Send A Colleague to Copenhagen

I won't be attending the Copenhagen climate conference but my colleague David Kroodsma still has a shot to do so if he wins the Huffington Post contest to send a citizen journalist (You can vote for him here). David is a writer, climate-energy expert, and bicycle adventurer with degrees in physics and climate science. He and I met last year on the Climate Ride while we were traveling to Washington to lobby for clean energy. Prior to that, David bicycled across North and South America to raise awareness of global warming and he has since documented his journey in a forthcoming book.

I spoke with David recently about the city of Copenhagen and how one-third of commuters there use bicycles. Below is an excerpt from his book where he talks about the choice world cities face: They can either copy Copenhagen, or they can copy American cities such as Los Angeles. The excerpt is from his chapter on Colombia. David visited Bogota and saw how investments in public transportation and bicycle infrastructure have helped to reduce carbon pollution and make the city a more pleasant place to live.

Something else remarkable has happened in Colombia over the past decade: the country has reduced its carbon dioxide pollution. Some of this reduction has been because of an increase in hydroelectric power—eighty percent of the country's electricity comes from dams—and a decrease in coal-fired power. But the Transmilenio [the public transit system] and bikeways have also had a serious effect, perhaps decreasing Bogotá's pollution by over half a million tons of carbon dioxide a year and cutting Bogotá's total pollution by a few percent. Car use in Bogotá has dropped significantly, and nearly twenty percent of daily trips are via the Transmilenio, an efficient service that didn't even exist a decade earlier. Bogotá shows that reducing pollution often has ancillary benefits. The city didn't set out to reduce pollution. The city set out to make itself more livable, and consequently reduced fossil fuel use.

If cities in the developing world decide to copy Bogotá, how big of a difference would it make? In the next thirty years, almost all growth in greenhouse gas pollution is expected to come from developing nations such as Colombia—nations where living standards are rising rapidly. Cities in these countries are growing rapidly, and decisions made today will decide the transportation infrastructure for decades to come.

A city like Bogotá could look to U.S. cities like Los Angeles where the majority of commuters drive, or they could look to European cities such as Copenhagen where transit is evenly divided between personal automobiles, public transportation, and bicycles. Whereas the average citizen of Los Angeles produces about five tons of carbon dioxide per person through transportation, the average citizen of Copenhagen is responsible for less than one and a half tons per person from transportation.

Half of the world's population now lives in urban areas, and the difference between these cities copying the transit system of Los Angeles versus copying the transit system of Copenhagen is thus a difference of about 10 billion tons of carbon dioxide. Given that global carbon dioxide pollution from fossil fuels is roughly 30 billion tons today, the difference between a world of Los Angeleses and Copenhagens is dramatic.

Here is David's video for the HuffPo Hopenhagen contest. Don't forget to vote:

Migration Policy Gone Awry: The Gulden Coffee Story, Part II

In 2007, Policy Innovations ran the story of Gulden Coffee, a fair trade coffee business based in New Jersey that imported coffee directly from Colombia. Yesterday, we learned that Gulden Coffee is being liquidated because one of the owners, who had an investor's visa, was not let back in the United States. Ironically, the end of her story in Policy Innovations talked about creating jobs in the United States:

I am proud that GÜLDEN Coffee is an American company, supporting increased trade and investment between the United States and Colombia. It will mean more jobs in both countries. The exchange with the farmer touched my heart, encouraging me to strive even harder to make my family's small business a success that I can share with coffee workers and small producers around the globe.

I spoke with one of the owners this morning to learn they will have to fire all of their employees (half a dozen) and liquidate a company in this terrible economic environment.

With Ana's permission, I am posting her email, which I received last night.

Dear Devin,

How are you? I hope everything is good for you.

I was reading your article about "Is Ethical Capitalism Possible?" and I decided to tell you something that happen to me and my company Gulden Coffee.

On November 2008 I came to Colombia because have to renewed my Investor visa (I am not yet an American residence). I came to your embassy for my interview. Unfortunately on that day I was told by the consul that I was not eligible for that kind of visa. I was also told that the main reason for such denial-decision was mostly related to the volume of my business; apparently such volume was not big enough, as it is required.

On December 23, 2008, following with the consul instructions, I came back to the embassy to apply for the business visa. As I explained to the consul, my main objective now was to go back to the USA and find a manager for my business. Again, the consul denied my application, apparently because of my lack of employment in Colombia. As I was explained by the consul, my profile didn't meet the criteria for that kind of visa. Needless to say, I tried my best to explain the consul why I didn't have employment in Colombia. I told him that the main reason was due to the fact that I have been in the USA since 2000, working hard, building my business and respecting and obeying all the USA laws.

Since that day I am trying to contact the American Ambassador via email and mail, and he did not answer (I enclosed the letter). So we decided to close our company, fire employees and explain to my clients why we are out of the business. I cannot believe that this happen to us. We are good people trying to do business, pay taxes and contributing for American Economy. I am in shock but if USA does not want us, I won't insist any more. I am in Colombia and I will open my business here and trying to build wherever I did in NY.

I want to thank you because you were very nice with us. If you are planning to came to Colombia please don't forget to contact me….I will always remember you…..take care,

Ana Maria Trejos-Gulden

I hope we will hear a happier part III to this story.

Trade Triangulation?

Hillary Clinton says she will support the Peru FTA but not agreements with Colombia or Panama. From Bloomberg:

Clinton said she's opposing the Colombia deal because she's concerned about violence against trade unionists in the country and can't support the Panama agreement because the head of the nation's National Assembly is a fugitive from justice in the U.S.

"I have long said that we need smart trade policies that advance labor rights, the environment and our economic standing in the world,'' Clinton said in a statement released by her campaign. "As president, in my first months in office, I will take a time-out from new trade deals to assess their impact before going forward.''

It looks like we are starting to see a clearer picture of the future of U.S. trade policy (read the Policy Innovations article on this topic here)--something like trade triangulation.