From Public News Service:

As leaders of the world's largest economies begin the Group of Twenty (G-20) summit today in Pittsburgh, many in Florida are watching for discussion of climate change. Groups such as Audubon of Florida are monitoring the negotiations, saying low-lying Florida is at great risk from the potential effects of climate change.

Eric Draper, policy director, says the United States currently leads the world in greenhouse gas emissions, and now should be leading the way out of the crisis. "The United States can't insist that other countries reduce their greenhouse gas emissions until we've taken our own steps to solve it, and that's the thing that's most important to our children's future."

Draper says the Environmental Protection Agency's just-announced requirements that large greenhouse gas emitters report to the agency is a step in the right direction to control and reduce climate change pollution. Some critics argue a too-sudden switch to alternative energy would be expensive and difficult to manage. They point to the higher costs of renewable energy, as well as their intermittency, which currently limits renewable sources from reliably meeting all the nation's needs.

Audubon hopes to see a greater investment on the part of the United States and the rest of the world in alternative, renewable energy and energy efficiency, with the goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 80 percent by 2050, says Draper.  "Anything short of that, and Earth faces a catastrophic future with warmer temperatures, melting ice caps, sea level rises, acidification of the oceans; just a cascading set of problems that humanity may not even survive." The good news, says Draper, is the great potential in alternative energy development, although incentives are needed to push the sector along.  "We haven't even gotten close to where we could be on tapping the power of the sun to create electricity, and tapping the power of our landscapes to create alternative fuels."

World leaders will meet in December in Copenhagen to try to hammer out an international treaty to work together to slow the pace of climate change.