There is a danger that in the hammering out of details, the most significant aspect of the Copenhagen summit will be overlooked by us, the onlookers. The fact that the summit is occurring with the participation of every significant nation on earth is surely it’s most important feature. Previously, nations such as the USA did not even attend, and other powerful ones attended only to protect their interests. This time, however, there is a growing realization by all that what the Catholic Church calls the “common good”, must be the overriding principle of action if the conference is to have any meaning. There is no point in individual nations striving to protect their own interests at the expense of others, since the interests of all are inextricably bound together. To posture on the shifting sands of “carbon credits” no longer fools anyone. Sink or swim, we are in it together. The sun shines equally on the rich and the poor, global warming warms the innermost reaches of Antarctica, not just the already overheated slums of Bombay. In the most unlikely twist of fate, when Tuvalu speaks, from it’s metre altitude above sea level, Washington is forced to listen – and heed!
EU leaders may posture at Brussells, naming sums they are prepared to “give away” to help their neighbours. But in the end, what they say doesn’t matter. Either we all pull together to take the steps necessary to prevent the planet heating 1.5 or 2 degrees, or we sink together. The longer we posture with silly talk of carbon credits, instead of facing up to the real thing, the tightening of the belt, the real diminution of polluting gases, the more we are, ostrich-like, sticking our heads in the sand – which is, in spite of our buried heads, still heating up.
The concept of the common good. The unselfish measure that treats all of the world’s occupants as common brothers and sisters – Copenhagen has to come up with a proposal that clearly proclaims this as it’s motive force. Developing or developed, we’re all in this together.

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