One good treaty deserves another

As world leaders gather in Copenhagen, Denmark, to address the challenges of climate change, it’s worth reminding ourselves that while outcomes for such efforts are not guaranteed, sometimes they work. One example can be seen in the Antarctic Treaty — a landmark environmental pact signed 50 years ago this month. For while Antarctica today seems a vast, peaceful land reserved for emperor penguins and intrepid polar scientists, the case was quite different, once upon a time.