Climate -- the other side of the argument

When I started following "copenhagen treaty" and "obama copenhagen" I knew they were dominated by people who were opposed to the international treaty. But I expected that would balance out as more people favoring the treaty started sending messages. Well, that did not happen -- at least, not very much.

So I started looking for a stream that was being used by those favoring the treaty. It looks like #climate is one hashtag used for that purpose. I am very late with starting this search. The conference is already in its third day, but I can at least get a sense of how they frame things differently from those opposed. And some comparative notion about volume in the favor and oppose streams.

#climate: After looking through the streams "copenhagen treaty" and "obama copenhagen" for positive messages it looked like #climate was my best bet. TweetVolume is no help here since it does not give any information about how the phrase is being used.

I started the search at approximately 10:00 a.m. Central December 9, 2009. The first search found 1500 entries reaching back to December 8 at 7:54 p.m. That looks like a pretty high volume stream.

#cop15: the other hashtag being used regularly by supporters of the conference and treaty was #cop15. It specifically refers to the conference. This photo makes the point.

I started a search for #cop15 at 10:15 a.m. Central December 9, 2009. The first search found 1500 messages reaching back only to 7:09 a.m. December 9. That is a very thick collection of tweets in time. I will have to run it continuously -- perhaps both for a while.

The end is coming. Negotiations are down to the wire. Nations are saying their are in or out. So, there is "breaking news." Here are two breaking new stories from The Washington Post. I am going to assume that they do not need separate searches -- though I am not sure what that means for comparing messages and announced breaking news.

News Alert
02:41 AM EST Thursday, December 17, 2009

Official: Climate deal unlikely for China

China has told participants in the U.N. sponsored climate talks that it cannot envision reaching an immediate, operational accord out of the negotiations here, according to an official involved in the talks in Copenhagen.

For more information, visit washingtonpost.com - http://link.email.washingtonpost.com/r/O914NF/4HSAO/Z6JDIZ/D9OGB3/OU7CM/XL/t

News Alert
06:05 AM EDT Thursday, December 17, 2009

U.S. will contribute to a $100B fund to help developing countries cope with climate change

COPENHAGEN -- Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said Thursday that the United States would contribute to a $100 billion fund to help developing countries cope with climate change. Japan and the European Union have already committed to building such a fund by 2020, and it is considered a critical step in forging a global climate change pact in the U.N.-sponsored talks that conclude Friday. Clinton said U.S. contributions to the fund would be contingent on reaching a substantive
political accord that would include "transparency" in tracking emissions cuts by major developing countries.

For more information, visit washingtonpost.com - http://link.email.washingtonpost.com/r/NQU5FR/OY239/MRM0VL/0ZNO0F/ZC9H4/E4/t

Another breaking news -- the best possible interpretation of what was accomplished. There were many less impressed.

News Alert
03:42 PM EST Friday, December 18, 2009

Climate deal reached in Copenhagen, official says

World leaders reach agreement that provides for a means to monitor and verify emission cuts by developing countries but has less ambitious climate targets than the U.S. and European governments had initially sought, according to an Obama administration official.

For more information, visit washingtonpost.com - http://link.email.washingtonpost.com/r/2GZNC0/QE72X/NF5C2T/RGIXEK/SHKDD/82/t

This trendline from Trendistic shows the spike and decline of messages about the Copenhagen treaty negotiations, i.e., #COP15

The trendline for most of the other ways of phrasing-starting microblogging about the meeting on the treaty look the same as the one above. It is time to quit the tracking.

#climate: at 1:05 a.m. January 1, 2010 23,454 messages had been found. The Archivist trendline is

The high points were during the meeting. After the meeting it trailed down to very few per day.

#cop15: At 1:11 a.m. January 1, 2010 122,620 had been found. This is far and away the largest stream of messages about the conference. The Archivist trendline is

Messages reached 25,000 in a single day at the height of the conference proceedings. Messages per day fell precipitously after that. However, the figure is so dominated by the high point that day to day change is not observable after the conference has completed.

The .txt file that is ready to be read by Excel is climate.txt for the #climate search and is cop15.txt for the #cop15 search.