In pre-industrial times, the Carbon Dioxide concentration in Earth's atmosphere was 275 parts per million (ppm). It is currently 391 ppm, and this 42% increase has caused an average temperature increase of 0.75 degrees Celsius globally. Warmer air can absorb more moisture, so this seamingly small margin of change has already had drastic effects on the hydrological cycle: causing hurricanes, cyclones, droughts and floods of record magnitude. These 0.75 degrees have also changed the chemical composition of Oceans, reducing the pH of seawater because CO2 dissolves into Carbonic Acid, and reduced as well the amount of water stored in ice on our planet. Two lesser known facts are that the range of the mosquito that carries Dengue Fever has been expanding in latitude due to higher average temperatures, and that the current epidemic of the Mountain Pine Beetle can be attributed to milder winter temperatures that prevent winter die-offs. Politicians and business leaders love to talk about Global Warming as a future problem, one affecting our kids, and our grand-kids. Perhaps this is because the oil and gas industry spent $82.2 million lobbying Washington in the last SIX MONTHS ( http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&sid=aPuYDoceYMe0 ). If one of them were to visit Pakistan, where record floods have displaced millions for the second year in a row, or witness the fires in Russia last summer during a record heat wave, or watch the slow decrease in staple crop yields in the developing world, they would come to realize that this is a NOW problem. Climate change is not an issue for the penguins or the polar bears, the sea turtle or the dodo bird. It is an issue for the human race. Wars are usually fought over resources, and if you take the world as it is and add heat, take away some food and then add more displacing natural disasters, you'll find a world ripe for immense conflict. 350 ppm is the safe limit of atmospheric Carbon Dioxide if we wish to maintain the temperatures we have already created. We are currently on track to continue our flight way, way past that limit. And seeing the results from 1 degree Celsius, do we really want to see the effects of 2 degrees? of 3 degrees? of 10? Tax carbon emissions, charge individuals and corporations alike for the previously free service of using our atmosphere as a waste dump. We have discovered that our air is not infinite, just like our water, our time, our money, and our lives.

Want more info? Check out:                                                                                                http://www.350.org/en/about/science