1. To begin with, the setting is a serious fast pace of global warming and the main cause of it is greenhouse emission, which mainly is consisted of water vapor and carbon dioxide that traps the heat between the troposphere and earth surface. Years ago back in 1997 countries realized about this and reached the agreement of Kyoto Protocol at Kyoto, Japan by recognizing that the developed countries are ‘principally’ responsible for the greenhouse gas emission. The protocol took into affective in 2004. Lots of countries signed to cut 55% of carbon dioxide emission. This left plenty of room for later amendments and further committees like the Copenhagen one. The Copenhagen Accord requires countries to cut their greenhouse gas. However, there is a dilemma. More-developed countries emitted most of the gases in the world now and triggers sea level rises and extreme weathers that damage poor countries most. While poor countries aren’t the contributor of the gas emission. What’s more. less-developed nations need industries for further economic growth and development. United States saw a huge benefit and an incredible money flow through this meeting. And that’s what we see from the graph of several diplomatic offensives through the secret cables that being leaked, for example, offering $30 bn to countries like Maldives to let them agree upon the Accord. Maldives is like a less-developed country I just discussed, known for world-famous tourist destination in the middle of Indian Ocean now facing the threat of rising sea level. Another case is Saudi Arabia, which is a wealth country for oil exporting. America offered the aid to help diversifying Saudi Arabia’s economy rather than simply relying on oil production. After all this, 116 countries agreed on the accord and another 26 intended to agree. As being discussed in the class text, reaching an agreement is difficult, taking certain actions will always hurt someone’s interest. Hope further protocols would make further achievement while satisfying the public’s interest.

     2. I would like to applaud America for taking an extremely active role in Copenhagen Accord. America worked hard secretly to achieve its interest through this committee.  Above all, global warming, more frequent and intensive extreme weathers and natural disasters, has been addressed an urgent and serious issue numerous times across the globe. Through many amendments, summits and protocols we realized that it’s both governments and public’s responsibility to sustainably. Governments make decisions on macro level, while as individuals, we could change our decisions, choices, and lifestyles for sustainability. The place we choose to live, the diet we choose to have and the type of commute transportation we choose to travel. These many individual mitigation actions are the way we could do. Implementing emission regulations, enforcing the inspection and punishment are something the government can do, rather than ‘buying’ the less-developed countries to satisfy their interests. The news about Wikileaks really made a huge disturbance between nations and caused credit and trusts crises. Would it be better if they make these actions transparent and make them accessible to the public? Maybe and maybe not. The public would be able to see how the governments mitigate, while the government might face many critiques about their mitigation plans. This Wikileak issue shows that no matter what the mitigation be, the poor countries would suffer from that ultimately. They are the ones who are most vulnerable to disasters and global warming impacts. They are also easiest to be manipulated. Every country should be treated equally. They could take advices but not be manipulated.