Texas Governor Rick Perry has attacked the United Kingdom’s Foreign Office for its contribution to an initiative that tried to “educate” Texas politicians on climate change. Two state senators from Texas in 2009 were flown to the UK, where they received a briefing from government officials and climate change scientists. Additional money was spent on a conference in Austin that focused on climate change and featured a video of Prince Charles making an appeal to Texas lawmakers, expenditures that Perry was none too happy about.

Read the rest of Rick Perry Slams UK Program to Educate Texas Climate Skeptics

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Post tags: Climate Change, cop15, Environmental Defense Fund, kyoto protocol, Rick Perry, texas, Tory Fraser, UK Foreign Office, united kingdom

If you only see one environmental film this year, let it be The Island President. The subject of Jon Shenk’s documentary is recently deposed President Mohamed “Anni” Nasheed and his low-lying island nation, the Maldives. Shenk’s crew had unfettered access to the charismatic leader from the moment he took office as the country’s first democratically elected president through the Copenhagen Climate Summit in 2009.

Read the rest of FILM REVIEW: ‘The Island President’ Investigates the Submersion of the Maldives

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Post tags: bonnie cohen, carbon-neutral, Climate Change, cop15, copenhagen summit, democracy, developing nation, film review, green design, green development, island nation, jon shank, Maldives, mohamed nasheed, radiohead, richard berge, sea level rise, sf green film fest, the island president, UN, United Nations

For some closing thoughts on the cultural flurry in Copenhagen, Inhabitat turned to Patricia Watts. As the founder of ecoartspace, she has been curating, organizing, discussing, analyzing and writing about eco-art since before it was cool thing to do. With so many conflicting views on the state of art and eco-art today, Watts gave us an exlusive interview offering up her own thought-provoking perspective on the difference between art and activism, art and propaganda, and the prowess behind fake press releases.

Read the rest of INTERVIEW: Patricia Watts On the Eco-Art Movement

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Post tags: art interviews, art movements, Arts in Copenhagen, changes in art, cop15, curating art, curator patricia watts, eco art movement, eco-art, ecoartspace, green art, inhabitat interview, modern art, Patricia Watts, recycled material art, The Yes Men

The idea of a tree made from paper is kind of sad and ironic. Luckily, design group Le Creative Sweatshop constructed this paper tree from recycled, FSC-certified and carbon-neutral paper stock. Ultimately, this beautiful and intricate artwork is a plug for a generous act by Arjowiggins Creative Papers, who have pledged to save one hectare of Brazilian rainforest for every delegate at last month’s COP15 conference.

Read the rest of Beautiful Papercraft Tree Pledges to Save 6,500 Acres of Rainforest

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Post tags: arjowiggins creative papers, cop15, Creative Papers, Creative Sweatshop, fsc certified paper, green design, NDeur, Paper Tree, PaperTree by Creative Sweatshop, sustainable design, sustainable paper industry

The beginning of a new year is a time to set goals and make plans for the future, and a New Year’s resolution we desperately want to come to fruition is a global agreement on climate change. That being said, UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown is taking matters into his own hands and has made reaching a climate change agreement one of his priorities for the upcoming year. In a recent interview with the BBC, Brown says that he thinks it is still possible to come to a global agreement after the initial (rather disappointing) COP15 talks in December laid the groundwork for a successful solution. And with other world leaders pledging to continue work on the agreement, 2010 could be the year we’ve all been waiting for.

Read the rest of Gordon Brown’s New Year Resolution: Reach Climate Consensus in 2010

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Post tags: Climate Change, cop15, copenhagen, December climate talks, global agreement, gordon brown, new years resolution

The end of the COP15 Climate Conference is rapidly approaching, and the web is rife with critical commentary. Delegates stayed up late last night working towards an agreement, but the 3-page draft is still far less ambitious than hoped for. Some sources say that the pledges made in the draft text would still result in a 3 degree rise, when 2 degrees will be catastrophic to many small countries. Obama made a speech this morning that reminded the delegates that the dangers of climate change can not be ignored; he re-iterated the promises that the US is willing to make, but left many disappointed. In another effort, Obama met with Chinese premier Wen Jiabao to discuss emission targets, financing and transparency. Expectations are steadily dropping as time runs out and a last-minute climate deal hangs in the balance.

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Post tags: Climate Change, cop15, copenhagen, global warming, obama, obama copenhagen, united nations climate change conference, united nations climate change talks

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton announced earlier today at COP15 that the US is ready to join other industrialized countries in offering developing nations a total $100 billion by 2020 to help develop clean technology and cope with climate change. She also noted that this money will only be available if an ambitious deal is made by the end of this week. Specifically, the AP reports that Clinton said the agreement must include “meaningful actions to cut greenhouse gas emissions and a system to ensure all parties’ actions are transparent.” As the talks have continued to stall due to the dissatisfaction of developing countries, this compromise between industrialized and developing countries needs to be accepted by all of our world leaders if an agreement is going to be reached soon.

