ISN Weekly Theme: The Road to Copenhagen

The end of polar bears? Photo: Cornelia Kopp/flickr
Save the polar bears, photo: Cornelia Kopp/flickr

With tough weeks ahead for negotiators, experts and politicians in the picturesque Danish capital, the ISN takes a closer look at the political and geopolitical stakes of the global climate change game.

And please remember that last month’s Special Issue Newsletter on the topic can be found here.

Melting Expectations

Iceberg, Alaska, photo: Creativity+ Timothy K Hamilton/flickr
Iceberg, Alaska, photo: Creativity+ Timothy K Hamilton/flickr

With the Copenhagen conference on climate change only two weeks away, it remains doubtful whether a legally binding agreement on climate change will emerge.  Here a run-down of the (mostly vague) pledges made by key greenhouse gas emitters in the wake of the conference:

Climate Change – No Concern to the Poor?

Amanda Graham / flickr
Photo: Amanda Graham / flickr

It is said that – besides polar bears – the negative effects of global warming will hit the poor the most. But two recent articles I read suggest that climate change is of little concern to the poor; rather, it is a concern of the well-off who can afford to worry about melting ice caps (and their furry white residents).