College students representing more than 1,500 young evangelicals from 41 US states have presented a statement urging government and religious leaders to take definitive action against global warming.

The statement entitled, "Cooling Our Future: A Declaration by Young Evangelicals on Climate Change," was presented last Thursday by 30 students from Christian colleges. In the declaration's opening, students expressed their concern about global warming as "the degradation of God's creation".

Richard Cizik, vice president for governmental affairs at the National Association of Evangelicals, was among the Christian leaders who spoke to the young evangelicals at the press conference at Riverside Church on Friday.

He warned young evangelical leaders of the obstacles and difficulties they will face in raising the issue, but assured them that the movement has already been started by Christian leaders. Cizik pointed to the signers of the "Evangelical Climate Initiative" - a statement which expressed a biblically-based commitment of evangelical leaders to curb global warming - as example.