2009 Science News of the Year: Science & Society

Activists plead for a new agreement during the 2007 U.N. Climate Change Conference. Credit: Jewel Samad/AFP/Getty Images
Activists plead for a new agreement during the 2007 U.N. Climate Change Conference. Credit: Jewel Samad/AFP/Getty Images

Leaders warm to climate action
Throughout the year, global leaders used various summits around the world to declare their intention to take firm, though often unilateral, action to reduce their nations’ carbon footprints. In December, negotiators from more than 190 nations convened in Copenhagen for two weeks to work on the framework for a new climate treaty, one to succeed the Kyoto Protocol (SN: 12/5/09, p.