History
Dr. Peter Carter, Paul Beckwith, Regina Valdez, Charles Gregoire and Heidi Brault first started working together at COP25 in Madrid, Spain, in December of 2019.
Let's backtrack a bit. Charles and Heidi first met Paul in September 2018, when a mutual friend and climate activist, Stuart Scott, travelled to Ottawa to give a talk. All three of them helped to organize a presentation for Stuart, then Executive Director of ScientistsWarning.org. In July 2019, Paul suggested that they travel to Santiago, Chile, to join Stuart for COP25. Thus began the initial plans for going to COP25 as part of an NGO delegation. (Note that Chile was officially the host country for COP25).
In September 2019, Regina volunteered to join ScientistsWarning.org to write press releases for the upcoming COP25 event. During their first online meeting with Regina, Charles and Heidi immediately recognized that she could be a potential program co-host. Peter joined the group at around the same time, also offering to be a co-host. Charles offered to help with technical support and organizing, and Heidi played a key role in organizing (badges, communications) and trip planning.
One month prior to COP25, the Chilean government announced that Chile wouldn't be able to host COP25 in Santiago due to civil unrest. The Spanish government offered to host the conference in Madrid and COP25 was officially moved to Madrid. The team then had to regroup, cancel all their plans for Santiago and plan for Madrid. Paul, Heidi and Charles travelled from Ottawa to Madrid together. In Madrid, Regina, Peter, Charles and Heidi all stayed in the same AirBnB during COP, while Paul was hosted by a local activist, Alfonso. Alfonso was of great assistance to the team both at COP and as a local guide. He became a good friend.
Conference of the Parties - COP25 & 26
Most of the team first worked together in December 2019 during our participation in COP25 in Madrid, Spain, as part of a team of presenters, moderators and technical/organizational support. Prior to travelling to Madrid, Peter and Paul had planned to present several programs at COP in the NGO press conference room. They decided during the first week of COP that having Regina join them as a moderator would enhance their programs and thus make it more interesting for their audiences.
In anticipation of presenting at COP26, the team reunited in February 2021 where they eventually decided to start their own YouTube channel and website with the name 'Climate Emergency Forum.' The name was a slight modification of Peter's site and channel called 'Climate Emergency Institute' and shares the same logo.
In early November of 2021, in collaboration with Facing Future, Buddhist Tzu Chi, and Scientists Warning Europe, Paul, Regina, Charles and Heidi attended COP26 in Glasgow, Scotland. Paul and Regina presented eight programs along with various guests in the NGO press conference room. Although Peter did not attend in person, he was able to participate virtually in three of the press conferences. Julie was a guest in one of the press conferences.
Around October of 2022 Kelly Green joined our team with the role of producing YouTube Shorts videos which later evolved into helping spread the word through social media.
In November of 2022 Paul, Regina, Heidi and Charles attended COP27 in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt. Peter provided a prerecorded segment for one of the programs.
In December of 2023 Regina, Heidi and Charles attended COP28 in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Peter and Paul provided prerecorded segments for one of the programs.
As we look ahead to COP29 in November of 2024, we are once again planning that Paul and Regina will present together with technical and planning support from Heidi and Charles. Peter will join some programs via prerecorded segments.
