State of the Planet 2010

The Copenhagen Climate Summit has ended but climate negotiations still wage on. Today at Columbia University in New York, Dr. Jeffrey Sachs, The Earth Institute and The Economist Magazine organized economists, scientists, political and business leaders in cities around world. Beijing, New Delhi Monaco, Nairobi, Mexico City, and London, all played a part through the technology of live video webcast in the State of the Planet Conference.

Four breakout sessions drove the days events dealing with what it would take to complete a climate deal, how to achieve Millennium Development Goals, what a green recovery would look like, and how an international system can be built to deal with transnational issues.

Keynote speakers included Secretary General of the UN Ban Ki-Moon who asked for a green recovery and Felipe Calderón of Mexico, who outlined 7 steps to completing a climate agreement for COP-16 in Mexico in November of this year.

All of the video from the day's breakout sessions can be watched online at State of the Planet.org.

One of the most lively moments of the day came from a London feed when Sir David King, Director of the Smith School on Enterprise and the Environment, from Oxford Unicersity predicted the date of peak oil. "The world's oil reserves are exaggerated". Sir King said. Adding "The International Energy Agency had earlier predicted 2020 as the date when demand for oil would outpace supply, it's more like 2014"

Many of the Summit's participants came together on the common ground of the need for a green recovery, seeing the financial environmental and energy crisis as intertwined.

Some participants pointed to hope in renewable energy as part of a solution to the climate crisis. "The great hope of the sun, that means photovoltaics," said Walace Broecker a Professor at Columbia University who is best known for coining the term global warming.

Other's talked about updating the electrical grid, and adding other renewable energy sources such as geothermal, wind, and nuclear power, as well as the idea of taxing financial transactions to pay for a green recovery, as well as the possible necessity of geoengineering if the world can't figure out a way to keep greenhouse gas emissions in check.