This year marks the 10th anniversary of the adoption of the Kyoto Protocol, and the 20th anniversary of the publication "Our Common Future," by the United Nations Brundtland Commission, the landmark report that called for "sustainable development" -- meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their needs.
One example that public consciousness of the perils of global warming is growing is the fact that the film documentary "An Inconvenient Truth," featuring former U.S. Vice President Al Gore, has become a blockbuster.
On Feb. 2, the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change published its fourth assessment report, blaming global warming on rising levels of carbon dioxide emitted into the atmosphere from the burning of fossil fuels.