ABSTRACT
In May 2013, scientists reported that for the first time in perhaps 3 million years the level of carbon dioxide in the Earth’s atmosphere passed a critical juncture: 400 parts per million for a 24-hour average at the Mauna Loa observation post in Hawaii. The National Climate Data Center also found that 2012 was by far the warmest year recorded in U.S. history. The two reports helped to crystalize increasing concern about climate change and the adverse consequences it is anticipated to have on the environment, natural resources, human health, and economic well-being.1 Few nations are doing as much as they can to slow the pace of a changing climate that most scientists attribute largely to human activities, and particularly to the burning of fossil fuels: coal, oil, and natural gas. The United States, however, stands alone for its modest action at the federal level of government even as the nation remains by far the world’s biggest emitter of greenhouse gases on a per capita basis.
