On the eve of possibly the most critical international negotiations since the end of the second Great War, I can’t help but feel a reserved optimism.
As an American who has grappled with the scientific and moral implications of climate change for years, I can’t help but reflect on how far we’ve come in 11 months as a nation. Understandably, Obama’s presence in Copenhagen might not deliver what is expected of my country as we all understand that the US Congress has yet to pass climate change legislation.
Nevertheless, I hope that President Barack Obama’s decision to come to the COP15 negotiations, especially on 18 December, sends a clear signal that the US, with all it’s failures to date, intends to be a part of the solution. As 192 nations begin the two weeks of negotiations, I want to believe that ‘Yes, We Can’.
Jeremy Mohr
