Copenhagen to Cancun: Climate Negotiations and the Netroots
The 2009 Copenhagen climate conference failed to deliver a fair and effective agreement in part because wealthy countries didn’t step up to the plate and do their part. However, the summit was a rallying point and narrative space for the climate justice movement, and it was the site of perhaps the most innovative and far-reaching new media work and coordination of online and offline organizing the progressive community has achieved in an international setting. Copenhagen connected activists around the world and helped bring international civil society into the internet age. Since a strong climate agreement has not yet been achieved, negotiations will continue with another summit in Cancun in November. This panel will examine lessons learned from Copenhagen while equipping bloggers and activists with tools and strategies that can help them advocate for a just and effective outcome in Cancun.
Jamie Henn is the Communications and East Asia Director for the international climate campaign 350.org. In 2009, he coordinated media for over 5,200 simultaneous events in more than 180 countries, landing 350.org on front pages and newscasts around the world. CNN called the events "the most widespread day of political action in history." As East Asia director for 350.org, Jamie coordinated nearly 500 events across East Asia, including over 300 rallies across China. He is co-author of the book Fight Global Warming Now.
Kate Horner is a policy analyst at Friends of the Earth, tracking climate and trade policy developments in U.S. policy, multilateral environmental agreements and international financial institutions. She has worked closely with indigenous peoples’ organizations, local communities, development organizations and economists to advocate for policies that address the real drivers of deforestation in both developed and developing countries, including demand-side measures, forest governance and land tenure reform, and policy coherence. Kate’s trade work challenges the broad new rights afforded to investors in our trade agreements to challenge laws and regulations enacted in the public interest. She also serves as the environmental representative on the Executive Committee of the Citizens Trade Campaign, a national coalition of environmental, labor, consumer, family farm, religious, and other civil society groups working to reform failed U.S. trade policy.
Kate Sheppard covers energy and environmental politics in Mother Jones' Washington bureau. She was previously the political reporter for Grist and a writing fellow at The American Prospect. Her work has also been featured in the New York Times Room for Debate blog, The Guardian's Comment is Free, The Center for Public Integrity, The Washington Independent, ForeignPolicy.com, In These Times, and Bitch. She was raised on a vegetable farm in southern New Jersey (yes, they do exist), but has adapted well to life in the nation's capitol. She misses trees and having a Congressional representative with voting power, but thinks D.C. is pretty great anyway.
Taren Stinebrickner-Kauffman runs analytics and new media for the Alliance for Climate Protection and its Repower America campaign, fighting for comprehensive climate and clean energy solutions in the US. Last year, she helped run Avaaz.org's global online-to-offline climate campaigning in the lead-up to Copenhagen. In that role she focused particularly on national campaigns to build political will in countries like Germany, Japan, India, Brazil and the US. Previously, she has worked in new media, field organizing, polling, and data research in both the US and Australia. She has lived on four continents and is currently based out of Washington DC, where her ultimate frisbee team keeps her sane.
