In the pre-dawn darkness, I move past the ticket checker and look for the platform from which our train, the Yal Devi, will depart. Announcements ring out in Sinhala, Tamil, and English through a tiny speaker system which makes all the languages sound the same. A male voice drones out the never-ending list of stations.

Climate change is simply the greatest collective challenge we face as a human family," United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki Moon said recently emphasizing the importance of the forthcoming Copenhagen climate change summit. The world is talking about Copenhagen and an important climate deal, but what really can we expect from it?