U.N. tapping into social media for climate treaty inspiration

The U.N. has launched a social media site to inspire international leaders to create a meaningful climate treaty in Copenhagen this December.  The site called Hopenhagen, allows people around the world to create a Twitter-like post (45 characters max) answering the question "What gives you hope for a better planet?"

The site reads:

On December 7, 2009, leaders from 192 countries will gather at the UN Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen, Denmark to determine the fate of our planet. Let's turn Copenhagen into Hopenhagen. Hopenhagen is a movement, a moment and a chance at a new beginning. The hope that we can create a global community that will lead our leaders into making the right decisions. The hope that by solving our environmental crisis, we can solve our economic crisis at the same time. Hopenhagen is change – and that change will be powered by all of us.

As people post their responses, a constant moving feed runs down the screen, listing all the statements.  Obviously, it will take more than 45-character expressions to produce an effective climate treaty, but the more pressure we can put on the world's leaders to commit to significant change, the better.

via Environmental Capital