The United Nations Climate Change Conference is underway (Dec 7-15) in Copenhagen. There are 192 nations at that meeting - the issues are varied and complex, the stakes high, and there are as many agendas as there are countries represented.  For those of you who want to cut to the chase,  Grist Magazine has prepared a primer for their man on the scene -  a sharp and irreverent summary of the issues and the players:

Comedian Eugene Mirman is going to Copenhagen for Grist to cover the international climate talks. Eugene is a fairly well-informed guy (he at least scans Google News looking for reviews of his latest album), but he’s the first to admit that he doesn’t live, eat, and smoke climate policy. At his request, the Grist staff threw together a basic cheat sheet on Copenhagen.  It’s overly simplistic. It avoids lots of important details. It’s probably offensive. In short, it’s just enough to help Eugene feign cluefulness when he’s accosting world leaders in Denmark. Give our cheat sheet a gander. How would you explain Copenhagen to Eugene Mirman?  READ MORE.