The National Research Council (NRC) is the operating arm of the United States National Academies of Science. It was established in 1916 and made permanent by President Woodrow Wilson in 1918. The National Academies of Science include the National Academy of Sciences (NAS), the National Academy of Engineering (NAE), and the Institute of Medicine (IOM). These are private, nonprofit organizations chartered to provide policy advice to the federal government on science, technology, and medicine. They provide this policy guidance through the six divisions of the NRC. For global warming questions, most of these activities are carried out through the Division of Earth and Life Studies.

The NRC initiates studies at the request of the White House, a department of the federal government, or the Congress by calling together a committee of experts from the academies and from the nation. The committee studies the issue and publishes a public report on its findings, including policy recommendations (Botterill, 2003). The NRC publishes more than two hundred reports and other documents each year.

The NRC has been studying climate change since 1992 (Axelrod, 2004). In 2002, it was charged with providing strategic advice to the U.S. Climate Change Science Program (CCSP), which coordinates the climate change activities of thirteen federal agencies. In addition to the annual advisory reports for CCSP, twenty-five other reports regarding global warming have been issued. The highlights of these reports have been compiled and published as Understanding and Responding to Climate Change, 2008 Edition. The report indicates that available scientific data clearly show that the Earth is warming, and most of this temperature increase is likely due to human causes. Temperatures reconstructed by several different methods indicate that the planet's surface temperatures since the middle of the twentieth century have been higher than in any comparable period since about 1500 and have increased at the same rate as has the emission of greenhouse gases (GHGs). The report states, "Climate change will affect ecosystems and human systems--such as agriculture, transportation, and health infrastructure-- in ways we are only beginning to understand." It concludes, "The increasing need for energy is the single greatest challenge to slowing climate change." As a result, the main action that should be taken is to reduce the amount of carbon dioxide and other GHGs that are released into the atmosphere: The world must work together to make use of alternative energy sources and prepare its populations for the effects of higher temperatures during the next decades.

References

1. Axelrod, Regina S., David Leonard Downie, and Norman J. Vig, eds. The Global Environment: Institutions, Law, and Policy. 2d ed. Washington, D.C.: CQ Press, 2004.

2. Botterill, Linda C., and Melanie Fisher, eds. Beyond Drought: People, Policy, and Perspectives. Collingwood, Vic.: CSIRO, 2003.

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