Arnold hosting summit on global warming***

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, seeking to influence a United Nations conference on climate change next month, is convening a global summit on greenhouse-gas emissions next week in Los Angeles. AP in the Daily News.

His conference, announced six weeks ago, itself will be a sizable source of the gases blamed for contributing to global climate change, according to an analysis by The Associated Press.

The AP obtained a list of the more than 1,400 invitees through a California Public Records Act request. If all of them made the trip, their round-trip air travel alone would discharge more than 2,554 metric tons of carbon dioxide - a so-called carbon footprint equivalent to that produced from 424 cars driven for a year.

*** Aaron McLear, spokesman for the governor, called this morning to say that only about half of those invited are expected to attend the event. Also, he said, the carbon footprint being caused by the travel and the event is being offset.
The AP story notes: "In addition, attendees will be provided room keys, name badges, lunch boxes and coffee cups made of recycled material. Water bottles will not be provided, and all leftover food will be donated."