I’m not really sure how I feel about Copenhagen.
In a way, I was pleasantly surprised that anything happened at all. I had been following the feeds from DeSmogBlog and U of T throughout the conference, and it was after midnight on the last evening before any agreements were actually made.
Obviously, Copenhagen didn’t progress to the stage it was supposed to. However, I feel that the stage that was reached was successful. For unsubstantiated, unexplained goals to simply “take note of”, they’re certainly very good goals.
I’m also pleased that it was China and the US who finally sat down to get something done. As the the largest emitters and largest economies in the world, all the other countries are going to follow whatever they do. And I’m glad that the senior leadership (if not the legislative assemblies) from both countries seems to be pushing in the right direction.
It ended up better than I expected. But it still isn’t enough. We really should have reached this stage 20 years ago. We’re far behind schedule, and we don’t seem willing to catch up.
Unfortunately, I’m going to have to challenge your assertion that US and China sitting down together is a good thing. Interesting article on how China sabotaged the climate talks
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/dec/22/copenhagen-climate-change-mark-lynas
[Yes, I just read that! What a terrifying idea, and easy to cover up – especially because so few people were allowed into that final session. -Kate]