A report released yesterday by the U.N.'s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change accentuates the global warming crisis our planet faces as the 21st century wears into the latter part of its first decade.

The report outlined several disconcerting conclusions on the probable effects of global climate change — among them, that Latin America's glaciers could disappear within 15 years, that food shortages could affect 130 million in Asia by 2050 and that Africa's wheat crop could fail by the 2080s, dangerously reducing the continent's already meager food supply.

Additionally, the report noted, the projected sea level rise of 4.3 feet by 2080 could put numerous major cities at high risk for widespread flooding, and warmer ocean temperatures could cause more severe hurricanes.

While the natural first reaction is alarm, we prefer to view the report as motivation to continue rallying support for governmental initiatives that will curtail the human contribution to climate change.

The Bush administration has been nearly absent from substantive scientific discussion about climate change to this point. Some hope can be found in the president's new push for more fuel-efficient vehicles, but we should not look to the U.S. government for guidance in dealing with a distinctly international matter.

Media attention has raised global awareness of the problem. It is now up to all capable citizens of the world to do their part in reducing human impact to prevent otherwise imminent disaster.

Many of us will live to see 2080. It is essential that we view the problem from the perspective of the present, not in some uncertain "maybe it will happen, maybe it won't" futuristic perspective.