Obama to attend Copenhagen Conference in December

President Barack Obama will go to Copenhagen next month to participate in a long-anticipated, high-stakes Climate Change summit, a White House official said. These Climate change talks are supposed to revise the Kyoto Protocol of 1997 that expire in 2012. New emission standards and more sustainable practices are needed to prevent a future change in the global climate. Unchecked, climate change could lead to a 4 degree average rise in global temperature which poses huge consequences for foreign policy. It could mean 4 billion people would regularly suffer from severe water shortages in 2080. It could stimulate mass migration of a further 150 to 200 million people. It could accentuate areas of pre-existing conflict like in the Middle East where currently 5% of the world’s population is drawing on only 1% of the world’s water. Global Climate change is a real problem that the leaders of the main industrialized countries need to seriously address. The significance of Obama attending the conference is that in 1997, there was no representative of the United States present. The fact that Obama is even attending these discussions, is a sign that America is acknowledging climate change as an issue. The focus of the Climate change discussions must be on reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 2020 and beyond. Agreement must also be reached on how the international community can support those nations that are already suffering the consequences of climate change. Preventing climate change will be no inexpensive operation. Carol Browner, Obama's assistant for energy and Climate Change cited a $173-per-year estimated cost in a briefing Wednesday — a figure for a family of four calculated by the Congressional Budget Office. Republicans say costs would be higher. The EU(European Union)’s 27 national leaders endorsed estimates by the European Commission that rich nations will have to offer developing countries around €100 billion per year by 2020. Western governments would pay between €22 billion and €50 billion towards that sum. This is a tremendous topic in the world of Earth Science and the environment, and I will update more prior to, and during the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen.