But the real threat is extremely elusive. Scientists are unsure of the exact changes the future holds. Generally accepted by the whole investigative community, a two to six degree average global temperature increase will occur in the next 100 years, a deceptively small shift that could mean the melting of a glacier or the extinction of several animal species. Also widely accepted as fact is the substantial increase of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, an unnatural increase of 27% since the beginning of the industrial revolution (carbon dioxide is hypothesized to be one of the leading contributors to global warming). And a sociological examination of urban development over the last 150 years will conclusively assert that humanity has become so dependent on the burning of fossil fuels, and oil conglomerates have become so dependent on the ashen profits, that encouraging a global behavior change is a mammoth task few nations are willing to spearhead.

On the forefront of Kyoto skepticism [and yes, fair readers, I am a die-hard, tree hugging liberal with perhaps a little too much vitriol for the political right] is the republican party. The 2000 GOP platform on environmental policy dismisses the Kyoto Protocols as ill-founded and alarmist.

"Complex and contentious issues like global warming call for a far more realistic approach than that of the Kyoto Conference," reads the platform. "Its deliberations were not based on the best science; its proposed agreements would be ineffective and unfair inasmuch as they do not apply to the developing world; and the current administration is still trying to implement it, without authority of law." (http://www.unausa.org/issues/elections/environment.htm)

And now George W. Bush has lived up to his promise, shelving the protocols just as he pushes for oil drilling in Alaska.

Real change always comes down to the individual seeking answers and acting on innate convictions. Hayami's cooler head spurred him to Antarctica for a face-to-face discussion with Zorndyke; the maverick pilot risks his life for the opportunity to learn the reason behind Zorndyke's actions. "Mononoke's" Ashitaka understands the needs of both the city's Lady Eboshi and the forest's San. Substantial environmental policy takes not only a meeting of scientific, economic and political minds but also a universal willingness on the part of every individual to seek answers for themselves - a cliché sentiment but one worth reiterating.

Whether alarmists exaggerate wide-scale global scorching or business and political leaders call for more exact numbers, reducing greenhouse emissions have other benefits to mankind than curbing global warming. Standards of health may increase with the reduction of carcinogenic or other debilitating chemicals in the air. There could be less damage from corrosive agents such as acid rain. And, aesthetically, an issue on the bottom of most official global warming agendas, the sky could shine its deep blue once again.