Since 1995, meetings that serve as the Conferences of the Parties to assess progress in dealing with climate change have been happening. Currently in Paris, France, the 2015 United Nations annual climate change conference is taking place from November 30 to December 11. Conferences such as this one improve the prevention of climate change on a worldwide scale. Exemplary effort goes into these conferences by participants which  magnifies the importance of climate change prevention.

 For the first time in twenty years, the people at the conference will be aiming to achieve a universal agreement on climate with the aim of keeping global warming below 2 degrees celsius. Sophomore Josh McCorquodale says, “The conference brings a serious problem to the stand and goes into the discussion of how to prevent it. I think this is a very important thing to have and for people to participate in.” It is one of the largest international conferences ever held in the country. It was expected to attract close to 50,000 participants including 25,000 official delegates this year.  Last year, the conference was held in Lima, Peru, with over 15,000 official delegates. During the 2-week conference last year, over 140 press conferences were held and more than 900 journalists from around the world covered the international event.

In addition to the conference discussions, we all can help with preventing climate change. For example, anyone can make use of recycling programs, seal and insulate their home, buy energy and water efficient appliances, take public transport, or eat less red meat, but so many people do not do these things. This conference explores the different ways in which we are able to prevent climate change on a larger scale. Sophomore Christopher Vogel states, “Countries have to agree on what they want to tackle first on the issue of climate change. Taking different routes to a cleaner Earth at the same time could just set us back further.” They will also discuss ways to prevent gas emission around the globe while working together.

 The participants must decide on ways how all countries participating can agree on a way climate change can be prevented so that they are not all doing different things. This will build on the work carried out in the previous conference in Lima. Even ordinary people have involvement. Becoming a participant of the prevention of climate change can make a huge difference. The conference is being taken very seriously and is expected to really benefit with climate change prevention worldwide.