Meeting after Meeting

Hi everyone,

So today was quite hectic! We didn`t arrive at the Bella Centre until 11am, but didn't leave until 10pm. To start off the day, Marielle and I went to a meeting regarding the observation and monitoring of greenhouse gases. This meeting sounded like it would be very interesting and educational, and I expected there to be more about the actual technologies being used in our current society. However, this was not the case. They mostly spoke about the organizations who conduct the world climate research projects, including the Global Climate Observing System. They stressed the importance for global observations, including the need to support the research being done, as well as understanding the climate through modeling. It was a very educational meeting.

Next we attended a meeting regarding the greenhouse gas inventory. There was an EPA representative who spoke about the inventories that are already existing in developing countries and the need to improve greenhouse gas monitoring. Very interesting information was given at this meeting.

After this meeting we decided to go into the city for the first time to get a late lunch (really late lunch). We went to a great Italian restaurant (see Picture 1). Most people got pizza, I had a tortellini. We walked around for a little bit, but had to get back to the meetings fairly early.

The next meeting I attended was the most interesting for me. It was about the smart grids that are being implemented all around the world. A representative from California spoke about their initiatives and the importance of introducing smart grids. Just as a background on this, smart grids from my understanding are "an electricity network that can intelligently integrate the actions of all uses connected to it". They have the capacity to include alternative energy sources, which is very important in today's economy. I won't get into many details, but it seems to be a great project to look into. One of our delegates raised awareness on the fact that Ontario seems to be leading the way in regards to smart grids. They have them already in place, working well from the sounds of it.

On that note, the following meeting I attended was in regards to the introduction of peatlands as a source of carbon dioxide and nitrous oxide emissions. There was a list that showed the countries with the largest peatland occurrences, where Canada is the second. However, Canada is not even on the top 20 list for the most emissions from peatlands. This was great news.

The rest of the night will consist of relaxing finally. We have a good group here right now, discussing what happened throughout the day, and figuring out what's happening tomorrow.

Until next time! :)