A Joyous Season

Not only because Christmas is coming but because world leaders were able to arrive at a climate change deal that most experts are hailing as a significant step forward.

Governments have signaled an end to the fossil fuel era, committing for the first time to a universal agreement to cut greenhouse gas emissions and to avoid the most dangerous effects of climate change.

Of course, the implementation phase is where this deal will succeed or fail

However, many proponents of the plan agree that its value is more about symbolism and hoped-for gains than near-term substance, and critics are zooming in on the agreement’s lack of legal teeth, as well as how optimistic it seems to be about future international cooperation, technological advancement, and the sustained domestic will within each country.

But there are certainly grounds for optimism.

If  we do succeed in limiting the damage from climate change millions of lives will be saved and countless ways of life rescued.

I suspect that I’m not the only wine lover today who fervently hopes that on that list of rescued ways of life are the wine cultures of Burgundy and the Willamette Valley, Oregon, wine regions that depend on cool weather Pinot Noir.