The Cancun conference has been hailed as a breakthrough, although it is merely keeping the show on the road, rather than letting the political will for environmental sustainability careen into a ditch. The Americans are pleased because they have arm-wrestled the Chinese into agreeing checks on pollution, which the latter's delegation was much opposed to last year at Copenhagen.
But it is not enough. Politicians have generally accepted that a two degree celsius rise in global temperature is inevitable (ignoring redcuing emissions 15% below 1990 levels as was the last major agreement). How long before that slips to four degrees? It is like a morbidly obese person being told that they need to change their diet of cheap, unhealthy food if they are to avoid dying. Governments cannot commit to carbon reduction beyond tokenism. It is time for the liposuction option. Prevention has failed, time for (painful) cure. Governments must come up with away to pump sulphur into the atmosphere (the 'hose' solution). This will not trap the sunlight but block it out altogether, as extremely large volcanic eruptions do, such as Krakatoa. The oceans will continue to acidify but at least mankind will be spared catastrophic temperature increases.