President Barack announced yesterday that he will also be attending this summit. Obama is prepared to set a goal of reducing emissions to 17 percent below 2005 levels over the next decade and reducing U.S. emissions by 83 percent by 2050. However, the United States is the only industrialized country that hasn't yet given the UNFCCC a proposal for cutting carbon emissions. To read more about this, http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/11/25/obama.copenhagen.climate/index.html#cnnSTCText
Next month's climate talks aim to strike a deal on a successor agreement to the Kyoto Protocol, the 1997 pact that has legally binding targets for reducing greenhouse gas emissions. The United States never ratified it, though more than 200 nations did.
I think this is a great step for the United States and especially China. The pollution is terrible in China, as I and many of you saw during the band trip. I think this trip will help get the Senate to pass the climate change bill. Internationally, I think the more, and bigger countries that make a commitment to improve environmentally, it will help other, more poor countries reach their goals. It might also put more pressure on other countries to be more active in environmental issues. However, Greenpeace is criticizing the president for going only at the begginning of the summit, since he will be in Norway to accept his Nobel Peace Prize on December 10, calling it a "photo-opp." I think it would be really hard for the preident to attend an 11 day conference. I don't think he is wrong to go at the begginning. What do you guys think?
