There are 10 things you should know about global warming:

1. Over 2,000 scientists agree that the world is warming up due to pollution of the atmosphere.
   
   
2. The main culprits are the fossil fuels (oil and coal) burned in cars and power plants, which release carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases into the air.
   
   
3. These greenhouse gases add to the greenhouse effect, a natural phenomenon through which heat is trapped in the atmosphere, instead of escaping into space. When too much heat is trapped, the earth's climate heats up.
   
   
4. Continued global warming will lead to floods, droughts, submersion of low-lying coastal areas and the spread of infectious diseases, among many other impacts.
   
   
5. The answer to global warming is reducing greenhouse gas pollution, which can be achieved by:
   
   
   1. Developing and using more energy-efficient machines (for example, cars and power plants) that require less energy to work.
      
      
   2. Shifting to cleaner energy sources like natural gas, solar and wind power.
      
      
6. It is not enough for individual countries to reduce emissions (even the U.S., which is responsible for the largest single share). This is a global problem that can only be solved through international cooperation.
   
   
7. The first international agreement aimed at reducing greenhouse gases, forged in 1992 at the Earth Summit in Rio, was not effective. Countries were expected to reduce emissions voluntarily, but most have let emissions rise instead.
   
   
8. In December 1997, at a conference in Kyoto, Japan, industrialized nations agreed to a new treaty, calling for legally-binding limits on emissions of greenhouse gases.
   
   
9. Within the U.S., such limits are opposed by the coal and oil industries, which do not want to lose market share to clean energy sources. Another opponent is the auto industry, which wants to avoid having to re-engineer its cars.
   
   
10. While some individual companies may suffer financially from legally-binding limits, others will prosper. This is what happens in any technology shift. Overall, the U.S. and world economies should do just fine, as they did following the signing of the Montreal Protocol, when CFCs were banned worldwide.

  Published by the Natural Resources Defense Council -- contact us at nrdcinfo@nrdc.org