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The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) concluded that man is the driving force behind global warming. It found with "very high confidence," a 90 percent chance, that the effect of human activities, such as burning fossil fuels and changes in land use, has been global warming.

The warming, it said, is unequivocal. That conclusion reached early in the year changed the debate on global warming. The argument moved from whether man is having an impact to just how big that impact will be.

Will Greenland melt into the ocean? Are southern Florida and lower Manhattan in danger of going under water? Could the Arctic Circle be ice free in the summer? Will the Great Barrier Reef bleach and die? Skeptics don't buy the apocalyptic scenarios, but other scientists say there is no way to know for certain.

In its final report of the year, the IPCC said current technology or what's in development could reverse the warming trend, but time is running short. To have the least amount of impact on the earth, greenhouse gas emissions would have to peak by 2015, just eight years away.