Global Change Issues

Global Change Issues

Issues commonly listed under global environmental change include



These problems spill into the human dimension and pit developed countries, which seem to have an insatiable demand for energy and resources, against developing countries whose citizens struggle to provide their families with even the bare essentials of human existence, leaving little time to be concerned about longer term implications of global environmental change.

The US Global Change Research Program was established by Presidential order to coordinate research and related activities in the US to help provide a well-founded scientific understanding of the Earth system to ensure the availability of future resources essential for human well-being, including water, food, fiber, ecosystem, and human health. It provides the foundation for increasing the skill of predictions of climate change and climate variations and sponsors research to understand vulnerabilities to changes in climate, ultraviolet radiation at the Earth's surface, and land cover. Such scientific knowledge is an essential basis for informed decision making on environmental issues and to ensure the social and economic health of future generations. In this course we will examine the scientific basis for global change, explore the implications of these changes and discuss some of the political implications of global change.

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