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Global warming is not a distant, future threat. In fact, there is
compelling evidence that a shift in our planet's weather patterns and
changes in climate are already underway. A huge array of data from all
over the world clearly signals that change is occurring. From droughts
to
melting glaciers and ice caps; from dramatic flips in ocean currents to
regional increases in extreme and violent storms, the indications are:
- climate change is happening now;
- it's already affecting habitat, wildlife, human health and the
economy around the globe; and
- the world can no longer wait to attack the causes and reduce the
effects of
global warming.
The evidence of global warming and its consequences are accumulating
rapidly and measurably, and require the world's immediate attention. The
United Nations' Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), a group
of 2000 of the world's leading scientists, concluded in 1995 that global
warming is real, serious, and accelerating. They determined that the
most
likely cause is primarily from humans burning coal, oil and gasoline and
increasing the amount of carbon dioxide (CO2) and other greenhouse gases
trapped in the earth's atmosphere.
At the end of 1997, the city of Kyoto, Japan will host government
negotiators from 167 nations tasked with crafting an agreement that
should
slow the pace of global warming and mitigate its impacts by limiting
carbon
dioxide emissions world-wide. According to a remarkably diverse
accumulation of scientific data drawn from pollen records, ice cores,
tree
ring analysis, temperature records, satellite imagery, atmospheric
measurements and other tools and techniques, climate change is already
affecting every region and most nations:

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