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Because my journalist friends would yell at me if I buried the lead... Obama is going to Copenhagen! But wait, there's more! While we're certainly not thankful that there is a climate crisis to fight against, there is plenty to be thankful for within the climate community. Read on for a few of the people, groups, and things that we at 1Sky are thankful for this Thanksgiving eve.

It's official:

U.S. President Barack Obama will travel to Copenhagen to attend the beginning of a U.N. climate change meeting on December 9, an administration official told Reuters on Wednesday.

Obama planned to make a visit in Copenhagen before picking up the Nobel Peace Prize at a ceremony in neighboring Oslo.

We'll have more on this soon -- stay tuned!

Over the last several weeks it has been amazing seeing all the photos coming in from 1Sky suppporters all over the country participating in Make Art for Climate events. People of all ages have been hard at work having lots of fun taking action to urge President Obama to lead in the climate fight. One such example is Chris Savage in Michigan. He wrote this post about it on his blog, Eclectablog. – Alex

I have spent quite a bit of time volunteering for the 1Sky Campaign through our local Michigan affiliate, Clean Water Action. 1Sky is a well-funded coalition of environmental groups promoting three major intiatives known as "1Sky Solutions": 5 million new green energy jobs, reducing global warming pollution and a moratorium on new coal plants.

This past month they've been promoting a fun project called Make Art For Climate.

Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) and Senator John Kerry (D-MA) announced last week that the window for moving a climate bill onto the Senate floor has moved into early 2010, as the battle to pass health care reform (see below) and financial regulatory reform spills over into the new year. With multiple plans for climate action emerging from the Senate, 1Sky is continuing to urge the president and Senate leaders to lead on passing a strong bill and protect key provisions already included in committee-passed legislation.

The theme of the climate blogosphere this week: Copenhagen is coming. With the UN Climate Conference quickly approaching we saw various countries coming out with their initial statements and environmental news sources providing guides and breakdowns for all the COP15 action.

Hearing that President Obama should "lead on climate now" is far from unusual within the environmental community. We at 1Sky have our petition for the President to "step up on climate" and other environmental groups have blog posts, petitions, or other campaign statements saying generally the same thing. It's a different story when one of the most-read newspapers in the country, if not the world, expresses that kind of urgency.

Evidence of the collaborative efforts between climate change and health care advocates just got stronger. Yesterday, health care organizations across the nation, including 1Sky partner Health Care Without Harm, placed a full page ad in yesterday’s issue of the New York Times (.pdf -- image below) calling on President Obama to deliver a ‘prescription for a healthy planet’ in the upcoming Copenhagen negotiations and subsequent talks. These health industry groups announced their prescriptions for effective climate change negotiations and explained how protecting the climate is imperative to maintaining public health.

Our friends at CCAN produce every month a climate podcast that should be required listening for every climate activist. The show is called World on Fire, and every month it brings you the most alarming and inspiring news stories from the front lines of the climate crisis. Check out this month's show, which takes a look ahead to Copenhagen and discusses a few little-understood tools for combating climate change:

Download MP3 | Download M4A (enhanced audio)

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By Ben Wessel of the 1Sky policy team. -- Luis

I've been pretty heavily involved in some speculation about international climate agreements, so the following is a review of where we're at and an educated guess, based on collaboration with people who have been pretty closely following the negotiations, of what realistically is going to happen in Copenhagen:

In the wake of an 11-1 vote in the Environment and Public Works (EPW) committee, Senate climate legislation continues to move forward. Health care is taking center-stage at the moment, but engagement on climate is still high. Senators Kerry, Graham, and Lieberman are working with the White House and swing senators to move forward with a bill capable of amassing broad support, and 1Sky is pushing to maintain some of the important victories achieved in the EPW bill.