The greenhouse effect is well established and the vast majority of scientists agree that CO2 emissions from fossil fuel burning are significantly increasing CO2 levels in the atmosphere (up 35% from pre-industrial levels of 280 ppm), thus raising global average temperatures and altering the climate on a planetary scale. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) is predicting a 3 - 9 degrees Fahrenheit increase in global average temperature in the next 100 years - an amount of warming that would be unprecedented in human history and potentially catastrophic. The temperature rise would be greater at the poles. Already we are seeing dramatic decreases in the size of the polar ice cap and the thickness of polar ice.

A 2004 study by the Pentagon assessed climate change as a greater threat to our security than terrorism. More recently, the chairman of the IPCC told delegates at an international conference that we have already reached the level of dangerous carbon dioxide concentrations in the atmosphere. Calling for very deep cuts in greenhouse gas emissions, he said "Climate change is for real. We have just a small window of opportunity and it is closing rather rapidly. There is not a moment to lose."

Americans represents less than 5% of the world's population yet we produce approximately 25% of the world's annual greenhouse gas emissions.

The Kyoto Protocol, which the U.S. has not ratified, calls for a 5% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2008-2012 compared to 1990 levels. In contrast, scientists are telling us that reductions in the order of 60-80% will be required to stabilize climate. This threshold is daunting. The UB Climate Action Initiative will try to envision deep cuts in campus greenhouse gas emissions and attempt to describe a path for achieving them.