Obama heads to U.N. climate change talks in Copenhagen

If getting 60 senators to agree on health care is tough, try persuading 193 countries to agree on anything.

That's the task that awaits President Obama when he arrives Friday in Copenhagen to try to salvage a worldwide pact to address global warming. Nine days of negotiations have so far failed to bridge the gap among rich and poor countries on a wide range of economic and political issues, and even some of Obama's supporters say they have lowered their expectations.

"I don't think the president can completely close this deal (Friday)," Rep. Diana DeGette, a Colorado Democrat and vice chairwoman of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce, said by telephone from Copenhagen.

The United Nations-run conference has brought more than 20,000 government officials, environmental activists, scientists and others under one roof to try to reduce the greenhouse gas emissions that scientific data suggest are causing the earth to warm.

via usatoday.com

Posted via web from Global Warming News