A unique, intimate seminar offered at the UCLA School of Law was capped last week, as six law students attended the ongoing United Nations Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen, Denmark.
While in Copenhagen, the students were credentialed delegates, which allowed them to be present for certain negotiations between nations and schedule meetings with various climate change policymakers.
As told to UCLA Today before the trip, Maya Kuttan, one of the six students, referred to the opportunity as “a rock concert for climate geeks.”
The seminar itself was specially created by Cara Horowitz, the executive director of the school’s Emmett Center on Climate Change and the Environment, and she designed the curriculum around the conference. Over the course of the semester, the seminar examined existing and proposed international climate agreements as the conference weighs and debates a binding successor to the Kyoto Protocols. The six students had to apply for the available slots, and all had previous experience with environmental law.
The UCLA contingent attended the first week of the two-week conference, from Dec. 6-13, returning just in time for final exams. The students catalogued some of their experiences and observations on UCLA and Berkeley’s joint environmental law blog.
