Before Copehagen, there'll be Pittsburgh, and then there'll be...

a whole string of international meetings aimed at coming to some kind of globally acceptable agreement on global warming. Consider this a warm-up for the sci fi imagined event of the killer asteroid headed our way. Can humans really co-operate on the mega-scale? We haven't so far. Though I am sure we're on the very verge of wiping out hunger, AIDS, war and racism, right? Today, Sept. 17, an NPR show explored the various climate change issues that are seemingly intractable. Next week the leaders of the world's twenty largest economies and thus the largest air polluters will meet in Pittsburgh. That's an American city once noted for its steel mills and air pollution. No longer. Symbolic perhaps, but little more. What's getting much of the media attention ahead of G20? Bankers' bonuses, not global warming or air pollution. Now, I'd like to punish as many bankers as the next guy. Perhaps even turn them over to Dick Cheney's interrogation teams, but are bankers' bonuses really the most crucial issue on earth? CLIMATE IN PITTSBURGH The Obama Admin is hoping for some agreements relating to energy and climate. Perhaps more market transparency on crude oil, more financing for climate change work. There's some hint the European Union will push other nations to get tough on global warming and actually spend both money and political effort. We shall see. This has had little effect before with the world's two greatest air polluters, China and the U.S., refusing to budge. Of course, the EU would like to see the heavily indebted U. S. put more MONEY into fighting global warming. The Copenhagen conference to try to find successor to the Kyoto Protocol is looming in December. There seems little chance that there'll be any actual greenhouse gas emission caps set, but perhaps some more general agreement to keep talking about it. So we can expect the current climate change to continue. [poll id="177"]