A bit of bad news for those seeking quick action on climate change under the new presidential administration: Barack Obama is not heading to Poland next month for UN talks on a pending global climate change pact.
Obama's no-show status at the talks is hardly a death knell for the emissions reduction treaty that the UN must negotiate by next year to replace the expiring Kyoto protocol. But environmental groups had mounted a vocal campaign to persuade the president-elect to attend Poland -- or at least send a delegation to represent him -- and Obama appeared to agree during a pre-election appearance in Ohio.
Yvo de Boer, the UN climate change secretariat who spoke on Obama's stance today, had urged the Democrat to attend the talks just last week. Bill McKibben, the respected US environmentalist who initiated the Obama-to-Poland push, had collected more than 44,000 signatures on a petition to the president-elect.
What do you think: Is Obama's decision to skip the Poland conference a serious setback or a necessary acknowledgment that 'there's only one president at a time'?
