The planet is undergoing a global change in climate that has begun to
negatively affect populations and is predicted to accelerate in the
coming decades. The human beings now on Earth are the first to exist
when the climatic dynamics of the planet are scientifically understood.
That understanding makes patently clear that the aggregate effects of
human activities have a distinct impact on planetary climate and the way
humans will live, if they survive, in the future. This appears to be a
tipping point time in human history when future climatic catastrophes
that threaten generations of humans might be preventable if governments,
institutions, and organizations now take mitigating actions. That
suggests that the people currently alive on the planet bear a collective
responsibility to address the negative human impact on climate.