Harish Palaniappan's

Climate Change Basics:
Climate change, as we know is about how the climate or weather in the earth changes due to the effects of rise in avergare temperature.

Temperature rise or fall happens by design, by nature of the earth, hence climate changes and the consequences it has on life on the planet are all natural. And it would happen many thousand years once as a cycle even if humans weren't inhabiting the earth. One might ask: So, why are we humans disturbed about rising temperatures and climate changes??

It is because we have directly or indirectly fastened the rise in temperature by polluting the atmosphere with gases they call Greenhouse gases. We have fastened the process to an extent where climate changes that happen only once 'many thousand years ' could happen in just 'many hundred years'.

Greenhouse gases, the effect:
Greenhouse gases are those that create a greenhouse effect on the earth.

Back in school, or elsewhere we have learnt that Greenhouse effect is good for plant life and hence we have the 'Green' in the term Greenhouse (The house structure made of glass within which they grow plants).

Greenhouses help control the environment inside as best suitable for plant life, and helps avoid almost all external agencies that affect plants when they grow in open ground.

If something is good for plant life, it can be straightly said that something similar should be good for human life also. Then: why are we worried about greenhouse effect on the earth??

Well, its little different. We are not worried about the greenhouse effect itself.. by nature greenhouse effect is already there in the earth and this is the one reason why humans and all life survive. But, too much of greenhouse effect is what we are worried about. To say about it, we have to remember that even in glass enclosed greenhouses, they have equipment to control the temperature and moisture levels to make sure the greenhouse effect is optimal to support plant growth and not high enough to hurt or kill plant growth.

To study more on greenhouses, and the effect, you may read the How stuff works article in the below link .. and compare all explanation it provides regarding a greenhouse.. to the earth itself.
http://science.howstuffworks.com/eden2.htm

How humans affect climate change, and the factors involved in controlling the change:
The reason for rapid increase in temperature, is due to pollution from burning fuels, and other stuff that release huge amounts of greenhouse gases.

Greenhouse gases include carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, ozone, and water vapor...chiefly.

We mostly know that the fuel we burn, the factory exhaust gases that we release into the atmosphere, etc., constitute directly/indirectly a huge increase in most of the above mentioned Greenhouse gases...especially carbon dioxide which is favouritely identified as the culprit in climate change.. Culprit, it is definitely, for it is one chief greenhouse gas that humans have heartily added and still adding in huge amounts to the atmosphere every second.

But Water vapour?? It is something that is majorly exhausted by the oceans that bask in the sun everyday...what can we do about that?? Water vapour is good in that it supports the effect of cooling.. hence decreasing the temperature... but water vapour is also important because the earth could enter an ice age if we have too much water vapour.

There's definitely nothing much humans can do about controlling the amount of water vapour thats in the atmosphere. Not often do they discuss water vapour during climate change debates.

How are nations tackling climate change:
Different countries have different views about climate change, its effects, and especially their priorities to take measures on it. But collectively, the most important commitments are being made through an international body formed by the United Nations, called the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).

The UNFCCC is a treaty that basically lays down rules or commitments that nations can adhere to. Many nations agree to it.

The basics of the UNFCC treaty declares that all countries that accept the treaty will record their greenhouse gas emissions regularly throughout their country, and share the data with all other countries. The reason behind sharing is not only to make countries compete to avoid the embarrassement of being the top pollutants, but also for the simple reason that single nations cannot fight climate change, and collective data and collective reduction in emissions is important.

It is like, one country may not see any advantage of reducing its greenhouse gases, unless all its neighbors are also reducing their greenhouse emissions (especially highly polluting countries in the neighborhood).

The Kyoto Protocol
In December 1997, in Kyoto- Japan, the UN made an amended to the UNFCCC treaty in consultations with many countries, which became the Kyoto protocol. Countries that agree to the protocol commit a timeline(Individual targets) to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions by 50-55% of their 1990 emission values.

The UN market and negotiate with nations trying to convince them to accept the kyoto protocol. The effort has been good and by December 2006, there were close to 170 countries which accept the protocol(out of the current strength of 192 member countries in UN).

It is by this protocol that Unleaded petrol and gasoline has replaced its Leaded counterpart in most countries.

More the acceptance, more is the pressure on countries in UN that have not accepted the protocol. Though the world's top greenhouse gas emitter, which is also the top veto power in the UN and the most powerful country on the globe today, the United states of America doesn't approve of the kyoto protocol.. yet.

In the process of negotiating countries to accept the protocol, the UN exempts countries like China, India from mandatorily committing to reducing greenhouse gas emissions with an individual target... though they have accepted the protocol.

America's argument is that, this exemption, which is a strange excuse, flaws the kyoto protocol and its validity... and hence America wouldn't accept it and make committments either. Unless all nations take the same steps and reduce their emissions its not worthy of America to do it is the american president's argument. Others say that is no good excuse or conduct of America, which is the topmost greenhouse gas emmitter in the world.

The recent G8 aggreement:
In June 2007, at Heiligendamm, Germany, the G8 nations comprising Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia, the United Kingdom and the United States, have agreement on reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 50% of their 1990 levels. This is similar to the kyoto, or this is just the same protocol revisited, but, this time the G8 nations which include America have an agreement and that's what is making this interesting.

This meeting and the agreement is just being released as breaking news at this time of the writing, which states that the deal is to reduce 50% of emissions by all G8 nations by 2050. The details of it are yet to be discussed, or made official.

Update - 8 June 2007:
This official UNFCCC press release states that the breakthrough for discussion in December 2007 is achieved.. so it must mean that America is willing to accept to reducing emissions but things are not layed out as to How much or By when is not yet confirmed.

Related links for detailed reading:
How Stuff works: Global warming
Wikipedia - Greenhouse gas

UNFCCC Links:
United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change
Basics of UNFCCC