A chemistry professor who is part of Chapman University’s team in Copenhagen, Chris Kim, reports on the reaction there to Obama’s speech earlier on Friday (Read text of president’s speech):

Virtually all NGO representatives have been restricted from entering the Bella Center as of midweek, so getting into the building much less attending Obama’s speech wasn’t a real possibility. However, those of us still around have been attending the Klimaforum, sort of an alternative to the COP15 (think Slamdance vs. Sundance), and there was a panel session this afternoon that discussed the US role in future climate change agreements, so much of that session was focused on Obama’s speech.

While I haven’t watched it myself, the consensus among the fairly progressive NGO leaders at the panel was that Obama’s words and actions thus far on climate change, while far preferable to those of the previous administration, still lag well behind what current science dictates is needed in order to truly curb emissions at a significant rate to avoid the most dramatic of effects from climate change. This topic has not been as high on the president’s radar as those here in Copenhagen naturally would have liked (with health care, economic recovery, wars etc. taking higher priority), yet the clear and present danger of global climate change remains and COP15 represents the world’s best chance yet to come to an accord on what to do. Read the rest of this entry »