Hard to believe that 10 years ago we were eagerly anticipating entering a new millennium, what party to go to and how the world was going to crumble as the digital and electronic infrastructure failed to cope with the millennium bug. A turn of year, let alone millennium, is always a good time for reflection and for many triggers a feeling of optimism and hope. Now we are rapidly approaching the end of the ‘noughties’ perhaps it is a good time to look back out what the decade brought from an environmental point of view. In the year 200O the United Nations brought together some of the World’s leading scientists in order to gather opinion and consensus at to what the greatest threats to the planet was in the first ten years of the new millennium. The impacts of climate change were given a derisory few paragraphs in an eight page document vaguely touching on air pollution. Topics such as carbon emissions were steady to in decline or steady. Issues such as loss of coral habitats were considered more of a threat to the planet than global warming. What a difference a decade makes. Global warming, the environment and many associated issues has gone from being treated as the preserve of small community of eco based pressure groups and scientists to being at number one on the agenda list of the international community. Recognition of that the earth is detrimentally changing has been brought starkly into focus by more extreme weather. Extremes in weather have become more frequent, destructive and global in the last 10 years than ever before. In early 2000 Southern Africa was hit by three weeks of tropical storms which left Mozambique inundated. Many thousands of people were killed and millions displaced from their homes. Along with the human suffering the country’s infrastructure was crippled. For example 90 percent of the irrigation network to the agricultural lands was damaged. The country was forced to appeal for international aid to the tune of $450 million to help avoid starvation and disease amongst its people and to begin the recovery process.  In 2009 Mozambique was hit again by an extreme flood event similar in magnitude to that experienced back in 2000.  The flood event in Mozambique was not a one off event, in the following months Cambodia and Thailand were also hit. By way of contrast India experienced one of its worst droughts ever. Scientists are able to show relationships between the increase in ferocity and frequency of these natural hazards with the rapid change in climate resulting from anthropogenic emissions. The realisation of the severity of the situation began to filter through to Government and policy makers around the world. As if to solidify the importance of climate change in 2003 Europe experienced a heat wave which ultimately led to the death of 30,000 people. The following year proved to be a real turning point. Bizarrely, the first natural hazard to strike was not climate related but nevertheless the wake of devastation left by the Indian Ocean Tsunami served as a reminder as to the power of mother nature. Added to this, the continued globalisation of information means that more people than ever hear about disasters almost as they happen. Only 10 months after this the state of Louisanna in America was struck by hurricane Katrina which killed 1800 people and left an 81 million dollar cleanup bill not to mention the displacement of 1000’s of people from their communities. Even today huge area of New Orleans is just open ground where once there were whole neighbourhoods thrived. As the sun sets on the this decade it is evident that climate change we find ourselves in is worse than predicted. Global temperature rises of 4 degrees over the next 50 years are conservative. The effects will dwarf some of the disasters the world has experienced of in this first decade of the millennium. A multilayered uni lateral response has to be encouraged with changes needing to occur right from the individual and household level right through to international policy makers. Nation states need to quantify agreements and targets and then adhere to them no matter what. It could be argued that it will be impossible to continue to grow sustainably if we need to remediate the damage already caused as well. This may well be the case but unless we react to the situation we find ourselves in now it may well be too late. In December, the worlds leaders are gathering in Copenhagen to hammer out agreements to offset teh rate of climate change. This summit meeting will be the blueprint for change and hopefully the leaders will put their differences aside to agree a deal. The deal will have considerable ramifications for not only the climate but also the global economy. Watch this space.