Climate change is one of the most significant problems of the 21^st century. Global warming is both a natural process of the Earth and one that may be accelerated greatly by the addition of greenhouse gases to the atmosphere as a result of various human activities. The consequences can include glacial retreat and sea level rises with effects as varied as fish stock displacements and shoreline erosion. Earth scientists have been at the forefront of this field of study, documenting the record of climate change today and back through the earth’s earliest history, more than a billion years ago.