Important global climate change summit next week starting Nov. 26!!!

[limpyhobbler]

Could this be a chance for President Obama to become a leader on the climate issue?

Or will we continue down the path to total destruction?

Either way, it should be an interesting summit. It will be November 26 - December 7, 2012 in Doha, Qatar.

Here are a couple articles I was just reading about this.

Obama under pressure to show Doha he is serious on climate change
The climate has been back on Obama's lips since his re-election, but the Doha conference will show if he is all talk

Barack Obama is being pressed for proof of his intent to act on climate change ahead of next week's United Nations global warming summit in Doha.

The proof might boil down to just two words: two degrees. An early statement at Doha that America remains committed to the global goal of limiting warming to 2C above pre-industrial levels would be a clear sign.

Every statement from US diplomats at the Doha negotiations will be closely scrutinised for signs that Obama will indeed make climate change a priority of his second term – and that America remains committed to the global agreement diplomats have been seeking for 20 years.

Campaigners say Obama's re-election, superstorm Sandy and New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg's endorsement – predicated on climate change – put climate change back on the domestic agenda.
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more: http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2012/nov/23/barack-obama-doha-climate-change

Obama at centre stage as crucial round of climate talks begins

WASHINGTON – As the United Nations annual climate change conference begins in Doha Monday, all eyes will be on U.S. President Barack Obama to see if he is ready to lead the world towards an ambitious agreement on reducing greenhouse gases.

The United States has committed to keeping the global mean temperature rise to two degrees Celsius but has not backed up this commitment with a willingness to sign an international agreement that would bind the country to carbon reductions that meet this goal. Without America’s signature, it is doubtful industrialized nations, particularly China, will commit to binding measures. China and the U.S. are the world’s two biggest greenhouse-gas emitters.

Any strengthening of Obama’s commitments will have important effects on Canada because the Harper government has tied its climate change policy to that of the United States, citing the close links between the two economies.

Obama has sent mixed signals of support for enhanced action. “We want our children to live in an America … that isn’t threatened by the destructive power of a warming planet,” he said during his acceptance speech following re-election.
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Read more: http://www.vancouversun.com/news/Obama+centre+stage+crucial+round+climate+talks+begins/7602223/story.html

These were some ideas from World Wildlife Fund about what the leaders should do.

There are a range of actions that can be taken immediately to begin to close the gap, including at the UN climate summit in Doha which begins next week:
- Governments must agree clear processes to increase ambition further before 2020, in the context of a promised new international agreement to be struck in 2015.
- Governments must agree on robust common accounting rules for greenhouse gas emissions, and also agree to retire the large amounts of surplus “hot air” emission credits currently swilling around in the system.
- Countries, including European countries, should also move to the top end of their emission pledges for 2020, and come forward with credible plans for meeting or exceeding them.
- Governments must agree strong reforms to carbon market mechanisms to prevent double counting of offset credits and to rule out offsets that do not need to clear net emission reductions.

“UNEP shows clearly that it is still feasible to get back on track for a safer climate future, but that every year’s delay makes the task harder,” ...
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http://wwf.panda.org/wwf_news/?206816/WWF-UN-assessment-confirms-world-is-standing-on-the-brink-of-climate-catastrophe

[Spider Jerusalem]

1. I don't really think that we can expect very much

US politicians of both parties are too beholden to a complex of corporate interests that have no desire to see the actions required to combat climate change happen. The oil industry, the natural gas industry, the auto industry, the coal industry...instead of talking about renewables and alternatives it's "clean coal" and fracking. And American politicians from both major parties have had a failure of leadership on this issue because it's too dangerous to do anything; first, because they can't piss off the powerful vested interests, second because telling the American people "you know how you have a way of life built on cheap fossil fuel? all that has to change now, sorry" is not a political winner. There's more concern for short term advantage than for long term consequences. End result: nothing happens, or it only happens too late.