A few years ago, Chicago was at the epicenter of an extraordinary weather event. Almost seven hundred and fifty people died and thousands more were hospitalized. The victims did not suffer from a terrorist attack or an industrial gas release. Their deaths were due to a dramatic and unprecedented ten-day heat wave.

By the third day, Chicago’s morgue was full and refrigerated trucks were called in to store the dead. Since the Chicago tragedy, heat anomalies have struck dozens of cities like Paris, London, Calcutta, and Melbourne. Tens of thousands have died.

The scientific community now tells us that we all live in a world where the level of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is higher than it has been for hundreds of thousands of years.

The scientific community now tells us that we all live in a world where the level of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is higher than it has been for hundreds of thousands of years. Global temperatures are rising faster than at any other time in recorded history. The consequences of these human induced changes are becoming more and more profound.

The world’s glacial regions have long been a treasure of natural beauty and biodiversity. Today they are also under attack. Our planet’s polar regions also show signs of dramatic change because of global warming. And as glaciers and polar sea ice melt, the world’s oceans are slowly rising.

Thousands of miles to the south, Louisiana’s coastal marshes and wetlands have always been prime breeding grounds and nurseries for birds and animals. Today they are slowly being covered by the Gulf of Mexico.

Just a few years ago this bay was a sugar beet farm – and a pasture for grazing cattle. Dead oak trees are recent reminders of a once healthy coastline. Each year over 25 square miles of Louisiana coastline are washed away.

Glaciers melting, sea levels rising, heat waves – these are only a few of the early warning signals of man’s greatest environmental challenge.

Glaciers melting, sea levels rising, heat waves – these are only a few of the early warning signals of man’s greatest environmental challenge. But, fortunately, there are ways to respond to the dangers of global warming.

Breakthroughs in genetic engineering can go a long way towards feeding almost 80 million extra mouths each year – even in a warmer world. But to help future generations slow down or stop global warming, we need to conserve energy and limit our dependence on fossil fuels.

Wind power provides one of several alternatives. In a remote valley in California four thousand turbine generators produce enough electricity to serve the yearly needs of about 84,000 households. Clean and renewable, it’s a technology that could provide up to 10 percent of the earth’s electricity within two decades. But wind power coupled with alternatives like solar energy and fuel-efficient cars represent far more than just a response to the challenges of global warming.

It’s a testament to the power of human ingenuity and of man’s ability to cope with our planet’s most pressing problems. Yet in the end, there are no easy answers and no quick fixes.

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