Six students and alumni have traveled to Paris, France to represent Dickinson at the 2015 United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP21) from Nov. 30 to Dec.11.

Despite security concerns after the Nov. 13 terrorist attacks in Paris, the conference was not rescheduled or cancelled.

The delegation is composed of current and former students, all of whom have attended previous COP conferences. Current student delegates include Liz Plascencia ’16 and Keziah Groth-Tuft ’17. Alumni include Timothy Damon ’12, Sarah Ganong ’13, Anna McGinn ’14 and Samuel Pollan ’14. The delegation is led by Neil Leary, director of the Center for Sustainability Education (CSE). Leary and McGinn will both attend the full two weeks of the delegation, but because Dickinson can only host five

delegates per week, the other delegates will attend either the first or second week of talks.

Leary says the conference is “a major step forward” for climate change legislation since it is the first conference to both really include the United States and to have a plan to produce substantive requirements for non-major countries.

Dickinson students previously traveled to COP20 and COP17 in Peru and South Africa, respectively. This year’s delegation is not traveling as part of a Mosaic program, and all participants had to fund their own travel expenses.

Leary said that “any student who participated previously” in a COP delegation and “could fund their travel” was eligible to attend COP21. He said the trip’s purpose is: “educating ourselves and raising awareness on campus about why it’s important. It’s a chance for students… to gain a better understanding of what’s going on so they can be better informed and share with their peers here.”

Leary’s own travel was paid by the Deans’ Conference Fund, which can be accessed by faculty and administrators for travel that supports Dickinson’s scholarship and teaching. McGinn, who now works for the college as the interim coordinator for campus recreation programs, received a partial grant from CSE to conduct research on “fragile countries.” The department defines “fragile countries” as “countries experiencing conflict,” and McGinn’s research focuses on how these conflicts interact with climate issues. She will examine how these issues are negotiated at the conference. Other attendees funded their travels through alternate means.

McGinn previously attended the 2011 COP17 conference in Durban, South Africa. She said she is “excited to be a part of a historic moment for the future of the planet…. I am looking forward to absorbing much information from this diversity of delegates.”

Her experience at the 2011 conference was very positive, and she intends to take full advantage of the wide range of delegates’ backgrounds and fields. She hopes her and other delegates’ interactions with students upon returning will improve awareness of climate issues on campus and get students interested in climate news.

The Dickinson delegation is running a social media campaign from the conference using Twitter, Instagram and blog postings throughout the two-week conference. According to McGinn, this will allow students to get a really accurate impression of the talks and the delegation’s experience.

Students interested in hearing about the conference will be able to attend the on-campus event to be held in the spring where delegates will share what they learned with the Dickinson community.