SustainablePractice.org.

To view past issues, along with our current issue on digital work, please visit:  http://www.magcloud.com/browse/Magazine/38626

Photo Exhibits Issue Call to Protect Mexico’s Natural Beauty | Inhabitat #COP16

Any country that agrees to host a UN climate change conference is bound to be scrutinized for their environmental policies, and at COP16 Mexico has met this scrutiny full force with at least three independent exhibitions and explorations of its natural beauty. Some are federally-funded exercises in propaganda. Some are the fierce work of jungle explorers. All reveal a landscape beyond the manufactured shores of Cancun – read on to take a look!

via COP16: Photo Exhibits Issue Call to Protect Mexico’s Natural Beauty | Inhabitat – Green Design Will Save the World.

HOSPITALITY FOR CLIMATE ACTIVISTS IN MEXICO #Cop16

In December 2009, the art collective Wooloo secured housing for more than 3.000 activists coming to the COP15 Climate Summit in Copenhagen (NEW LIFE COPENHAGEN).

Now the NEW LIFE hospitality experiment continues in Mexico during COP16 (Nov. 29 – Dec. 10, 2010.)

NEW LIFE CANCUN is aiming to connect visiting activists and NGO employees with local families in the summit location of Cancún, Mexico. An area infamous for its vulnerability to climate disasters, as well as for the high-CO2 emissions associated with its tourism sector.

Utilizing this large meeting of hosts and guests in Cancun as our exhibition platform, we hereby invite artists and activists to explore its social architecture and suggest work proposals of an awareness, educational and/or practical-action nature designed around the topic: “NEW WAYS OF LIVING TOGETHER”.

Individuals or groups working with interventions, activism and other participatory practices are invited to apply for participation at www.wooloo.org/newlifecancun

The deadline for work proposals is AUGUST 1st, 2010.

NEW LIFE CANCUN is a collaboration between Wooloo and the Mexican climate change collective Carbonding.

ABOUT WOOLOO

Wooloo (founded 2002) is a networked artist group operating through the online community www.wooloo.org.

Mixing digital communication with physical participation, Wooloo has developed a working method based on the advocacy of collectivity. While the Wooloo website currently connects the resources of more than 13.000 cultural producers in 140 countries, the group’s various projects function as social experiments in direct collectivism.

Wooloo projects have been presented in such places as Artists Space (USA), Basel Kunsthalle (Switzerland) and later this year at the European Biennial Manifesta 8 (Spain).

For more information, please see: www.wooloo.org and www.wooloo.org/newlifecancun