‘Last, best hope:’ Leaders launch crucial UN climate summit

By FRANK JORDANS and ELLEN KNICKMEYER
Associated Press

GLASGOW, Scotland (AP) — A crucial U.N. climate summit opened Sunday amid papal appeals for prayers and activists’ demands for action, kicking off two weeks of intense diplomatic negotiations by almost 200 countries aimed at speeding up the global response to global warming. Patricia Espinosa, who is the head of the U.N. climate office, said government leaders face two choices at the climate summit. She said they can sharply cut emissions from fossil fuels and help communities and countries survive what is becoming a hotter, harsher world or accept that “humanity faces a bleak future on this planet.”