from the New Mexico News Connection - A statewide news service for New Mexico
Santa Fe - The United Nations Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen, Denmark kicks off in one week, and a few folks from New Mexico will be on hand to witness the historic summit, including Ken Hughes, conservation director for the Rio Grande Chapter of the Sierra Club.
In one week, the eyes of the world will focus on Copenhagen, Denmark and the historic climate change summit being held there. Ken Hughes says his goal is to witness the proceedings ... and bring back a full report, "This is the mother of all environmental challenges - the climate change we've experienced already here in New Mexico with the big droughts is kind of a shade of things to come - so anything we can do to stave off that sort of a future is worth doing."
Hughes says any agreement that comes out of Copenhagen could benefit New Mexico, especially if it increases demand for solar, wind or geothermal power. The UN Climate Change Conference runs December 7th through the 18th. Hughes will share his views about the process and his experiences in Copenhagen at two public events in January 2010.
International agreements on climate change have been elusive, because developing countries like China have continued to increase their carbon output. Hughes says he hopes America and other nations will look at new ways to encourage clean energy in the developing world, "Developing countries can skip right over our polluting bad habits to a clean energy future in a very, very short period of time, with the funding that can come from the United Nations." Hughes also notes that institutions like the World Bank can also play a major role in pushing the rest of the developing world in a "green" direction, to create less climate-changing pollution by providing funding that helps nations go "green."
For more information visit http://newmexico.sierraclub.org/ .
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