Brown Bag Webinar: Making Sense of the COP26 Climate Talks - Reporting Back from the Field

Nov 19 12:00PM

Brown Bag

Brown Bag Webinar: Making Sense of the COP26 Climate Talks - Reporting Back from the Field

Webinar

Betsy Wilkening, President, Polar Educators International

Kristen Poppleton, Senior Director of Programs, Climate Generation: A Will Steger Legacy

11/19/2021 - 12:00pm to 1:15pm Arizona Time

Making Sense of the COP26 Climate Talks Watch the recorded webinar

On November 19, the WRRC hosted Betsy Wilkening, president of Polar Educators International, and Kristen Poppleton, senior director of programs for Climate Generation, for a Brown Bag webinar on their experiences at the United Nations 26^th Conference of the Parties (COP26). Wilkening and Poppleton attended COP26 as delegates from Climate Generation, a Minnesota-based organization that works to empower individuals to act against climate change in their communities. The presentation began with an explanation of what the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) does, including organizing the annual COP. Wilkening then outlined the three overarching goals of COP26: to limit warming to 1.5 degrees centigrade, to create a climate finance system to support developing nations hit hardest by climate change, and to develop a whole-of-society approach to solving this global problem. Poppleton then explained Action for Climate Empowerment (ACE), which entails empowering all members of society to engage in climate action.

Poppleton and Wilkening shared stories about their time at COP26, highlighting some of the sessions and events they attended. Sharing videos and photos of the conference and other events, the presenters gave webinar attendees a sense of what it was like on the ground in Glasgow, Scotland. To close out their presentation, Wilkening gave an overview of the Glasgow Climate Pact, and highlighted some of the areas where the agreement fell short. She circled back to the three goals of the conference and discussed to what extent those goals were met, after which Poppleton provided a final overview of the good, the bad, and the ugly from the conference.

Betsy is a learner, engineer, educator, environmentalist, volunteer, wife, mom, and activist. Her career has spanned jobs in industry, PreK-12 classroom teaching, teacher professional development, outreach education, and community engagement. As a teacher, she had the opportunity to work and visit the Arctic, which led her to becoming a founding member and now president of Polar Educators International. Betsy is a 5th generation Arizonan. Her ancestors first occupied lands of the Tohono O’Odham and Yaqui people in Tucson under the Mexican flag. Betsy’s Hispanic roots run deep in the Sonoran Desert, and as members of her community are disproportionately affected by extreme heat, persistent drought, and extreme storm events, she is passionate about empowering all to take action to build a more resilient community.

Kristen develops a vision for and provides strategic coordination, oversight and support for all Climate Generation programs focusing on youth, educator, and community engagement. Kristen served on the Federal Advisory Committee for the Sustained National Climate Assessment, the City of St. Paul’s Climate Action Planning Committee, and Minnesota’s Science Standards Revision Committee. She currently serves as co-chair of the CLEAN (Climate Literacy) Network’s Leadership Board, the Action for Climate Empowerment Leadership Team, and St. Paul’s Climate Justice Advisory Board. She is a 4th generation St. Paulite, and in her spare time loves to be in the boreal forest with her husband, two children and lab, canoeing, hiking, Nordic skiing, or with her nose in a new novel.

To request an alternate format of this webinar for disability-related access, please contact us at wrrc@email.arizona.edu