What is the Kyoto Protocol?                                                                                                                                             What is climate change?
What do greenhouse gases do?
How many degrees is global warming expected to raise temperatures?
What is the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)?
Would a temperature increase of several degrees really be significant to global climate?
Do extreme events such as heat waves and floods have anything to do with global warming?
What is the cause of sea level rise?
How many inches has the sea level risen so far?
How long does carbon dioxide remain in the atmosphere?
Where are we heading  with atmospheric carbon dioxide?
How much in carbon emissions does the U.S produce?
How do you get 20 pounds of CO2 out of a gallon of gasoline that weighs about 6 pounds?

What is the Kyoto Protocol?
The Kyoto Protocol is an international agreement proposed on December 11, 1997 in Kyoto, Japan. In a nutshell the agreement requires the United States, the European Union and Japan to reduce greenhouse gas emissions (below 1990 levels) by 7%, 8% and 6% , respectively, by the year 2010. The Kyoto Protocol must be ratified by two-thirds of the U.S. Senate before it can take effect in the U.S. The burden of initial emission reduction rests on the industrialized countries, which have built high standards of living based on fossil fuel use, and which have produced most of the greenhouse gases residing in the Earth's atmosphere. Eventually, developing countries will have to reduce their carbon emissions too.

What is climate change?
Global warming is the result of a buildup of greenhouse gases (mainly carbon dioxide, but also methane, chloroflorocarbons and nitrous oxide) in the atmosphere.

What do greenhouse gases do?
As a car with its windows rolled up on a sunny day keeps the sun's warmth inside the car, carbon dioxide or any other greenhouse gas has the ability to prevent the reflection of solar radiation back out into space. The greenhouse effect is a natural phenomenon. It is the reason our day and night temperature differences are so narrow. But with excessive carbon dioxide in the atmosphere (6 billion tons of carbon entering the atmosphere each year), the greenhouse effect has expanded to the point that major climate changes are underway.

How many degrees is global warming expected to raise temperatures?
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) expects a 3 to 11 degree increase in temperatures by the year 2100. 

What is the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)?
The IPCC is a scientific organization made up of 2500 of the world's top climatologist from 60 countries. It operates under the auspices of the United Nations and the World Meteorological Organization. The purpose of the IPCC is to (a) assess available scientific information on climate change, (b) assess the environmental and socioeconomic impacts of climate change, and (c) formulate response strategies

Would a temperature increase of several degrees really be significant to global climate? Yes. Even a modest rise of 2 to 3 degrees Fahrenheit would represent a huge amount of warming. Keep in mind that in the last 10,000 years, the earth's average temperature hasn't varied by more than 1.5 degrees Fahrenheit. The secondary effects of this kind of warming on our global climate could be quite dramatic. An increase of a few degrees in average surface temperature wouldn't necessarily be experienced uniformly. Particular regions would experience the effects of global warming more profoundly than others. Some might suffer changes in the amount of rainfall received, a climate dislocation that could severely affect the world's agriculture and forests.

Rising temperatures could also cause a rise in sea level of 20 or more inches. Such a change could result in the loss of beaches and coastal wetlands and flooding of coastal areas.

Do extreme events such as heat waves and floods have anything to do with global warming?
Here is a quote from Thomas Karl of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA): "High temperatures are likely to become more extreme, and because night temperatures will increase by at least as much as daytime temperatures, heat waves should become more serious. Precipitation is anticipated to increase in the cold season in the mid- and high-latitudes and the number of extreme precipitation events (both rain and snow) will also increase."

What is the cause of sea level rise?
Sea level rise comes from the thermal expansion of the upper ocean layers and melting of mountain glaciers. The contributions from the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets are not as well-established and may be close to zero at present.

How many inches has the sea level risen so far?
Sea level in the last 100 years has risen about 7 inches and is projected to increase another 6 to 36 inches or so by 2100. The insidious thing is not so much the sea level rise, but the possibility of storm surges coupled with sea level rise. [6]  The Netherlands spent $10 billion on raising the levels of their dikes after a 1959 storm caused ocean waves to overflow the dikes causing major floods. The money was spent to raise the height of the dikes from 20 to 30 feet. Being a little above sea level is not enough.

How long does carbon dioxide remain in the atmosphere?
CO2 lifetime in the atmosphere can range from 50-200 years. Once it enters the atmosphere, there is very little that can be done to reduce carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.

Where are we heading  with atmospheric carbon dioxide?
Presently, according to the IPCC and its range of possible scenarios, atmospheric carbon dioxide could double as soon as 2050. Among other things, this could result in more destructive storms, flooding, ice cap melting, and rising sea levels.

How do you get 20 pounds of CO2 out of a gallon of gasoline that weighs about 6 pounds?
When gasoline burns, the carbon and hydrogen separate. The hydrogen combines with oxygen to form water (H2O), and carbon combines with oxygen to form carbon dioxide (CO2). A carbon atom has an atomic weight of 12, and each oxygen atom has an atomic weight of 16, giving each single molecule of CO2 an atomic weight of 44 (12 from carbon and 32 from oxygen).Therefore, to calculate the amount of CO2 produced from a gallon of gasoline, the weight of the carbon in the gasoline is multiplied by 44/12 or 3.7. Since gasoline is about 87% carbon and 13% hydrogen by weight, the carbon in a gallon of gasoline weighs 5.5 pounds (6.3 lbs. x .87). We can then multiply the weight of the carbon (5.5 pounds) by 3.7, which equals 20 pounds of CO2!