Opinion: Why Copenhagen Matters

(Dec. 7) -- This week's news will be dominated by headlines about the international climate talks in Copenhagen. It's one of the most important environmental gatherings in history, and while many will wonder what progress will be made, others may not be aware of just how important these climate talks are.

We are on the edge of a dangerous precipice. Every nation in the world must take action to avoid the worst of global warming's effects. Already some areas are seeing its effects; the changing climate is causing more droughts, floods and other catastrophic weather events. As those events increase over time, our world will see more climate refugees -- masses of people forced to move, causing clashes over borders and dwindling resources such as water.

That is the reality of global warming, and the reality of why global action must take place during the Copenhagen talks. Unfortunately, many are standing in the way of progress.

The reality -- thus far successfully covered up by Big Carbon -- is that the U.S. is beautifully positioned to cut its global warming pollution very fast, because our economy includes so much carbon waste. And we can do so in a way that is very good for the overall economy but very bad for coal and oil.

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OPPOSING VIEW: Copenhagen promises all pain, no gain, says Richard W. Rahn of the Cato Institute.
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Senators and representatives from the coal belt and oil patch are afraid of passing a strong climate bill not because it will be hard to achieve ambitious goals, but because it will be easy. And once we kick our addiction to fossils, there will be no turning back from the future.

And it's not as if there aren't steps individuals can take to fight global warming, or steps that businesses and local governments can take. In fact, numerous businesses and communities already are taking bold steps to shrink their carbon footprints. They're making their buildings more energy efficient, switching to clean renewable energy, supporting public transit and more.

Even though the U.S. is lagging behind in global warming action by international standards, we are actually decarbonizing the economy at a remarkable rate. Only three years ago, projections were that U.S. emissions of carbon dioxide would increase from 6 billion tons to 7.5 billion tons by 2020. Instead of increasing, they flattened out and then fell. By year's end, we will be 8.5 percent below 2005 levels. And getting the 20 percent in additional emissions cuts that Congress has been groaning about all summer and fall would in fact be almost trivially easy.

But another major factor in Copenhagen and beyond is this: In addition to reducing our own emissions, the U.S. should help developing countries cut carbon and protect themselves from the effects of global warming. The U.S. and other major countries are the biggest contributors to global warming, and yet smaller developing nations are bearing the brunt (and will continue to bear the brunt) of its effects.

We have a choice to make. And that choice -- for the sake of our economy, the environment and our communities -- must be for sustainable and efficient energy production and usage. Making this change will require continued scientific research, policy development, and public education and media exposure. It also requires another crucial step: a full-scale mobilization of public support for real action on global warming.

A strong start in Copenhagen will allow the U.S. and the world to achieve final, binding domestic and international climate agreements later in 2010. We should all work together in taking bold action.
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Carl Pope is executive director of the Sierra Club.