Introduction

We often hear of “global” climate change, and we also hear about local impacts. A perusal through The Atlas of Climate Change: Mapping the World's Greatest Challenge (Dow and Downing 2007) provides an illustration of current understanding of causes and anticipated impacts of climate change. Causes include the link between fossil fuels and greenhouse gases that blanket the earth, the role of other gases such as methane and hydrofluorocarbons in warming the atmosphere, and the impact that changing land use patterns have on the carbon cycle and, consequently, on climate change. This atlas also considers consequences that we can expect from climate change including the disruption (and possibly degradation) of ecosystems, heightened water scarcity, food security concerns resulting from changing temperature patterns and crop yields, threats to human health, rising sea levels and risks posed to coastal cities and cultural, historical, and archaelogical sites. Tim Flannery's book, The Weather Makers: How Man Is Changing the Climate and What It Means for Life on Earth (Flannery 2005) provides a more conversational survey of the history of humans' understanding of the atmosphere, how we study climate change, and signals of climate change held in ice sheets, coral reefs, and amphibian populations.