Copenhagen Climate Summit

The Kyoto Protocol in 1997 asked that the United States reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by 7%. The United States declined to sign the Kyoto Protocol. We are runner-up to China as the top two nation-polluters on this warming planet.

Now the United States is muddying the UN efforts further by suggesting the world edit the Kyoto Protocol. We didn't sign it, but our leadership will try to reword what was accomplished in Kyoto (expires 2012) by other countries without being a signatory country to the Protocol.

There are 184 countries that are, and who signed the Marrakesh Accords in 2001 and have been working in good faith since then. Sidebar talks in Copenhagen concerning the United States alone, when bundled into the summit mainstream, caused a walkout by the 50-nation Africa group. Mohammed Nashid, the president of the Maldives, brought the nations back to the talks. His archipelago nation is one threatened by rising oceans.

Sakihito Ozawa, environment minister/Japan, said the African demand to spend more time on the industrial nations' targets "wasn't feasible." Japan is in the top 5 nation-polluters on the planet, too.

US Energy Secretary Steven Chu announced the US will contribute $85 million to an international fund to provide clean energy technology to poor countries over five years. In five years many poor archipelago nations will be well on their way to being underwater. Solar power then won't help.

As a protest sign in Copenhagen read "THERE IS NO PLANET B."

The world is watching. Millions in the world care deeply about reversing the global warming that will change our planet drastically in the near future.

There are 36,316 news items on the internet regarding the climate summit in Copenhagen, most recent are from non-US sources. There are 72,926 news items regarding Tiger Woods - first results all US news sources.

Refocus America! Our leadership is arriving in Copenhagen to encourage scrapping Kyoto and to propose a craven emission reduction rate of 8 to 12 percent, and to offer money rather than global stewardship to the developing nations that are already suffering with drought, unusual weather, and rising seas. We've continued our earth-blighting path for the 12 years since Kyoto, and now we want amnesty from our lack of participation and responsibility.

We need 40 percent reduction in global emissions. Chancellor Merkel stated that Germany is willing to increase their commitment over Kyoto, and beyond what has been agreed in Copenhagen so far. The US needs to retake a global leadership position if we, and the planet, are to recover.

Follow the Summit at The Climate Pool, a page updated by international news sources. Educate yourself. Know the issues, the players, the history, the threat to the planet, the efforts to reverse the threat.

Browse the Hopenhagen site. Write to our leadership. Buy a tshirt. Do something to save your planet. Time is not a renewable resource either.