INTRODUCTION

On some level, we must have realized something wasn’t quit right when we were pulling out our spring clothes in December. Yet, the truth is often hard to find when the government think-tanks and big business are doing all they can to avoid the issue. While global climate change may be gaining ground in public forums and popularity among environmentally minded college students, the truth is, the topic probably should have been getting widespread attention twenty years ago.

The doomsday messages the public has been receiving about the fate of our Earth in the “near future” haven’t helped either. The situation, however, is not quite as dire as some have led us to believe. All told, this “near future,” actually includes close to a 100-year timeframe before things get really bad1. Still, just because we have the time doesn’t mean we can avoid the issue; the US government already tried that and unfortunately, the problem got worse.

Global climate change was recognized as a disturbance as early as 1898 when Svante Ahrrenius, a Swedish scientist, discovered that inflated amounts of carbon dioxide in Earth’s atmosphere could result in global warming6. At the time that Ahrrenius made his discovery, however, there was still only a limited understanding of the Earth’ climate system and how it responds to increased carbon dioxide emissions1.

DRIVING HOME THE POINT

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