theweekmagazine:

I was there in Copenhagen in 2009.

I remember the quiet conference hall and trains, filled with disappointment and despair as the international negotiations to address climate change unraveled. Rather than a detailed roadmap to a low-carbon future, nations “took note” (the technical United Nations term of agreeing something matters but not agreeing enough to sign it) of a two-page document filled mostly with platitudes. As I headed home, the indomitable, late climate scientist Stephen Schneider said to me, “Saving the world takes time. It’s a long dance. We stumbled this time, but the dance goes on.”

Fast-forward six years. On Saturday evening in Paris, 187 nations ratified a landmark climate accord known as the Paris Agreement. This 31-page document is a big, big deal. Here’s why it matters and what we learned.

Read the rest.