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December 2009 Newsletter |
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| The Climate Project
| December 23, 2009 | |
| | The UN Climate Change Conference
 USA, China, India, Brazil, and South Africa
Reach "Meaningful Agreement"
In a late meeting last Friday in Copenhagen, world leaders from the US, India, Brazil and South Africa set a number of commitments that constituted a "meaningful agreement" according to US President Barack Obama. This development is seen as a significant first step towards a more comprehensive climate treaty.
"The time has come for us to get off the sidelines and shape the future that we seek," stated President Obama during a press conference from the Bella Center. View pictures of the negotiations and read President Obama's comments here.  Here are a few articles that wrap up the results of last week's conference:
UN secretary-general Ban Ki-Moon: An essential beginning
After the climate summit in Copenhagen Saturday morning agreed to "takenote" of the Copenhagen Accord, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moonconcluded that "finally, we sealed the deal," BBC reports. An international climate agreement leaves room for science to shape the next round of negotiations. Countries pledge billions to protect rainforests
The US, Australia, France, Japan, Norway and Britain will make 3.5billion US dollars available for developing countries that produceambitious plans to slow and eventually reverse deforestation.
 Al Gore addressed volunteers from The Climate Project at Copenhagen climate talks Nobel Laureate and former US Vice President Al Gore met with 94 volunteers from The Climate Project (TCP) during the final stage of the United Nations Climate Change Conference negotiations that took place in Copenhagen last week.
"TCP Presenters are in a direct dialogue with their communities about the climate crisis. They fully understand that people, regardless of their politics or profession, want global leaders to take strong action to avoid catastrophic climate change," Mr Gore said.
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| 2000's Set to be Hottest Decade on Record
According to the World Meteorological Organization, 2009 is likely to be the 5th hottest year and 2000-2009 the warmest decade since temperature data has been collected. 2009 also marked the third lowest summer Arctic sea ice on record, after the two previous years. Read more about the report here:
TCP Presenter Profile: Amanda Katili-Niode
Amanda Katili-Niode is Branch Manager of The Climate project Indonesia. She is also the Coordinator of the Communication, Information and Education Division at the Indonesian National Council on Climate Change.
Mexico's conch shells yield clues into effects of warming
A team of eight researchers have partnered to analyze Mexico's oversized pink conch shells in the hopes of discovering clues that could relate back to global warming in the region. "Our findings will not only be relevant for the future of this species, but for mapping the future of global warming", said Dalila Aldana, lead investigator on the project. This research aims to identify temperature variations over time through the use of conch shell analysis.
To read more about this study, click here.
Request a TCP Presentation
TCP presentations arebased on the slideshow from the Academy Award-winning film AnInconvenientTruth and are available free of charge to any size group ororganization. Presentations are customized and continuously updated toinclude the latest climate science. If you would like to host a TCP presentation in your community, please click here.
  
To ensure delivery of this e-mail please add press@theclimateproject.org to your address book or approved senders list.
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 Former US Vice President Gore's UN Conference Speech
Former US Vice President and Nobel Laureate Al Gore delivered remarks to diplomats and world leaders at the UN Climate Change Conference last week. Here's an excerpt:
I wish that I had the words to transfer directly from my heart to yours the passion that I feel for this issue. For me, it raises a fundamental question: Who are we as human beings? Who are we?
Watch a clip of Mr. Gore's speech here: http://cpaf.repoweramerica.org/agcop15
The entire talk is available here: http://www.vimeo.com/8212155 Many of TCP's presenters shared their thoughts from the Bella center during the UN conference:
 Presenter develops online tool to demonstrate worldwide support for climate negotiations
TCPAustralian Presenter and Google employee Justin Baird has built awebsite application for Google which is designed to draw publicattention to climate change. The application is called Show YourVote and it gathered momentum during the UN Climate Change Conferencein Copenhagen.
Baird conceived the idea for "Show Your Vote" after attending TheClimate Project's Asia Pacific Summit this past summer in Melbourne.Taking advantage of Google's policy which encourages its employees tospend 20% of their time on projects they believe in, Baird and his teamat Google developed "Show Your Vote" to help unify the environmentalmovement.
Learn more about Show Your Vote visit http://www.showyourvote.org/vote?skin=mini.
 An Introduction from Antarctica
Filmmaker Harriet Mankoff has filmed a videointroduction of TCP Presenter Ken Mankoff's work in Antarctica.Harriet, who is married to Ken, will be producing four more videos. Ken Mankoff is a climate model developer at the Columbia University/ NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies. He was the lead developer for EdGCM, a global climate model wrapped in a graphical interface that anyone can run on their own computer. Ken is currently studying for his PhD at the University of California, Santa Cruz.
In the past he has worked on various projects studying the Sun, Mars, and Earth, focusing on data analysis and scientific visualization. In addition, he has experience with robotics and spacecraft operations.
He has given TCP presentations at venues from the United Nations General Assembly Room to the South Pole, and
audiences from inner city high school students to IPCC climate scientists. He recently spent two months at McMurdo Station, Antarctica with ANDRILL, recovering a 1000m sediment core from below the ice and ocean.
About The Climate Project The Climate Project, Al Gore's climate change leadership program, is a non-profit organization founded in 2006. TCP's mission is to educate the public about the harmful effects of climate change and to work toward solutions at a grassroots level worldwide.
TCP has more than 3,000 diverse and dedicated volunteers internationally. These volunteers are known as TCP Presenters and have been personally trained by Nobel Laureate and former Vice President Al Gore to deliver an updated version of the slide show featured in the Academy Award-winning documentary An Inconvenient Truth. TCP Presenters have delivered 70,000 presentations and have reached a combined global audience of 7.3 million people. Presentations are customized and frequently revised to include the latest climate science and can be requested free of charge by any size group or organization.
Official TCP branches are located in the United States, Australia, Canada, India, Spain, the United Kingdom, Indonesia, and Mexico. TCP's global headquarters is located in Nashville, Tennessee. If you have anyquestions, comments, or story suggestions, please contactCarrie Criado, Communications Director or Kate Nolan, Communications Specialist via email atpress@theclimateproject.org.
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| Copyright 2009 All Rights Reserved. The Climate Project December 2009 Newsletter. |
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You can also watch a video message by ACF Executive Director Don Henry from Copenhagen here: 
