Last night I wrote about President Obama’s decision to attend the United Nations Climate Conference in Copenhagen. It’s good news, given that Obama had been wavering about attending at all.
That said, the substance of Obama’s visit to Copenhagen indicates an uwillingness on his part to seriously engage with the climate issue. The conference will be eleven days long, but President Obama will only attend for part of one day.
Then there’s the matter of Obama’s proposal for greenhouse gas emissions: 17% of 2005 levels by the year 2020. I’m appreciative that Obama is proposing anything at all, but this goal won’t match the need for strong action. Furthermore, superior proposals have already been made. The European Union, for example, is pledging a reduction of emissions to 30% of 1990 levels by the year 2020.
In both his delayed decision to attend the Copenhagen Conference and in his meek emissions proposal, Barack Obama isn’t showing the environmental leadership we need. Instead, he looks like he’s busy playing catch up with the rest of the world.
playing catch up or not, it’s a good thing that he’s in the game. now we can only hope that whatever comes out of the conference obama gets the support at home to comply.
too little too late is a problem. doing nothing is appalling.