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Encouraging new Developments on the issue of Climate Change?

Despite all the recent activity regarding climate change running the gamut from breakthrough

legislation in California regarding groundwater protection to huge protest marches many

experts concur that international talks wont be a decisive factor in climate change policy. A

gathering of world leaders at the United ations in !eptember "#$% for an international summiton climate thats meant to kick off $& months of negotiations aimed at finali'ing a climate

change agreement in December "#$&. (n an article in )orbes *aga'ine+ *ichael ,evi+ a senior

fellow at the Council on )oreign -elations warns

/Climate change has long been approached as the ultimate foreign policy problem. 0reenhouse

gas emissions anywhere raise temperatures everywhere. 1hat that means for climate policy is

that emissions cuts anywhere curb global warming everywhere. !ince cutting emissions usually

costs money+ it makes sense for each country to ask other countries to act while trying to do as

little as possible themselves that way+ they keep their costs to a minimum+ but still benefit from

reduced climate change because of what others have done. 2he danger is that if every country

adopts this attitude+ no one will do much of anything. 2he only way out of this beggar3thy3neighbor 4uagmire+ strategists have long assumed+ is for countries to reach a legally binding pact

in which they all curb greenhouse gas emissions at the same time.5

2he 6oston 0lobes -obert . !tavins has a different take on what the end result of the

international summit on climate change might be. (n a !eptember "7+ "#$% article !tavins paints

a more optimistic picture when he writes

/2he goal now before negotiators is to produce a new international agreement 8 under the

Durban 9latform 8 in 9aris in "#$&+ for implementation in "#"#+ as a successor to the :yoto

9rotocol. 2his presents the greatest opportunity the world has had in "# years to make

meaningful progress on this exceptionally challenging issue. 2he U summit in ew ;ork canaccelerate the momentum toward such a new+ path3breaking approach.5

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Facts about Climate Change from the World Health Organization:

$.

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