This special series of posts is produced by Juliet Pinto (Florida International University) and Phaedra Pezzullo (University of Colorado-Boulder)

In collaboration with International Environmental Communication Association, FIU’s Sea Level Solutions Center, and eyesontherise.org. Both Pinto and Pezzullo are attending COP21 in Paris.

By Juliet Pinto, from Paris (Updated 12-3-15)

At a panel on sea level rise in Miami last year, audience members repeatedly asked what city officials were doing to combat street flooding and other impacts of climate change overwhelming infrastructure. Panelists, including me, listed the pumps Miami Beach is installing, as well as building code changes, upgrades to flood control infrastructure on the canal systems, and other adaptation measures being implemented.

Another panelist, Sierra Club Everglades Issue Chair Jonathan Ullman, said something that resonated then and now: “Adaptation measures are important. But we can’t talk about sea level rise without talking about mitigation.”

Mitigation is indeed a central focal point of the COP21 talks, as well as a central point of contention. On a global scale, it signifies a transformation of world economies to shift away from carbon-intensive energies in order to keep the world from warming more than 2C. It also signifies trillions of dollars in costs in order to do so.

An economist, Thomas Sterner from the University of Gothenburg, said yesterday on a panel on carbon markets, “We are working on carbon markets to save money. The world is facing very expensive change in its energy systems, and we need to do this in an efficient manner.” […]

This special series of posts is produced by Juliet Pinto (Florida International University) and Phaedra Pezzullo (University of Colorado-Boulder)

In collaboration with International Environmental Communication Association, FIU’s Sea Level Solutions Center, and eyesontherise.org. Both Pinto and Pezzullo are attending COP21 in Paris.

By Phaedra Pezzullo, from Paris

It is hard to provide or to navigate a COP map.

We are gathering in temporary structures in Le Bourget, a suburb of Paris. There are restaurants, restrooms, water bottle refill stations, and lots of meeting spaces. The IECA has a booth in a long building with many other NGOs; there also are great halls for large diplomatic meetings; smaller meeting spaces for spinoff groups; places to recharge your computer through stationary biking; plastic animals that appear to be an artistic statement about the loss of biodiversity; pocket gardens; and much, much more. Plus, there are events throughout the city of Paris during this time. […]

This special series of posts is produced by Juliet Pinto (Florida International University) and Phaedra Pezzullo (University of Colorado-Boulder)

In collaboration with International Environmental Communication Association, FIU’s Sea Level Solutions Center, and eyesontherise.org. Both Pinto and Pezzullo are attending COP21 in Paris.

By Juliet Pinto, from Paris

“Cognitive dissonance” is a term I am using more frequently. I first heard it as a graduate student learning about communication theory, as we studied the stress people experience when new information confronts deep-held beliefs and attitudes. We are rational creatures, right? We want harmony between our lived experiences and what we believe to be true.

So, as someone who works in research and education dealing with climate change communication, I often now must invoke this phrase. It helps me understand those who deny climate change, in a context of overwhelming climate science consensus; it gives me a phrase, in part, for explaining a building boom in South Florida, the world’s most vulnerable region (economically speaking) to sea level rise; as well as processing, in part, U.S. Congressional resistance toward working toward a sustainable and viable future for humankind in the face of this enormous challenge. […]

This special series of posts is produced by Juliet Pinto (Florida International University) and Phaedra Pezzullo (University of Colorado-Boulder)

In collaboration with International Environmental Communication Association, FIU’s Sea Level Solutions Center, and eyesontherise.org. Both Pinto and Pezzullo are attending COP21 in Paris.

By Juliet Pinto, from Paris

The week before I left for the COP21 talks, I spent a considerable amount of time driving around my local neighborhoods in Miami and watching water pool on the streets. It bubbled up rapidly through storm drains, spreading across streets, turning green grass into yellow stalks, sloshing across roadways as cars splashed through and people held their shoes in their hands to gingerly tiptoe across.

No, it wasn’t a water main break or a storm: It’s higher sea levels, combined with a rainy year and the passage of annual king tides, which together mean that the infrastructure that was constructed decades ago to deal with flooding is simply being overwhelmed. And it means a glimpse into our future, as seas continue to rise at accelerated rates, when such flooding will be the new normal.

So more than ever, as a scholar who studies interfaces of news media and democracy, as well as a citizen who experiences climate change at a local level, I wonder: What will the news narrative of the COP21 talks be? […]

This special series of posts is produced by Juliet Pinto (Florida International University) and Phaedra Pezzullo (University of Colorado-Boulder)

In collaboration with International Environmental Communication Association, FIU’s Sea Level Solutions Center, and eyesontherise.org. Both Pinto and Pezzullo are attending COP21 in Paris.

By Phaedra Pezzullo, from Paris

Today, I attended a security briefing and helped set up the IECA booth with Prof. Juliet Pinto & Suzanna Norbeck, JD, from Mediators Beyond Borders (with whom we’re sharing the booth). Despite the state of emergency, the security was nothing compared to the airport in Indianapolis. Honestly. (For an excellent book on U.S. security performances from an intersectional cultural studies perspective, see Rachel Hall’s The Transparent Traveler.)

Nevertheless, today was a striking juxtaposition between those inside COP21 and those outside. Outside, as I have tweeted and posted on Facebook (for those that want pictures), there were three main events worth noting: a sunrise ceremony by Indigenous environmental activists, a display of thousands of shoes instead of people in lieu of current law, and a human sidewalk barricade that stood peacefully on the sidewalk where the marching was to occur. […]

This special series of posts is produced by Juliet Pinto (Florida International University) and Phaedra Pezzullo (University of Colorado-Boulder)

In collaboration with International Environmental Communication Association, FIU’s Sea Level Solutions Center, and eyesontherise.org. Both Pinto and Pezzullo are attending COP21 in Paris.

By Phaedra Pezzullo, from Paris

(An automated email alert sent by my university to my inbox this morning)

Members should avoid all demonstrations by environmental activists due to take place in the coming days in several European capital and main cities as a basic security precaution. … Avoid all protests related to the COP21 Conference due to the risk of localised violence between participants and the police. Any unrest is likely to be swiftly contained by the police, though may temporarily pose incidental risks to bystanders.” (International SOS Security Advisories, 11/27/15)

(Conversation in my living room this morning)

“Ma, why do you have to leave today?”

“Well, honey, I think climate change is the most important issue today, and

I have an opportunity to help bring attention to it. (Pause) To help your

future be safer.”

 

As my almost 6 year old looked at me with skepticism, I wondered if my child sensed my doubt. Would going make a difference? Who am I to think I matter? […]