Warming up

摘要

There is much for the world to be pessimistic about these days. The double crises of the Ebola outbreak in West Africa and Islamic extremism in the Middle East, for example, pose real dangers. So it says much for the one-day United Nations summit on climate change, held in New York City last week, that not only did it receive widespread media coverage, but also the enduring message sent by the meeting was one of optimism. There have been enough 'turning points' in the politics of the effort to curb global warming to send anyone dizzy. That is the narrative the story demands: incremental progress is boring; grand gestures are preferred. Every meeting and announcement is the most important, at least since the previous one.