The
Copenhagen Conference might be our best chance to prevent further climate change. China and the U.S. are disagreeing about the changes. As I understand it, China says the rich countries who got us in this mess should pay (e.g. the U.S.), whereas the U.S. says everyone should pay. The best answer is probably to take into account the country's economics. I mean, do we expect Ethiopia or Sierra Leone to contribute equally to China or the U.S.? Of course not. But China is hardly a poor country now. And a few other large, but poor, countries aren't exactly helping; I'm thinking of India. And while most Canadians are supporting initatives to prevent climate change (according to recent polls), our government is only willing to commit to a 3% decrease (to protect our lucrative but polluting tar sands). Saudia Arabia, I believe, is still saying climate change isn't real. So this is a fine mess.
Here's hoping they can agree to some meaningful reductions: goals that are achievable
with action plans that the bigger countries / regions can at least agree to implement (particularly the EU, U.S. Canada, Australia, China and India, and perhaps a couple other countries). That would probably (in my uneducated and humble opinion) be a great start and have a large impact on the world.
