[from Grist]:

U.N. General Assembly holds
climate gathering in New York

The United Nations General Assembly
convened a two-day climate conference, starting today, at U.N. headquarters in
New York City that it hopes will keep up and/or spur momentum in the lead up to
a meaningful post-Kyoto climate agreement by 2009. The event is being billed as
a "thematic debate" and has attracted celebrities including New York City Mayor
Michael Bloomberg, billionaire biofuels proponent Richard Branson, and green-leaning actress Daryl Hannah. Representatives from nearly 100 nations have
signed up to speak, but since nothing is going to be negotiated, it's unclear
what the United States' role at the conference will be. After all, what do
obstructionists do when there's nothing to obstruct?