Emissions:Prologue
Nearly 600 billion tons of carbon dioxide has been produced by the world's industrialized nations since 1950.
During the past ten years, average global temperatures have increased by 0.5 degrees C.
In contrast, a drop of 3 degrees Celsius in global temperatures brought on the last Ice Age.
Rising sea levels threaten the existence of thousands of coasts and the people who live on them.
Heat waves have claimed more than 2500 lives in India since 1998.
Climbing temperatures have thrown weather systems into flux in recent years, triggering unpredictable disasters such as the flood along Ohio River in March 1997 which cost 30 lives and more than $500 million in property damage alone.
America contains 4% of the world's population and produces 25% of the world's carbon dioxide.