American buy-in for global climate change initiatives is crucial. The US is responsible for 25 percent of the planet's greenhouse gas emissions. It is also one of the only nations in the world classified as 'industrialized' that has refused to ratify the Kyoto Protocol on climate change.

Here are The Greenpeace Living Guide's top three reasons the election of Barack Obama should be good for the climate. And for Canada.

(For detailed information about global environmental issues and a whole book full of fabulous green tips, check out your brand new second edition of The Greenpeace Living Guide.)

Greenhouse gas reductions

President-elect Barack Obama's energy plan commits to reducing greenhouse gas emissions 80 percent below 1990 levels by 2050. This is good news—it is exactly the long-term target Greenpeace has been asking for. The catch: the time frame. Greenpeace is lobbying for medium-term targets of 25 percent reductions below 1990 levels by 2020. The EU has committed to 20 to 30 percent reductions below 1990 levels by 2020. Germany is targeting 40 percent reductions by 2020. Obama has suggested he is looking only to stablize US emissions at 1990 levels by 2020. Hopefully, we will see more inspiring medium-term targets from the US soon.

(Canada, on the other hand, has set firm medium-term targets, and they reflect a stunning lack of ambition on the part of the current federal government. The Conservatives, ignoring binding democratic legislation passed by their own parliament, are looking to reduce Canada's greenhouse gas emissions by 2.6 percent below 1990 levels by 2020. While the US surges with high expectations, Canadians are being asked to content ourselves with skyrocketing greenhouse gas emissions, negligible reductions targets and no real vision for the future.)

Engaging the United Nations

In his campaign platform, Barack Obama commits to re-engaging United Nations efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. He has also said that he will attend the United Nations climate talks in Poznań, Poland in early December or send a team in his place.

All this is good news in the lead up to the pivotal United Nations meeting to be held in Copenhagen, Denmark in 2009, where world leaders will decide the fate of the climate. Greenpeace is working around the world to make sure the meeting in Copenhagen ends with an agreement that will truly address climate change. And there is not time to waste. As this lovely (and terrifying) animated film and article in Mother Jones illustrate, climate change is advancing even faster than scientists predicted. Copenhagen may be, literally, the planet's last chance.

To join Greenpeace on the road to Copenhagen and encourage Stephen Harper to take a stand on climate change in Canada and on the world stage, visit: www.greenpeace.ca/KYOTOplus

Find out more about Greenpeace's plans for an energy revolution.

Backing away from tar sands

The election of Barack Obama could mean big changes in Alberta's tar sands as the President-elect moves the US away from what he had called "dirty, dwindling and dangerously expensive oil" and into clean energy solutions. In June of this year, Obama's senior energy adviser Jason Grumet said that it's an "open question" whether or not tar sand oil would be acceptable once the administration implemented a plan to reduce the use of carbon-intensive fuels.

"We are encouraged by President Elect Obama's current stance on the tar sands. It is so refreshing to see leaders that are willing to listen both to science and to the cries of people all over the planet calling for climate action," said Greenpeace tar sands campaigner Mike Hudema. "We hope that our leaders in Canada and Alberta will join the call and start taking action to curb tar sands development by ending new approvals and drastically reducing our greenhouse has emissions."

A few days after the American election, Stephen Harper, apparently, spoke with President-elect Obama about a bi-lateral energy pact that would 'protect' the tar sands. According to the New York Times blogger Kate Galbraith, "In seeking to protect the oil sands, the Canadian government is appealing to the desire in the United States for security of oil supply." Sadly, Stephen Harper has met the change and optimism across the border with a cynical bid to protect one of the dirtiest forms of fuel in the world. Got to www.greenpeace.ca/kyotoplus to tell him, decisively, that this is not what Canada wants.

— editor, The Greenpeace Living Guide

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