I have a BS in Geography.  Part of the core to get a Geoscience degree at the university I attended was courses like Climatology, Geomorphology, Environmental Conservation among others.  I would consider myself better informed then the average person who just watches the news.  People should really take a wait and see approach to this without resorting to extreme measures.  There are some really simple things you can do if it bothers you.  First don't buy the hype.  There is no empirical evidence of the cause for the earth to warm.  Lots of things aside from humans cause this - the obvious one and rarely mentioned is the Sun.  Ever heard of the global radiation budget?  What that is simply is that the Sun transmits X amount of energy that is absorbed by earth.  This is a constant to the side of the planet exposed to the Sun, the opposite side of the earth is transmitting energy out in the form of long wave IR energy.  So it comes in as UV or other high frequency energy and goes out as low frequency.  When those don't balance you get an increase in temperature.  That is just one of many many factors.  Look into some of the other things.  Don't sweat your "carbon load"  if that bothers you go plant 3 trees a year somewhere.  Don't buy the American's are at fault business either.  Lots of other countries and places that generate plenty of pollution.  Mexico City for example is extremely dirty.  Geography also has a huge impact on the pollution level of a city - LA is the worst place to build a big city.  It is essentially a huge bowl open to the ocean with a persistant onshore flow that basically traps air pollution in the bowl.   No good natural source of fresh water either.  Lots of things folks consider problems all eventually work out.  Be a skeptic, don't buy into draconian responses and be suspicious of environmental organizations.  Follow the money, it isn't always nice old widows trying to keep birds in their backyards.