Climate Change Conference kicks off in Copenhagen Monday

In advance of the 2009 UN Climate Change Conference, the Ventura County Star gives us more love:

There is debate over whether any kind of meaningful international agreement will come out of the summit. But the local people attending think it will help push the climate issue further along and lay groundwork for a future agreement.

“The value is that we continue to work toward a climate solution,” said Sarah Otterstrom, executive director of Paso Pacifico, a Ventura-based nonprofit that works to stop deforestation in Nicaragua. Along with Jane Goodall and a few others, Otterstrom will receive an award for her work.

She wants to promote the concept of REDD — reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation. If countries stopped cutting down forests — which suck up greenhouse gases — it would go a long way toward curbing climate change, she said.