After Copenhagen: What's Next for Climate Change?

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After Copenhagen: What's Next for Climate Change? ()

In Copenhagen today, President Obama met with other national leaders, then scolded convention delegates for their apparent failure to reach agreement on climate change. Faced with China's rejection of international oversight, he told the conference that if their effort fails, the "same stale arguments" may continue, "while the danger of climate change grows until it is irreversible." So if the conference collapses, what's next?   Will the US Senate pass cap and trade? Will China follow through on its commitment to curb emissions? Will international competition produce "the energy technology that nobody has yet imagined?" We look at the prospects.

Guests:

• David Doniger: Policy Director, Natural Resources Defense Council's Climate Center
• Juliet Eilperin: National Environmental Reporter, Washington Post, @eilperin
• Stephen Seidel: Vice President for Policy Analysis, Pew Center on Global Climate Change
• Evan Osnos: China Correspondent, New Yorker magazine
• Keith Johnson: Energy and Environmental Reporter, Wall Street Journal

Links:

• NRDC on climate conference
• Washington Post on climate change
• Pew Center Global Climate Change on climate conference
• Osnos on China and Copenhagen
• Johnson on international reaction to Obama's speech

Reporter's Notebook

Climate Change and the Prospect for Mass Migration ()

Climate change is not just a possibility, it's happening now with potentially catastrophic consequences for millions of people. In the coastal village of Moura in Bangladesh, 30 families agreed at an impromptu meeting that their only hope of survival was to become climate refugees. That's according to John Vidal of Britain's Guardian newspaper, who looked at the impact of climate change from the Himalayas to the Bay of Bengal.

Guests:

• John Vidal: Environment Editor, Guardian newspaper