Ready to Talk Trash?

Berkeley Model United Nations LXIX starts TOMORROW!

We hope that all of you are ready to dive into discussing the international waste trade tomorrow evening and meet your fellow delegates!

We have been hard at work to grade your papers and prepare for conference! If you have not yet received your position paper score back, please let us know!

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Preparing for Resolution Writing: Important Tips

Hi all! I hope you all are well-rested and ready to jump into committee this weekend! Our dais has a few tips to share regarding resolution writing, and what we hope to see in the solutions you all bring to the table. IF you have ever participated in BMUN before, this framework may sound familiar: be sure to brush up on these five tools to consider when drafting up language for committee! Great resolutions can contain many different details and writing styles, but it is important to always have specifics to make sure your solutions are conveyed as best as possible. Below is BMUN's S.M.A.R.T. framework for resolutions, geared towards creating working papers that highlight solutions to the best of their ability. Consider using each of these five elements when in committee! S- Specific: make sure your solutions include as many details as possible - there is no such thing as an irrelevant point in debate! Consider every perspective on the topics, and try to make sure there are no ling...

Don't Mess With Texas but Think of Its Infrastructure

As more information about Texas' fatal and disastrous week with its energy system, the evidence points more and more towards the importance of infrastructure when it comes to thinking about energy distribution. Texas is the #1 producer of wind energy in the United States and alone is #5 in the world (for reference, California generates less energy than states like Iowa and Oaklahoma) . As the news stories came out, some pundits pointed to this large wind energy generation as the reason for the entire grid's failures. However, a closer look at Texas' infrastructure may tell a different story. Texas is mostly energy independent from the rest of North America meaning that it cannot easily draw energy generated in surrounding states. Louisiana borders Texas and faced similar extreme weather conditions but did not face the same extreme energy shortages. Similarly, for committee, it is important for delegates to consider the larger infrastructural impacts of your prop...

A note on Carbon Pricing

A number of delegates have proposed some sort of carbon price as a means to raise funding for different climate policies. This is definitely an interesting proposal but there are several things delegates should either clarify or consider before going down this pathway. Carbon Pricing policies are generally administrated by country or sub-national jurisdiction. Carbon prices are administered at this level because these are the levels that have the ability and some infrastructure set up already to administer, collect, and enforce taxes. The UNFCCC does not currently have the infrastructure to administer carbon pricing policies. Furthermore, subsidies for clean energy in the past have been met with free trade concerns. The argument is that clean energy subsidies make a country's clean energy industry more competitive and could unfairly outperform the international market for the technology. Here is a link to the case China has leveled against EU environmental subsidies. Delegat...

BMUN LXIX UNFCCC

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