My systems diagram begins with the burning of fossil fuels at a faster rate in which they can regenerate. Over the past several years, we are becoming reliant on fossil fuels as a source of energy. Whether it is to heat our homes or to drive our car, people around the world are burning fossil fuels each and every day. This is a major problem because we are burning them at a faster rate so eventually we will run out and also because these gases are being emitted into the atmosphere. They are being trapped and this ultimately leads to Climate Change. Often times, global warming is the only topic that comes to mind but we fail to recognize the change in precipitation patterns as well. Noticing that issue needs to be addressed, the United Nations Climate Change Conference proposed the Copenhagen Accord. The Copenhagen Accord is an upgraded version of the previous document known as the Kyoto Protocol, which focuses on bettering the Climate Change issue worldwide. Since the United States is by far the leading country in the amount of fossil fuels burned, ultimately resulting in the country that has the largest impact on climate change, they were a big catalyst to get this bill passed. Originally, many countries were not in favor of the Copenhagen Accord so they went beyond legal measures to try to persuade them to approve. The first tactic that they used was money. The poorer countries were promised financial aid to help repair the global warming that they did not cause. Next, they spied on several countries that originally opposed to access information from them and give them reasons as to why they should sign the proposed treaty. Lastly, they used a little hostility to threaten countries like Ethiopia by saying if they would not sign, the United States would not longer aid them in anyway. With these three tactics that many question whether or not they are ethical, 140 countries signed the treaty. That is 75% of the world agreed. Coming together to fight the Climate Change problem as a whole is known as Climate Mitigation.

In my opinion, I think the State Department Cables was wrong to keep this information secret. If they publicized this information, they would not have been exposed by WikiLeaks. One other problem that I have with this issue is that I have never heard of the Copenhagen Accord or any of the components of the treaty. The reason I think this is a major issue is because Climate Change will only be achieved through collective action. It is great for individuals to ride their bike or walk to work instead of driving a car, but there will not be a noticeable difference unless a collective action is taken. We learned a few units back about the impact Copenhagen as a city had by encouraging the people to ride their bikes everywhere in the city. Many people adapted this practice and they were aware of the positive impacts both on their health as well as the benefits on the environment. Since this Accord was kept secret, the people had no say in how they would go about Climate Mitigation. The State Department should have informed the public about possible ways that the country could go about these changes and possibly had an open brainstorm or vote as to what we the people believe will be the best option. Furthermore, I think the United States needs to lead this charge. Instead of worry about what other countries are doing, we need to focus on ourselves first. We are the leading country in greenhouse gas emissions. If we show other countries that we can adapt sustainable practices that better the environment, they will follow. This is a large complex issue around the world that can be broken down by country, to state, all the way down to an individual person, that all need to come together to fight against Climate Change.