You could use Skype instead

Personal pet peeve -- when grandees burn fossil fuels to go to sustainability conferences:

An announcement expected Monday in New York will break the news that Minneapolis will host a major global conference on sustainability that will attract the former heads of state of nearly 100 countries to Minnesota in October 2015.

The theme of “MN2015,” as the conference will be called, is “democracy in a sustainable future.” Given the governing crises in many democracies — and the challenge of climate change — the timing couldn’t be better.

The host state is hard to top, too. Minnesota’s growing global reputation for good government, multisector collaboration, and innovation in business, education and the arts makes it an ideal place to host a serious dialogue on these fundamental issues.

If climate change is as intractable and dangerous a problem as we are told it is, why the hell are former heads of state from nearly 100 countries coming here? Are they all taking the same plane?