Climate Change Conference 2009

A cyclist stops to look at “Cool Globes,” an exhibition in the Kongens Nytorv area of Copenhagen about combating global warming and climate change. The Danish capital is hosting a two-week conference to discuss emissions targets and financial measures to mitigate climate change. The landmark conference opened today, with negotiators from 192 countries aiming toward a deal to ward off the potentially catastrophic effects of climate change. (Adrian Dennis / AFP/Getty Images)

Sept. 16, 2014 6:57 PM PT

Mohamad Shinaz, a Maldives climate activist, holds a sign reading “Act Now Save Lives” as he is submerged in water in a 9-foot tube outside the Bella Center on the opening day of the Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen. The scene is a re-creation of a Maldives flood scene and is meant to be a reminder of the human cost of failure to come to an agreement in Copenhagen. (Peter Dejong / Associated Press)

Members of an environmentalist group feign death during a protest demanding a substantive climate deal during the first day of the U.N. Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen, Denmark. The conference runs until Dec. 18. (Miguel Villagran / Getty Images)

A protester pretending to be dead demands a “real deal” from the Climate Change Conference. (Miguel Villagran / Getty Images)

After the conference’s opening ceremony, members of the environmentalist group TckTckTck deliver a message: “Ten million people want a fair, ambitious, binding deal.” (Attila Kisbenedek / AFP/Getty Images)

Representatives from non-governmental organizations work at the Bella Center in Copenhagen. (Keld Navntoft / EPA)

A handout picture released on Dec. 3 by Greenpeace shows activists deploying a banner the day before on the ship Beluga in Copenhagen harbor, which is under a flight path. The banner will remain on display in Kastrup Marina during the U.N. climate talks and will be seen by thousands of delegates arriving by plane. (AFP/Getty Images)

Members of the environmental organization Legambiente display placards reading “Stop global warming” during a demonstration in Venice’s Piazza San Marco. (Andrea Pattaro / AFP / Getty Images)