There is an Italian proverb which says, “when the ship has sunk, everyone knows how she might have been saved.” It’s fair to say that this one can be well-attributed to our global outlook in light of COP15, first nicknamed “Hopenhagen,” now “Brokenhagen,” but before you throw up your hands in despair at another blog post which slams the lack of progress and concrete decision-making here, worry not, I’ll keep this brief and light.

“After the Copenhagen climate conference failed to stop global warming, the next big question for climate change is who is going to save the planet now?” British broadsheet The Telegraph pondered on December 21.

“The Copenhagen summit witnessed for the first time that the U.S was represented at a presidential level during the climate conference, and its decision to lower emissions by 17 per cent from the 2005 levels demonstrates a major success of the meeting,” Dr Batilda Salha Burian, the Tanzanian State Minister of Environment told Tanzanian press on December 22.

“Twelve days, 192 countries represented, 100 heads of state, 5,000 journalists, upward of 30,000 non-governmental representatives, more than 1000 arrested,” The Examiner writes on December 22.

“How successful the COP15 climate summit at Copenhagen was all depends on where your expectations lay. If you had high hopes … you were envisioning Christmas miracles… But if you kept your expectations low, they were probably met, and even slightly exceeded.”

I’m inclined to side with The Examiner. Accuse me of fence-sitting if you will, but attempting to conjure a common world-encompassing approach or toying with the idea that this seemingly insurmountable issue can be rectified in under two weeks days seems a touch absurd, however idyllic.

I don’t mean to besmirch or disagree with the opinions of disappointed commentators today, but perhaps instead of wasting our energy on conference-concluding declarations, we should be looking at the individual factors, positive and negative, which have blossomed in the COP15 aftermath.

First we have the growing number of Least Developing Countries (LDC’s) now expressing their dismay at the failures of COP15. Then there is the astonishing US$10 billion by 2020 announcement from U.S.A. President Barack Obama, albeit with some interesting and complex stipulations attached. Let us not forget the highly topical U.S. pledge to make further proposals when, and only when, China lines up. And considering the highly debated agreement signed by China, India, South Africa, Brazil, United States and many more individual stories besides, I think it is important to ask yourself two questions.

The first, is whether you really, truly believed that world climate change would and could be rectified through this one conference? Can you envisage this coming Christmas in a world no longer blighted by this paramount issue?

The second, is whether you favour straight talking now, or wild and impressive declarations which do not play out as promised later? Would you prefer to enjoy endless positive promises today which never come to fruition tomorrow, or to look back on COP15 and what it has really managed to achieve?

No, it is not perfect, but at the risk of echoing the message of many before, it is time to get real about climate change and stop wishing for unattainable goals to be realized. The COP15 conference is one thing, but the ship has far from sunk on the wider world issue.