Glaciers are retreating at a rapid rate. Within just a few years there will be no more snows on Kilimanjaro. Glaciers in the Andes, the Rockies, and the Himalayas are all shrinking. The polar ice shelves are fracturing. Sea level is rising. The permafrost is melting. Millions of people worldwide are at risk. A major refugee crisis looms. Climate change, if unchecked, will literally swamp all other issues facing humanity. A report from the Geneva based Global Humanitarian Forum, headed by Kofi Annan, states, "Climate change is the greatest emerging humanitarian challenge of our time." A full blown disaster is on the horizon. Will we act to save our precious home, planet earth? Time is short. World leaders will meet in Copenhagen to negotiate a new international climate treaty. Decisive action, not cosmetic changes, is required. We are at a tipping point.

Bill McKibben
Bill McKibben was one of the first to sound the alarm on climate change with his bestselling book "The End of Nature." A scholar-in-residence at Middlebury College, he is a leading activist, journalist and author on the environment. His other books include "The Age of Missing Information" and "Hope, Human and Wild," "Deep Economy," and "Eaarth." He is co-founder of 350.org.