I haven't been any good at Spanish since I was 21 and working at a Sport & Health club with a Guatemalan friend. Pero ahora, yo no practico nunca. Que lastima.Anyway, that's why I didn't even attempt to say anything in Christiana Figueres' native tongue. The Costa Rican national is now the new Executive Secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. Yep, now you know why everyone in our enviro circles just calls the position "UN Climate Chief."
Christiana had been unofficially on the job for roughly two hours when I invited her to our studios for an interview. Seemed rational, given the fact that she lives here in the Washington, DC area and we spent weeks covering the Copenhagen climate conference (not to mention all the preparatory conferences in Madrid and Bonn). Nonetheless, I was pretty darn surprised when she agreed.
Turns out, she'd handled something like two dozen phone interviews about her new UN appointment, but we were her very first television interview. And she handled herself beautifully...once she switched suit coats with her personal assistant.
Christiana really has her hands full taking over for Yvo de Boer, who resigned after four years amid a cloud of pessimism. Still, I have a strong feeling that she's prepared for the adversity ahead. Both her father and brother are former Presidents of Costa Rica.
Bueno sustantivo. Good genes.
