Rep. Steve King, R-Iowa, hold a copy of the health care bill on the West Front of the Capitol in Washington D.C., on Nov. 5, 2009, King was taking part in a Republican health care news conference.

A man rides an electric motorcycle amid heavy fog on a street in Changzhi, China on December 13, 2009.

Frozen chairs of a chair lift are seen on top of the Feldberg mountain in southern Germany, on a cold and foggy Monday, Dec. 14, 2009.

A Turkish nationalist fires a gun during clashes with Kurdish activists in the Beyoglu area of Istanbul on December 13, 2009. The unrest, involving about 100 people, erupted following a Kurdish demonstration in the wake of a court ruling on December 11 that outlawed the country's main Kurdish party, the Democratic Society Party (DTP) on grounds it was linked to the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK).

A villager walks through a burnt forest after a slash and burn practice to open the land for agriculture in Tojo, Central Sulawesi December 12, 2009.

A helicopter flies past Illumination Rock near Reid Glacier over Mount Hood in search of two missing climbers as seen from Government Camp, Ore., Sunday, Dec. 13, 2009. The body of one climber was removed from the mountain Saturday as two climbers remain missing.

Poland has long relied on coal for its energy, using mostly antiquated equipment like this extractor at the Adamow field in Turek. The country uses coal for 94 percent of its energy needs, among the highest rates anywhere. Plans are to reduce that to 60 percent in 2030 via a nuclear plant, natural gas and wind and solar power. Of all fossil fuels, brown coal has the largest impact on climate change, in addition to the environmental impact of getting it out of the ground.

Two surfers ride a 50-foot wave at Waimea Bay on the north shore of Oahu in Haleiwa, Hawaii on December 7.

A boy sleeps on a rock in the village, dressed in fur-lined clothes made from polar bears and seals. Ice is a foundation of the culture here, but one that is weakening. In fact, Greenland's entire ice sheet has become less stable in recent years due to warmer temperatures and earlier spring thaws.

Newly elected Miss Switzerland Linda Faeh reacts after the Miss Switzerland 2009 beauty pageant in Geneva September 26, 2009.

Sulphurous smoke rises from fissures in the earth around the edge of a vast open-cut mine in Gholagudi village, Jharia, Dhanbad disctrict, Jharkhand State, India. Jharia township is facing an ecological disaster as a result of coal deposits which have been burning uncontrolled for almost a century.

A Russian serviceman sits inside a bus outside the Lame Horse nightclub in the centre of Perm, 720 miles east of Moscow. At least 109 people were killed and 134 injured when a blaze ignited by fireworks burned through the packed Russian nightclub, starting a stampede as revellers rushed to escape clouds of toxic black smoke.

A Gentoo penguin looks out from its pool that is a constantly chilly seven degrees Celsius and an environment that includes a light cycle that changes to replicate the Antarctic seasons, with very short days in winter and very long days in summer, at the Melbourne Aquarium on December 7, 2009.

A strange light phenomenon is seen in the night sky above Skjervoy in northern Norway on Wednesday, Dec. 9, 2009. The light was caused by the failure of a new Russian missile which was being test fired across the Norwegian-Russian border.

A house is turned upside-down at a zoo in Gettorf, northern Germany, on Thursday, Dec. 10. The fully furnished home, nicknamed "crazy house," has a kitchen, bathroom, living room and a sleeping room. Visitors can pay to tour the home

In this picture taken Tuesday, Dec. 8, 2009, an Afghan police trainee from the United States Marine police mentoring program eats a candy as Marines search a house that was thought to have explosives during a joint patrol in Khan Neshin, in the volatile Helmand province of southern Afghanistan. The experience in Khan Neshin highlights the difficult task facing coalition partners as they work with the Afghan government to dramatically ramp up a police force known for its corruption, drug use, and lack of training.

White Mountain Apache dancers from the Fort Apache Reservation in Arizona perform during the U.S. Captiol Christmas tree lighting ceremony December 8, 2009 in Washington, DC. This year's tree is an 85-foot blue spruce from the Apache-Sitgreaves National Forest in Arizona. It is decorated with over 5000 ornaments crafted by people across Arizona and strung with energy-saving LED lights for the fifth year in a row.

A girl takes drinking water back to her family at Dadaab, the world's largest refugee camp. Located in Kenya 55 miles from the Somali border, the overcrowded camp houses many people fleeing violence in Somalia. Others have fled their homes due to famine and severe drought, a category now being described as "climate refugees."

Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat drives his cart during the Red Bull Soapbox race in Jerusalem on Oct. 7. Participants compete in homemade free style designed non-motorized vehicles down a slope in celebration of the Jewish holiday of Sukkot or the Feast of the Tabernacles.

When forests are cleared in Brazil's Amazon, the trees end up as lumber or charcoal, the latter produced in ovens like these outside the city of Rondon do Para. The clearing of forests by fire and logging releases carbon dioxide earlier than would occur naturally, adding to greenhouse gas emissions

Wearing Santa Claus hats and swimming suits, people participate in a charity run on St. Nicholas' Day in Budapest, Hungary, on Dec. 6, 2009. Entry fees of the runners were donated for the benefit of a foundation aiding patients suffering of cystic fibrosis.

While the sources of greenhouse gases are often in the industrial world, consequences often are visible in non-industrial areas. The Indian Ocean nation of Maldives, which is struggling to hold back rising seas, is one such example. The capital Mal, seen here, is one of the world's most densely populated cities. Nearly 104,000 people are crammed onto an island about a square mile in size.

Alberta's three major oil sands deposits are thought to hold 1.7 trillion barrels of bitumen, comparable in magnitude to the world's total proven reserves of conventional petroleum. Ed Cooper, shown left, is a member of the First Nations Community in Fort McKay, about an hour north of Fort McMurray where oil sands are processed. Although the community has suffered a loss of land, it has also gained a large amount of economic support, and many of its members work for the industry.