Anwan Sher hits the nail on the head.
Everyone, and every country that cares about the survival of humanity should do whatever they can to reduce their carbon footprint.
Two famous quotes come to mind.
The longest journey begins with a single step.
If the people lead, the leaders will follow.

I concur. Lead, follow, or get out of the way!

For the current time, the US is a roadblock, and should be left behind by others willing to move ahead.

As I have learned in life, many people and organizations fail to make progress because they are so fixed on the 'big picture' - and are so overwhelmed at the task - that they can't see the first step.

tom

To Anwer Sher's excellent points about Bali, I'd like to add that regardless of all these talkfests on environmental security, the world community needs to focus on implementing regulations that are already on the books. The bureaucratic mechanisms that draw attention to ecological problems such as global warming are needed, to be sure. But there also needs to be more scrutiny of multilateral and bilateral entities -- and of domestic agencies -- that are mandated with monitoring compliance. I'm afraid that the everyday media everywhere simply do not examine the question of compliance as rigorously as they should.