Global Climate Change: A Concise History of Negotiations and Chronology of Major Activities Preceding the 1992 U.N. Framework Convention: 98-431.

It is difficult to ascribe a starting point for U.S. involvement in the issue of global climate change. The scientific theory of an ''enhanced greenhouse effect,'' resulting from industrial air pollution is now a hundred years old. Since the late 1950s, scientists within the ranks of the U.S. federal government have participated in scientific workshops and international conferences on the nature of Earth's climate system and the role of carbon dioxide (C02) and other greenhouse gases that are believed to modify the global climate. Extensive involvement of the U.S. government from the perspective of formulating U.S. policy and assuming a diplomatic role in international debates, which relate to this issue, probably began in earnest around 1978, with efforts to coordinate federal government activities in research into global climate change. Various activities since helped to achieve the first international agreement aimed at controlling greenhouse gases, the 1992 U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change, which sought voluntary controls on emissions by industrialized countries. In the ongoing international policy debate, attention has been turned to the post -2000 period, and what actions may be necessary to protect the climate to prevent possible economic and environmental disruption. The historical context of the current debate is important in understanding the fundamental issues about global climate change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]