"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... We are risking the ability of the human race to survive"
- Dr. Rajendra Pachauri, Chairman, and UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change

"We know the science, we see the threat, and we know the time for action is now.
- Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, R-California, speaking about global warming

"The good news is, we have everything we need now to respond to the challenge of global warming. We have all the technologies we need; more are being developed. And as they become available and become more affordable when produced in scale, they will make it easier to respond. But we should not wait, we cannot wait, we must not wait." Al Gore, Former US Vice president

The call for actions to protect our planet, as a matter of survival of humanity, has never been louder and clearer than now.

Effects of global warming are no longer predictions about our future but the present reality. Melting Artic glacier, shrinking mountain snow caps, warmer oceans, dying coral reefs, rising sea level, rivers drying up, rapidly declining crop yields, more frequent and more extreme climate events like killer heat waves, stronger hurricanes, flood-level rain, drought, snow storms, and other disturbances to climate patterns are all desperate calls of Mother Nature for salvage.

An overwhelming consensus of scientific opinion has clearly emerged in recent years: global warming is real, it is caused by human activities, and if left unchecked, the consequence can be catastrophic.

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), set up in 1988 by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) to assess scientific, technical and socio-economic information relevant for the understanding of climate change and its potential impact and options for change, just released in February 2007 its 4th report, after 6 years of work. The report, of 4 big volumes, again confirms this consensus view, establishing that warming of the climate system is unequivocal, and largely due to the increase of green house gas emissions caused by human activities.

Despite the very bleak future projected by the report, the positive note from it is that there is substantial economic and market potential to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions at reasonable costs. IPCC has put forward a number of possible mitigation practices, including, reduction in use of fossil fuel, better waste management and investments in renewable energy.

While many global warming solutions will need to happen at the national or global level, there are many things we as individuals or organisations can do to reduce our contributions of greenhouse gases to the atmosphere. Individual actions, albeit small, can add up to significant change. Through understanding the huge climate change challenge we are faced with, we should change our attitude and behavior and make informed choices about our way of life and way of business to start making a difference. We need to think and act with our future generations in mind.