Experts warned that the clock is ticking. "The atmosphere doesn't negotiate with politicians," Alden Meyer, of the Union of Concerned Scientists, tells Recharge . "No matter what we did here in Canc ú n, it wasn't enough. It's one step on the way." The differing sense of urgency between low-lying and tropical nations and some rich ones was striking. A Bangladeshi negotiator put the issue in perspective: "Climate change in the northern hemisphere means a change in lifestyle.