COP15 KICKS OFF NEXT WEEK!
Next week marks a crucial moment in history as the United Nations COP15 Climate Change Conference kicks off in Copenhagen! This monumental event will convene 20,000 official delegates from 192 countries who are banding together to acknowledge and solve the earth-threatening environmental issues we’ve been facing. The conference marks a milestone in climate change history, so if you’re not familiar with all the issues being discussed and the global changes we need to make to ensure a sustainable future, read on for our green guide to COP15!
Flooded 5th Avenue in NYC by Studio Lindfors
The earth’s temperature has risen by 0.74 degrees Celsius in the last 100 years.
An increase of increase of just 2 degrees Celsius more will lead to massive loss of species, 100 million climate refugees, and other major stresses.
We need to set strict emissions restrictions by 2012 in order to avert a worldwide climate catastrophe
1. What’s at Stake
The effects of climate change include more droughts and flooding, rising sea levels, a lack of drinking water, and more extreme weather incidents like heatwaves, heavy rainfall and severe storms. We’re already seeing these consequences manifest themselves and cause the loss of homes, destruction of property, an imbalance in ecosystems, and in many many cases, death.
2. What do we need to do to mitigate climate change and by when?
World leaders agree that meeting strong targets (cutting emissions, reaching cap and trade agreements, going carbon neutral) by 2050 is our best shot at ensuring a sustainable future.
3. What is COP15?
The name “COP15″ actually has nothing to do with Copenhagen. It stands for Conference of the Parties. The goal of COP15 was originally to establish a binding global climate treaty to go into effect in 2012 when the Kyoto treaty expires. As the name implies, there have been 14 similar conferences before this one (yes, you would think that there would have been more progress made by now!)
I really do appreciate your committments but meanwhile this whole Copenhagen thing has become a joke after Nobel Peace prize laureate President Obama has obviously changed his visions on a better future with pulling back on his greenhouse gas emmissions targets as we all have learned during his visit in China. It’s ridiculous to set targets by 2050 if everyone can see on his own observations that the climate has changed. Instead of acting now, politicians are delivering further lip-service and celebrating themselves. We’d save the money to hold such a huge conference like in Copenhagen and should donate the money to buy food and helping suffering and starving children in Afrika. They have to pay the prize for insufficient measures by the Western communities.
Let’s hope that the big states like China, US, India, Brazil want to play ball this time around.
With Americas not so impressive record on prevention on Climate Change. The world eagarly awaits President Obamas change in US strategy