MU professors share their thoughts on UN Climate Change conference

by John McLaughlin, posted Feb. 16, 2010

Two MU professors recently spoke of the shared experience they gained during the 2009 United Nations climate change conference held in Copenhagen.

Mark Cowell and Mike Urban, both of the MU geography department, lectured at 7 p.m. Wednesday Feb. 3 in Stuart Hall.

Cowell and Urban spent two weeks in December observing the conference in Copenhagen representing a regional independent non-governmental organization, the Association of American Geographers.

During a daily schedule that kept them busy from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. “we felt like we were in a bubble in Copenhagen,” Cowell said, referring to the intense amount of environmental activism he experienced that inundated the city throughout the conference.

What struck Cowell the most in his experience of Copenhagen was the lack of that same activity in the United States, “there was nothing,” he said, remembering when he first came home.

Cowell and Urban conversed about a variety of topics they found to be the most interesting during their journey.

Climate justice was one of the topics discussed. This concept explains how the larger, more developed countries, the ones that contribute the most to global emissions, would not be suffering as much as a result of climate change. Instead, the poorer, less developed countries, those that contribute the least amount of emissions, would suffer to a greater extent, Cowell said.

Structural change was discussed as well. Our country is structured around burning fuel Urban said.

“And we are very, very good at it … structural issues must be addressed before any climate change action could take place.”

Much of our current environmental legislation was passed between 1969 and 1974 when a lot of people got involved, Urban said.

“As far as accountability, ultimately, for the people in the U.S., the government is accountable to them,” Urban said referring to criticism regarding the lack of an internationally binding agreement during the conference. “[The conference] is a work in progress.”

{back to homepage}