Previous generations did not fully comprehend the dangers of burning fossil fuels and what effects our actions had on our planet, but today, we have at our disposal a breadth of research compounded with the power, and thus the responsibility, to save our planet and its people. Developed countries—inheritors of fossil fuel benefits and liabilities—have nearly broken the proverbial camel's back and therefore have an obligation to pull us back from the precipice of disaster, but can they act in time to mitigate the worst effects of global warming?

Join the Carnegie Endowment for the last of a two-part Summer Reads series featuring Henry Shue, author of The Pivotal Generation, and Dan Baer, acting director of Carnegie’s Europe Program, to reflect upon the modern environmentalist movement and where we are: at the last opportunity to act.