Toronto Mayor, David Miller, accepting the Fossil of the Day Award. (Photo: Stephanie Levy)

In this update from Copenhagen, Stephanie Levy speaks to the intense criticism Canada has come under for our positions in the COP15 climate change negotiations, both on the home front and on the international stage. She also shares her hope based on what political leaders at the municipal and provincial levels are doing despite our national positions:

The past few days have been incredibly interesting, albeit frustrating.  As the whole world knows, Canada has been doing its best to obstruct a fair and ambitious deal.  I was in the Conference Centre on Friday night when Canada won both first and second place fossil awards. But when Toronto Mayor, David Miller, stepped up to accept the award, saying that he came as an embarrassed Canadian, I felt hope.  Vancouver Mayor, Gregor Robertson, was in our office Monday morning for an interview and said: “As a country, Canada has been despicable with carbon emissions.  We need to change that.”
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Stephanie Levy at COP15. (Photo: Stephanie Levy)

This past Monday, delegations from 192 countries representing government, the corporate community and civil society convened in Copenhagen, Denmark for the 15^th United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP15). Our very own Stephanie Levy, Project Manager for the Mahon Park Stewardship Project in British Columbia, is among the thousands of concerned citizens attending COP15. She was chosen by the Global Observatory out of a pool of international applicants to attend and provide her own global insight on the climate change negotiations.

COP15 will be running until December 18, and Stephanie will be blogging about her experience and perspectives throughout its duration. Today, she shares her initial thoughts on the conference and its host country, Denmark:

“Kongens Nytorv” he said, over-pronouncing each word.  “I’m sorry, can you say that again?”  “KONGENS N-Y-T-O-R-V,” he sighed.  “Okay,” I said, “one more time, in my good ear.”

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