The Kyoto Climate Change Treaty and the Future of our Forests by John Demos Until recently Global Warming or Climate Change has been hotly debated by scientists and politicians, and has been viewed as a problem quite removed from the average citizen. Although some scientists still question the causes of climate change, few doubt the evidence that the planet has warmed about a degree in the past century. Further evidence of the scale of the problem came in a report last week from the United Nation's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. The report based on the input of 516 climate experts predicted a possible rise of up to 5.8 degrees in the next century, far worse than previous projections.
Automobile exhaust is one of the most important sources of greenhouse gases.
Photo by Paul Donahue. Maine and New Hampshire have joined a growing list of state governments beginning to develop climate change plans. In November of last year an international climate summit on implementing the Kyoto Treaty was held at The Hague, in The Netherlands. Although the representatives from around the world were in agreement that climate change is a genuine threat, there was disagreement on how to go about reducing the impact of the gasses that are thought responsible. The disagreements were so pronounced that the summit adjourned without acceptance of the final Treaty details.