In Poland today, the United Nations began a 12-day summit on climate change, in the hopes that the countries involved can work towards a global treaty to tackle the issue.  Bloomberg.com reports, very interestingly placing the article in the “Japan” section of its news site:

The conference runs from today to Dec. 12 and was declared open shortly after 10 a.m. local time by Indonesian Environment Minister Rachmat Witoelar, who chaired the last major summit in December 2007 in Bali, Indonesia. He handed the chairmanship to his Polish counterpart, Maciej Nowicki.

There isn’t a hope of actually getting a treaty in hand over the next couple weeks, but the delegates gathered - representing 190 countries - are looking to find a “shared vision,” according to Brice Lalonde, head of the French delegation.  Yes, apparently there are French people named Brice. And, well, Brice, what is a shared vision?

‘What is the shared vision? It’s two 2 things,’ Lalonde said. ‘One is having a goal of reduction of emissions and agreeing on that goal, and the other is how do we have a cooperation of all the nations of the world?’

Ah.  Well played, Brice Lalonde.  takepart and visit the official website for the summit to learn what’s taking place.