Students this year have gotten plenty of wear out of summer clothes, due to the fact that, so far, autumn just doesn’t feel like autumn.

“During my freshmen year, the winter was horrible. This year, I wish I had brought my speedo back from Fall Break,” said junior Santiago Stocker.

Although the tamer weather this year might be a welcome change to students, the weather patterns might be a sign of trouble. Environmental Studies Professor John Petersen said that the weather might be part of climate change due to global warming.

“Weather is always variable.  Individual storm events can never be attributed to climate change.  Attributing one year’s weather to global climate change is also risky.  What can be said is that the frequency of extreme weather events has increased dramatically in the last decade and that these changes are what we would predict as a result of climate change induced by increasing concentration of greenhouse gases that humans have released into the atmosphere,” said Petersen.

The Innergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, originally set up by the United Nations, predicted that in the next 20 years the average temperature will go up .3-1.3 degrees Celsius. In the last 100 years, the temperature has only risen .6 degrees.

“The last 10 years has seen the most rapid increase in temperature since thermometers have been around to record it,” said Petersen. “If you don’t believe scientists, look at the insurance agencies. They have been paying out a lot more money [because of weather-related events] than they used to. Their payout goes up dramatically each decade.”

Many scientists fear that the four hurricanes that hit Florida in a five-week period, as well as recent heat waves and droughts, may only be the beginning. Politicians have become concerned about it, also.

The Kyoto Protocol is one way that industrialized nations are trying to help the situation. Russia, which accounts for 17 percent of the world’s emissions, has recently ratified the protocol, which will allow the initiative to come into action. Thirty-eight nations have agreed to cut emissions of carbon rich gases by 5.2 percent by 2010. Developing nations are not included. Neither is the United States.

President George W. Bush has refused to back the protocol, which was established in 1997, because he is fearful that it would harm the U.S. economy.

Oberlin has also done its part to cut down on greenhouse emissions. The College purchases 60 percent of their electricity from green energy sources, specifically Oberlin Municipal Light and Power. The College buys all the green energy it has available.