CHALLENGE OF THE CENTURY: ENERGY POLICY AND GLOBAL WARMING

The historic transition away from fossil fuels now beginning is reasonably attributed to increasing energy costs and energy security. Looming ever larger, however, is the issue that will soon drive the third energy revolution: global warming. A rising ocean of evidence documents accelerating warming, enlarging impacts, and human causes -- principally combustion of fossil fuels. The carbon dioxide (C02) content of Earth's atmosphere has increased more than 35% since the beginning of the industrial revolution and is the highest in 650,000 years. This dramatic rise of C02 and attendant positive feedbacks are already forcing significant impacts worldwide. These include atmospheric warming with shifting climatic and habitat zones, spreading tropical disease, and more extreme weather events; rapid ice loss at high latitude and high altitude; ocean warming and acidification with coral reef bleaching and intensifying tropical storms; rising sea level; and accelerating extinction rates. The 2007 draft report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) models greater warming than previously predicted. Climate scientists now warn of an approaching tipping point to abrupt climate change. It is incumbent upon higher education to address this challenge. The following topics should be integrated into all appropriate general education courses: the evidence of global warming and its causes; observed present and predicted future impacts of global warming; mitigation and adaptation strategies; and implications for energy policies and economic opportunities. By comprehensive education and by example, colleges and universities must focus public and professional attention on the imperative to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and counter global warming. This is the challenge of the century.