As after every climate summit, the air is filled with shouts of rage and despair. What was agreed was unclear and inadequate, and what was left undecided or simply ignored was vast and terrifying. For example, they still haven't managed to agree that the world needs to stop burning fossil fuels.
What? Isn't that what this whole travelling circus is about? The climate is getting hotter because we're burning fossil fuels for energy, soon people will be dying in large numbers, in 20 or 30 years entire countries will become uninhabitable, so stop! Alternative energy sources are available! Act now, or global disaster will happen!
Yes, that's what it's about, and every year tens of thousands of politicians, experts, campaigners, and lobbyists trek to a different location -- Glasgow last year, Sharm-al-Sheikh this year, the United Arab Emirates next year -- to debate and decide how to deal with this literally existential threat.
