Help the UN climate negotiations by changing the day it begins

Every single year the UN Climate Conference starts at the same time: at the end of November. Until the 2009 Copenhagen Climate Conference, most people didn't even know that an annual climate meeting existed. Today it seems to be the only public event when climate change is spoken of seriously.

But as the result of the Durban talks show, the increased public awareness of this important annual meeting isn't igniting enough political urgency for an outcome that will reduce humanity's carbon footprint. So here's small suggestion that might help: Change the starting date of the annual UN Climate Conference.

The current timing of the annual event – late November to early December – might be the worst possible time of year to have a major climate change meeting. It's the time of year when the average person is thinking the least about climate change. The conference starts right around American Thanksgiving – which I'm told is a very big deal – and ends well into the Christmas season. On the same weekend the Durban talks began, headlines across the Americas were talking about shoppers trampled to death on Black Friday. What a sad indication of the media's priorities.

If the climate conference were moved closer to the summer – say September – it will be more likely that nations would be meeting at the same time politicians are fielding phone calls from constituents suffering from droughts, wildfires and storms. Hurricane Katrina, Russian wildfires, Somolian famines – Most of the catastrophes that people associate with global warming occur during the Northern Hemisphere's summer. So what is the logic of having a world climate change meeting start when those nations are entering their coldest season? Instead, why don't we time the conference so that climate change is more likely to be top of mind?

Changing the date of the conference might help focus politicians on the problem. And if it doesn't, I doubt it will make the climate negotiations any worse off.