It Is A New Day and A New Era

Those were some of the first words spoken by President Barack Obama today at the UN's Summit on Climate Change. And they are so true. This historic day, which is just the start of negotiations for a new climate treaty, will play host to speeches and comments by more than 100 world leaders. Each committed, for reasons personally and politically unique to their own countries, to doing something about climate change. Each here with the voices of their constituents pushing them forward to find a solution.

It is truly exciting. And, possibly more exciting, is that Obama's speech today is just one of the three he'll give at the UN this week. Never before, at least as long as I've been alive, has a US President dedicated so much energy to promoting the UN as a necessary tool for tackling global problems.

There is seems to mark a new understanding; where the old diplomacy was about each country trying to get to yes, more and more, countries are committed to agreements where the perfect isn't the enemy of the good. They recognize that each country's solutions must be individually tailored to help economies grow, technology to flourish, and individuals to find new jobs, new opportunities. And they recognize that the common ground they are trying to find is simply that they must do something. Action is better than nothing. Progress is better than a stalled progress based on egos or percentage points.

A new day, a new era.