Earlier this afternoon, I participated in a conference call with a few members of the UN Foundation board and senior staff. The group spoke from Svalbard, Norway which is one of the northernmost inhabited places in the world. Predictably, the conversation focused on climate change. Participants included:
Ted Turner, Founder and Chairman, UN Foundation
Gro Harlem Brundtland, UN Foundation Board member and former Prime Minister of Norway
Senator Timothy E. Wirth, President, UN Foundation
Reid Detchon, Vice President of Energy & Climate, UN Foundation
Aaron Sherinian, Vice President for Communications and Public Relations, UN Foundation*
The participants reflected on the melting glaciers they viewed and the warm temperatures they experienced. They also discussed the current state of the international debate on climate change–and what can be done to move that conversation forward. Have a listen.
Teleconference with UN Foundation Board in Norway by UN Dispatch
The good folks at the UN Foundation also passed along some photos of the group in Svalbard.
In the photo below, Kim Holmen, research director for the Norwegian Polar Institute, left, chats with Founder and Chairman of the UN Foundation, Ted Turner, right, and former U.S. Senator Timothy E. Wirth, center, president of the UN Foundation, during a trip to view first-hand and discuss the issues related to climate change and the environment in the arctic circle region of Svalbard, Norway, Thursday, June 23, 2011. (Stuart Ramson/Insider Images for UN Foundation)
And in this photo, Jan-Gunnar Winther addresses members of the UN Foundation, including Founder and Chairman of the UN Foundation, Ted Turner, left, during a trip to the Tuna and Von Post Glaciers to view first-hand and discuss the issues related to climate change and the environment in the arctic circle region of Svalbard, Norway, Thursday, June 23, 2011. (Stuart Ramson/Insider Images for UN Foundation)
