katie o’brien

Days 10-11 Policy Updates: The Storm Before the Storm

Nathan Thanki November 22, 2013 0 Comments

By Nathan Thanki with input from Katie O'Brien, Anjali Appadurai, and others. Photos by Rachel Wells In short, the negotiations are falling apart. We say that with utmost respect for the work being done by our negotiator allies and friends among civil society observers. It is not their fault. Nor is it the fault of the UNFCCC per se, though its Secretariat must shoulder some blame. The...

SBI Closing Intervention

Youth Civil Society November 16, 2013 0 Comments

The following is the intervention given by Katie O'Brien at the Subsidiary Body for Implementation's closing session, written by the Youth NGO's working group on Loss and Damage. Text of the Speech: Thank you, Mr. Chair. My name is Katie, I am Canadian and speaking for the youth constituency. Despite the large SBI agenda, the inevitability of further warming, and associated impacts, makes loss...

LOSS AND DAMAGE MUST BE ADDRESSED NOW: WE DEMAND A STRONG MECHANISM

Maria Escalante November 11, 2013 0 Comments

by Katie O’Brien & Maria Alejandra Escalante What is Loss and Damage? In the climate negotiations, the focus is often on mitigation and adaptation, but these two alone cannot fully address the impacts of climate change. Some climate change impacts have already been locked in from historical emissions and many countries do not have the capacity to adapt to the oncoming effects, especially...

Protected: UN Climate Negotiation History 101

Katie O'Brien November 3, 2013 0 Comments

by Katie O'Brien As Earth in Brackets prepares its delegation for Warsaw we have been reviewing and learning more about the history of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). So I thought it’d be good to share our notes and knowledge with our audience so maybe you can better understand what we’re talking about in COP19. 1992 The Rio Earth Summit happens – you may have seen...

On the way to the Rally

Katie O'Brien January 26, 2013 0 Comments

By Katie O'Brien I'm currently writing this post from my phone in a van on the way to the rally against the flow-reversal of the Portland-Montreal Pipeline. Thirty COA students are heading down, quite a few of whom are involved with Earth in Brackets. In the weeks since Doha, I have been trying to think of how to bring international climate justice issues into the dialogues and campaigns of...