University of Alabama student John Canada was recently chosen as one of five students nationwide to attend the United Nation Climate Change Convention in Durban, South Africa.
“I feel very honored that I was given the opportunity to represent [the American Chemical Society], the University and my country at a United Nations Conference,” said Canada, a chemistry major and member of the American Chemical Society.
The annual conference was established to discuss climate change and other related topics. Many of the scientific organizations support the consensus view on climate change and thus have had an impact on negotiations.
Canada was encouraged to apply for the American Chemical Society slot by Robin Rogers, the Robert Ramsay Chair of Chemistry at UA and director of the University’s Center for Green Manufacturing, according to a press release.
“John’s ability to communicate is perhaps one of his biggest strengths,” Rogers said in the release. “Even as a sophomore, he already has broad experiences and broad interests combined with technical ability that will allow him to understand and assess the complex issues to be discussed.”
In the past, the American Chemical Society sent representatives to the conference to help with any negotiations, but over the past few years, the involvement of ACS has decreased. Canada said ACS selected five students to represent them at the conference in an effort to reassert the importance of the science in the process. Canada was joined by two students from York College of Pennsylvania, one from Penn State University and another from Carnegie Mellon University, according to a press release.
During the two-week conference, which runs from Nov. 29 to Dec. 9, the students will attend talks, take part in special events, discuss special interests with other non-government organization representatives and interview world leaders, according to the ACS. They will employ social networking, including Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and blogs to reach to their peers and educators in the U.S., the press release said.
While at the conference, Canada was given a mentor by the ACS to familiarize him with the negotiations, Dr. Donald Brown, who was the lead U.S. negotiator at the conference during the Clinton administration.
“Dr. Brown was extremely knowledgeable on everything climate change related,” Canada said.
While in Africa, Canada was left to decide his own path of reporting on the conference and educate people back home.
“I decided the best way to do this was to seek out youth delegates from organizations worldwide,” he said. “I talked to just about everyone at the conference. You can pretty much name a country, and I’ve met with people from there.”
Canada joined a group called YOUNGO and began working with them almost immediately.
“I joined their committee which was lobbying the UN to make changes to some of their policies such as for water purification,” he said.
While in Africa, he was able to organize a partnership between the major youth delegations from China and the U.S.
“In addition to writing the agreement, I have helped create a workshop for all U.S. and Chinese delegates to attend,” he said.
Canada said he is currently trying to reach out to more Americans to draw attention to this topic.
“With the efforts of Chris Bryant, we have been able to reach out to the public on what I’ve been doing.”
