Since 1988, Brazilians have cleared more than 153,000 square miles of Amazonian rain forest, devastating the environment and driving global climate change forward ever faster. Recently, however, Brazil has changed its course, reducing the rate of deforestation by 83 percent since 2004. At the same time, it has become a test case for a controversial international climate-change prevention strategy that places a monetary value on the carbon stored in forests.

Reining in pollution would thus accomplish two goals, while finally getting countries such as China and India into the climate-change business.

Little attention has been given to reducing emissions of the light-absorbing particles known as "black carbon" or the gases that form ozone--even though doing so would be easier and cheaper and have a more immediate effect.

The free market has eliminated environmental hazards in the past, from leaded gas to acid rain, and it can solve the problem of climate change today.

As climate change accelerates, policymakers may have to consider "geoengineering" as an emergency strategy to cool the planet. Engineering the climate strikes most as a bad idea, but it is time to start taking it seriously.

The United States can curb its own emissions and encourage energy effeciency and the development of clean-energy technology worldwide by rethinking carbon regimes.

Wake up, Henry Hudson: Thanks to global warming, the Northwest Passage will soon be open for business.

This module features teaching notes by Michael A. Levi, director of the CFR-sponsored Independent Task Force report, Confronting Climate Change: A Strategy for U.S. Policy, along with other resources to supplement the text. This report lays out a U.S. negotiating proposal for a global climate accord, including what the United States should be willing to offer and what it should expect others to do in order to confront climate change.

This module features teaching notes for Climate Change and National Security: An Agenda for Action by author Joshua Busby, along with other resources to supplement the text. This Council Special Report proposes a portfolio of feasible and affordable policy options to reduce the vulnerability of the United States and other countries to the predictable effects of climate change.

Climate change is one of the most complex issues facing policy-makers today. David G. Victor, a leading expert on environmental policy, takes a fresh look at this issue and persuasively marshals arguments for three distinct approaches to combat the problem, casting each as a presidential speech. A must-read for environmentalists, educators, and anyone else interested in the issue .

Will an EU plan requiring all airlines to join its carbon market starting in 2012 spark a trade war and prove financially harmful to a struggling airline industry?

Pakistan's devastating floods and Russia's massive heat wave this summer have placed new scrutiny on the role of climate change. Experts worry about the pace of government policy responses.

The idea of creating green jobs drew great attention as the stimulus package made its way through Congress. Defining those jobs is difficult, however, and economists say many may simply displace existing jobs in the old carbon-based economy.

Barack Obama says he is serious about sharply reducing carbon emissions. But some experts see the recession, and competing "green" agendas, posing major obstacles to new climate change policy.

CFR.org provides a collection of resources on energy and climate change policy.

The unfolding financial crisis and credit crunch creates new political and economic challenges on greenhouse gas reductions schemes. Some experts fear a retreat on climate policy, while others stress that opportunities for green investments still exist.

Many countries are reducing or ending fuel subsidies in the face of high fuel costs and the spreading financial crisis. Though the cuts may prove unpopular, some experts say they could help ease global oil demand.

Amid rising global energy costs and U.S. domestic disputes, the G8 summit reached a deal on a long-term climate change goal. Critics say it's not enough.

Record energy and food prices, plus a limping economy, have created new hurdles to fast action on climate change.