Allie Goldstein and her master’s project team attended the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in Doha, Qatar. Her return to the States with unusually warm weather and a mind buzzing with reflections made her reconsider whether or not her and her teammates metrics of ‘success’ for attending the conference might have been a bit distorted.

“Though I expected the negotiations to be frustrating and lethargic, I was unprepared for the sense of charade among the negotiators and the apparent complacency of the thousands of observers. After going through the motions year after year, many attendees seem to have given up hope on the substance of the negotiations and now attend COP for other reasons.”

Read more:
Climate Change Negotiations: On Metrics of  ‘Success’ and the Definition of Insanity