Copenhagen

I had mixed feelings when I watched the opening of the Copenhagen conference—dramatically broadcast in a ‘we interrupt normal programming’ format on BBC World News, cutting off a Turkish diplomat mid-sentence on HARDtalk. With a lack of any desire for a legally binding treaty to replace Kyoto in 2012, it is tempting to write off Copenhagen as a load of hot-air, but I think it still might serve some purpose. If an agreement on the rôle of developed and developing states in tackling climate change can be reached, then at the very least, we will be on the right road, and ready to take more urgent action once a few countries cease to exist, and the harsher effects begin to be felt.

It’s something, albeit not much, that we are where we are now; we are, after all, trying to change a fundamental aspect of modern global society, and people rarely like change.