The Living Planet Campaign State of the Climate
Climate Change Campaign

State of the Climate Report


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October 24, 1997
Download our latest report on Policies and Measures to Reduce CO2 Emissions in the United States
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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