Chats in Copenhagen: Another Kyoto?

There's a lot of talk about Copenhagen. The politicians are dressed smartly, talking tough, and our Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change is positively glowering at global warming naysayers.

Anyone get the Independent? Reading today on the Tube, the claim that Copenhagen is a turning point in human history made me raise my eyebrows a little. Really? It must have been a well written article, because I must admit to feeling a little excitement in the pit of my stomach.

Maybe, maybe, this will be it. The summit environmentalists have been hoping for since the Kyoto protocol last decade.

I glanced up, looking around at the mundane Victoria line train carriage. It was one of those where everyone was reading or plugged into an IPod. Glancing around I saw plenty of Evening Standards out, and I passed them over with a sniff, my eyes quickly jumping to the Guardian reader on my right, an elderly woman with a large handbag.

What can I say? I'm a snob. My affluent, elitist school has ruined me.

She eventually caught me in the classic train faux pas, reading her newspaper over her shoulder, and gave me a very wan, very British smile.

"All bad news, isn't it?"

The excitement deflated, and I murmured my agreement, flipping my own paper to a typically cheery article on happenings in the DRC.

Is Copenhagen the summit to save the world? Or another chance for the newspapers to sell a shiny new supplement?

Call me a cynic, but something tells me that even with China and the US on board and talking tough, developing countries are just not going to make the commitments, let alone hold to them.

And from what I can gather, anyone who's done enough research knows that you can trust a Chinese politician about half as much as any other (which isn't all that much in the first place), and the world's number one emitter of greenhouse gasses is only talking about reducing emission intensity, not limiting the growth of industries which emit large amounts of CO2. It is a subtle distinction, but one that might be important later on.

Some of my friends might shudder, but I'm quoting a Miliband on this one (no, not even the one I have a soft spot for because of his actions during the Sri Lankan military offensive earlier this year).

As Eddie said: "There's a long way to go," and while we'll all be watching the Danish capital with bated breath (except a certain someone who's too lazy. You know who you are!), I wouldn't be too surprised to find that Copenhagen is hardly the last word in climate change.

My peers and I are a trifle too young to remember Kyoto and the climate surrounding it. I'd estimate that most of my readers are either my own age or younger, but if anyone wants to do a little factfinding for me, I'd love to know exactly what the mood was like leading up to it. I'm speaking here about politicians remember, even today your average man on the street has more pressing concerns than global warming, and I suspect that in those ancient times the public was even more indifferent.

Drop me a line: tesseractstory@hotmail.com

Please do have a look at this video, courtesy of Greenpeace. By the by, Mr Brown looks quite distinguished with silvered hair, and let's all hope that unlike his Chancellor's, Gordon's eyebrows stay in sync with his coiffure.