Climate change summits seem to do little more than ring alarm bells

Climate summits and debate over goals set may not have done much good. Actually achieving the goals is a more important step.

Much of the global warming that has taken place since the industrial revolution has occured since the first summit at Rio de Janeiro in 1992. That past 29 years has seen more population and much more prosperity than before.

People look at how much global warming has happened since the industrial revolution and it doesn't look like that much over that many years, but they fail to see that much of the warming happened in those last 29 years. The problem is accelerating as population and prosperity continues to grow.

Climate change does need to be addressed. Maybe this conference will ring the alarm so loud that people will take action at the local levels, but seems like alarm bells is mostly what these conferences provide. Back home, where the rubber hits the road, is what matters. Literally, the rubber hits the road as automobile transportation is a big factor.

Here in the US, if we go back to Republican majorities, it will look like there is no political will to do much about this problem.