Climate change is fast becoming one of the greatest challenges of our time. Amidst global confl ict, economic dependency on limited resources, rapid technological development, the spread of open access to information, and other emerging characteristics of the 21st century, it is easy to lose sight of the environmental changes that are taking place all around us. The oceans are warming and their biochemistry is changing (Bindoff et al., 2007). Glaciers are melting, contributing to rising ocean levels, and snowfall has decreased in most places (Lemke et al., 2007). Average global surface temperatures are rising and average arctic temperatures are increasing at twice the global rate (Trenberth et al., 2007). These are markers of monumental changes that are taking place on our planet, which threaten the well-being of human as well as many plant and animal populations.