Read the rest of Hillary Clinton Announces US Ready to Join $100 Billion Finance Deal

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Post tags: climage change, cop15, copenhagen, copenhagen climate change talks, hillary clinton, meles zenawi, united nations climate change conference

The climate talks continue to heat up as protesters attempted to gate crash the conference this morning in Copenhagen. The Danish police used less than friendly tactics to keep the activists away — tear gas and batons — and 250 have been arrested. Organized by Climate Justice Action and Climate Justice Now!, the rally was an attempt to bring attention to the fact that world leaders have still not settled whether industrialized countries will agree to strict limitations on carbon emissions and how these countries will help developing nations to to cope with climate change.

Read the rest of COP15 Update: Protesters Rally and 250 Arrested at Bella Center

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As the world’s eyes zeroed in on this week’s COP15 climate change talks, New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg gazed on a much more placid scene – Denmark’s 209 megawatt Horns Rev 2, the largest offshore wind farm in the world. Bloomberg admired the overhead view as he toured the farm by helicopter, and expressed his desire for the Big Apple to follow suit. With gears already cranking on a 700-megawatt wind energy project in Long Island that could eclipse the Horns Rev 2, the mayor seemed to be daydreaming of his own wind-powered vision for NY‘s future.

Read the rest of NYC Mayor Bloomberg Looks to Danish Offshore Windfarms for Inspiration

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Post tags: "wind turbine", cop15, copenhagen, danish wind farm, green mayor, greennyc, horns rev 2, mayor bloomberg, Michael Bloomberg, new york city, New York., wind energy

Photography by Maxtomasinelli

The Copenhagen Wheel, unveiled today by MIT students at the COP15 Climate Change Conference, may not look like anything special. But in reality, it’s a treasure trove of bicycle wheel technology, complete with a kinetic energy recovery system (KERS), sensors, a smart lock, and a Bluetooth connection to the rider’s iPhone.

Read the rest of Copenhagen Wheel: MIT Unveils the Swiss Army Knife of Bike Wheels

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COPENHAGEN – a report from Earth2Tech

Unleashing energy information within your home, and the use of gadgets and tools like Google’s PowerMeter, DIY Kyoto and Tendril’s energy dashboard just got a rallying call to action at the Copenhagen climate change negotiations going on this week. Google, GE, research firm The Climate Group and the National Resource Defense Council are calling for international governments to enable consumers to access real time energy information and say that energy information gadgets and tools could help consumers cut 15 percent off their energy bills through behavior change alone. The 45,000 attendees at the climate negotiations have a lot to think about right now — with the fisticuffs that happened Monday — but given research has shown that information technology can cut carbon emissions across sectors by 15 percent by 2020, these types of energy information tools can have a real impact in the near term.

READ MORE AT EARTH2TECH >

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This morning in Copenhagen, the climate talks stalled as African nations threatened to walk out on the conference. Upset that industrialized nations appeared to be killing the Kyoto Protocol, the African bloc cried out that industrialized nations were short-changing developing countries.

Read the rest of COP15 Update: Developing Countries Threaten to Walk Out

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Whether it’s through education, perspective-shifting installations, scientific research, or direct action, art is very much a part of the global-warming dialogue and this has never been more apparent than during COP15. Beyond the flock of individual installations and exhibitions currently showing in Copenhagen, numerous COP15 focused exhibitions and spin-offs are appearing beyond the borders of Denmark. Over the next week Inhabitat will be jumping into all that is COP15 eco-art, but before we do that we’d love to give you a sampling of our favorite standouts thus far!

Read the rest of ECO ART: A Glimpse Into COP15′s Exhibits and Installations

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Post tags: Art, carbon dioxide, cop15, copenhagen, Denmark, eco-art, global warming, treehuggers

Today marks the end of the first week of the landmark climate talks that have been taking place in Copenhagen, and there’s already been so much news surrounding the conference on the interwebs that we thought you could use a quick refresher! While most of the major news networks have been broadcasting the main points that we’ve already gone over with you, there are also a bunch of titillating side stories and developments that we thought would pique your interest. For example, did you hear that “COP15″ hit the web’s #1 most googled term the other day? Here are some more lesser known tidbits about Copenhagen that you can use to impress your friends over Friday night drinks tonight.

Treehugger says that Gordon Brown believes that if you still think climate change is a crock, you can join the group of people who believed the world was flat. And for those of us that do believe, help create a Twitter book for Copenhagen.

