Thursday, December 2, 2010

Climate Change Chatter in Cancun

The diplomats are squeezing hands in the Cancun sun. The United Nations emblem shines. Polished quotes from 180 plus world leaders abound half a year after the big fizzle in Copenhagen and thirteen years after the vaunted Kyoto Protocol was supposed to take us into a new era. Hope springs eternal? Not really.

Fueled by Cancun
Little has happened and there is little hope that anything will get done with this approach. It would be great to be wrong, but the issues are too complicated and there are too many parties involved to believe otherwise. China and the US alone tend to suck all the air out of the room. Raising the profile of climate change on an international scale is important but in the end, it may simply a whole lot of hot air (sorry, couldn't resist).

Climate Change remains one of the most important issues of our time if not the most important. The marine environment will see direct impact including increased ocean temperatures, ocean acidification, and melting polar caps. A more effective way to deal with climate change is to get the US off the petroleum economy and onto the renewable energy economy, which means widespread government -- state and federal -- and citizen support of renewable energy projects including solar, wind, and tidal power. Come on people!


Photo credit: faqs.org

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