So as I am sure you have seen in the news a mention of the Copenhagen you might not know what it means or what will be happening there. This is where the United Nations Conference Change will take place. What happens at this conference could very well change how businesses and homes run across the world.
Over ten years ago countries joined in on an international treaty, the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). The goal was to confront any issues with global warming and temperature changes that are inevitable. Representatives from the 192 countries are meeting to work on a new treaty to replace the Kyoto Protocol which will expire in 2012.
This Convention on Climate Change provides a setting to discuss potential legally binding means of addressing these issues. In reality, it is recognizing that we have one climate system and one environment. We all have to work for a solution. Together.
We have all heard about the melting polar ice caps and the green house gas emissions, but it all seems so far away. The Copenhagen Diagnosis states that the CO2 pressure is higher than at any time in the last 800,000 years and possibly in the last 3 to 20 million years. The Diagnosis recommends that to stabilize the climate, “a decarbonized global society, with near-zero emissions of CO2 and other greenhouse gases, needs to be reached well within this century. More specifically, the average annual per-capita emissions will have to shrink to well under 1 metric ton of CO2 by 2050. To put it in perspective, this figure is 80 to 95 percent below the per-capita emissions in developed nations (that’s the U.S.!) in 2000.
Yikes.
Well, this is what will be discussed at the Copenhagen Conference. Even if the environment isn’t on the top of your importance Richter scale, discussions about climate legislation at national and international levels will affect your lifestyle in the long run. The important factor is to be as educated as possible about the politics, policies and science at hand, and to decide what changes you can make (if any) to help this one environment we all share.
The United Nations Climate Change Conference is taking place at the Bella Center in Copenhagen, Denmark, between December 7th and December 18th, 2009. The conference includes the 15th Conference of the Parties (COP 15) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.
Tags: global warming