Guardian reminds us that nothing important in this world can happen without it becoming a video on YouTube.

If you really want to make a personal change to help the planet, you should eat less meat and dairy — and submit a question to be asked at COP15 here. You have until December 14th!

Forbes reports that China has turned hostile on “The West.” (China also says that climate change can be fought with population control)

Grist produces the first of quirky videos featuring Eugene Mirman as he reports on all the Copenhagen happenings.

Worldchanging reminds us that those who walk, save the planet.

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Post tags: Climate Change, cop15, cop15 news, copenhagen, united nations climate change conference, united nations climate change talks

COPENHAGEN, A report from Earth2Tech — Four days deep into the Copenhagen climate negotiations a few things are clear: the glowing optimism of the opening ceremonies on Monday has faded, and now the reality of the hard work that is needed to bridge the gaping divide between developing and developed nations is looming ahead of the COP15 negotiators. They’ve got until the end of next week to get as close as possible to a greenhouse gas emissions reduction agreement, and as the United Nations climate chief Yvo de Boer stressed in a press conference on Tuesday morning, “It’s time to put words into actions.”

Read the rest of Live from COP15: Optimism, Hard Work and Bridging the Divide

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Post tags: cop15, earth2tech, global warming, green design, katie fehrenbacher, Policy, sustainable design, un climate conference

TreeHugger’s man in CopenHagen, Matthew McDermott, has to deal with more than just climate change; the place is evidently crawling with people pushing all kinds of agendas and issues, sort of a giant Causapalooza. Avaaz was at least on message; the clean room suit-clad aliens with green skin wandered all over asking anyone and everyone if they were “climate leaders” and where real climate leaders could be found. Read on for a roundup of other unusual sights to be seen at the COP15 climate conference.

Read the rest of Fun, Games and Stunts at COP 15

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In a freshly released report on Tuesday, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) stated that 2000-2009 was the warmest decade ever on record. While the WMO has warned the world about this dire situation before, this new analysis further confirms the urgency and need for us to take action. The agency’s findings arrived in time to counteract the scrutiny of global warming deniers who have been increasingly more vocal as the COP15 conference to fight the effects of climate change commenced in Copenhagen.

Read the rest of WMO Confirms that There is No Slowdown in Global Warming

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Post tags: carbon emissions, Climate Change, cop15, copenhagen, global warming, greenhouse effect, greenhouse gases, michel jarraud, wmo, world meteorological organization

The COP15 climate conferences kicked off this week and as predicted, several key points dominated the focus of the media’s coverage. The plan of attack for how rich countries and poorer countries will clean up their acts collaboratively took center stage, and the world continued to turn their gaze towards President Obama to see how low the U.S. can go (or high, in terms of emissions cuts percentages) in this global warming limbo to rehabilitate our country. Underlining the urgency of these talks, the New York Times has just announced that the past decade has been the warmest on modern record. Read on for our full update!

Read the rest of COP15 News Update: Rich & Poor Nations Seek a Deal

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Post tags: china, Climate Change, climate change conference, cop15, copenhagen, global warming, hopenhagen, India, obama, united states

At Inhabitat, we’ve been showing our support for COP15 by telling our readers about the need to take action on climate change. Various Architects in Oslo, Norway has taken a different path and did what they do best – designing a concept for an ultra energy-efficient building that could help mitigate the world’s climate problems! The building features a variety of energy-saving measures including operable insulated shutters on the building’s facade, wind turbines, a green roof, and the use of local and sustainable building materials – sounds like a pretty fitting tribute to COP15 if you ask us.

Read the rest of Norway’s Most Energy-Efficient Office Building Unveiled for Cop15

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Post tags: "wind power", Climate Change, cop15, energy efficient architecture, energy efficient design, Green Building, greywater system, local, local materials, locally sourced materials, low carbon footprint, nordic architecture, passive heating

ATTENTION ALL RESIDENTS OF PLANET EARTH

The United Nations COP15 climate change conferences kicks off today in Copenhagen, and the fate of the planet hangs in the balance! The policies and agreements that are hammered out over the next two weeks by 20,000 delegates from 192 countries have the potential to create a binding global climate treaty, stem the onset of catastrophic climate change, and ensure the future growth of the green building and clean tech industries, so needless to say there’s a ton on the line. If you’re not familiar with all the things at stake be sure to check out our guide to the conference, and stay tuned to Inhabitat as we bring you the latest news from this critical world event!

INHABITAT GREEN GUIDE TO COP15 >

EVENT PICKS FOR THE COP15 CLIMATE CONFERENCE >

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Post tags: climate change policy, cop15, copenhagen climate conference, earth, global warming, green design, sustainable design, United Nations