Natures Our Atmosphere in the Year of Planet Earth

摘要

Since the International Union of Geological Sciences (IUGS) and UNESCO have declared 2007-2009 the International Year of Planet Earth (Figure 1), we would be remiss if we did not alert our readers to the Year of Planet Earth supplement to Nature [2008, 451,January 17, 257-303] that covers several aspects of climate change and its effect on society, We want to emphasize that the entire series of excellent articles and essays is worth reading and lends itself to classroom discussions and reflections on anthropogenic effects on global climate, challenges for society, and the need for sustainability measures in the years to come. Educators might also want to browse http://www.yearofplanetearth.org/ (accessed Nov 2008) for downloadable resource material related to various Earth science topics.