How are we doing?

In 1997, 37 industrialized countries and the European community adopted the Kyoto Protocol to fight global warming by reducing greenhouse gases, at the time primarily carbon dioxide (CO²). Since then, climate change has worsened and accelerated:

• Worldwide carbon emissions have increased by nearly 30 percent
• The world's oceans have risen by an inch and a half
• New ship passages have opened through the Arctic Ocean's once-frozen summer sea ice
• Droughts and wildfires have become more severe worldwide, from the western U.S. to Australia to the Sahel Desert of North Africa
• In Greenland and Antarctica, ice sheets have lost trillions of tons of ice
• Mountain glaciers in Europe, South America, Asia and Africa are shrinking faster then before
• Species now in trouble because of our changing climate include polar bears, butterflies, frogs and entire stands of North American pine forests
• Temperatures over the past 12 years are 0.4 of a degree warmer than the dozen years leading up to 1997

What Next?

In order to combat these statistics, the U.S. plans on offering a 17 percent cut in CO² (using 2005 levels as a benchmark) by 2020. China is targeting a 40% reduction, but since their commitment is tied in to the growth of their economy, the result could actually mean an increase in carbon emissions.

What You Can Do

History has shown that corporations and revenue-generating endeavors have often been the catalysts for change, and have been at the heart of every worldwide advancement from transportation and health research to technology and science. Now at this crucial juncture we must again ask our economic engine to drive innovation and change.

If you are a paper or packaging manufacturer, integrate Biolithe into your production process. If you are a public or private organization, urge your paper and packaging vendors to do so. Practice environmental responsibility and corporate sustainability, and demand them of others. The health and future of our world – literally – depends on it.