we become increasingly aware of climate change - particularly when its effects

begin to affect us directly more than ever - new challenges continue to shape and
complicate the debate.
Developing economies: countries such as India and China are experiencing
unprecedented levels of growth in their economies, spearheaded by commerce and
industrialisation. Levels of CO2 emissions have risen here accordingly, and continue
to rise, thus cancelling out other nations' attempts to reduce energy consumption
and greenhouse gas emissions.

Reluctance of the US: The single-largest carbon emitter, the United States, has been
less than enthusiastic to make a lasting commitment to help tackle climate change.
Most recently, a UN conference in Bali reached a deadlock after the US refused to
support a follow-up deal to Kyoto, which would have seen countries have to reduce
carbon emissions by up to 40% by 2020.

Changing people's outlooks: there is still a lot we can be doing on an individual

basis to help combat the effects of climate change. A small change individually
equates to a large-scale change collectively, so turning around some of our bad
habits around can make a lasting difference.