Climate

Fülszöveg

Conversations about the wind, rain,
snow and drought have lost their
innocence ever since every caprice
of the weather is interpreted as a
sign of the impending collapse of
the climate.
Frozen rain in July or green Christ-
mases are not in themselves an indi-
cation that the climate belts world-
wide are beginning to shift. Weath-
er is not the same as climate - only
the long-term records of weather
provide the overall impression
known as climate.
What is more threatening than
occasional weather escapades is
the columns of figures produced by
meteorological statisticians. They
illustrate more and more clearly
that our atmosphere is heating up at
an unhealthy pace.
Scientists talk of an involuntary
global experiment - on the earth's
living body. The amateurish "test
directors" - mankind, in other
words - are in danger of being
overwhelmed, especially if the
man-made climate change bears
down upon us so quickly that there
is no time to take precautions.... Tovább

Fülszöveg

Conversations about the wind, rain,
snow and drought have lost their
innocence ever since every caprice
of the weather is interpreted as a
sign of the impending collapse of
the climate.
Frozen rain in July or green Christ-
mases are not in themselves an indi-
cation that the climate belts world-
wide are beginning to shift. Weath-
er is not the same as climate - only
the long-term records of weather
provide the overall impression
known as climate.
What is more threatening than
occasional weather escapades is
the columns of figures produced by
meteorological statisticians. They
illustrate more and more clearly
that our atmosphere is heating up at
an unhealthy pace.
Scientists talk of an involuntary
global experiment - on the earth's
living body. The amateurish "test
directors" - mankind, in other
words - are in danger of being
overwhelmed, especially if the
man-made climate change bears
down upon us so quickly that there
is no time to take precautions.
The statement that the climate has
always changed and indeed that
change is the only constant is as
true as it is meaningless: the threat
is posed not so much by climate
change as by the rapidity with
which it is taking place.
The threat does indeed reach up to
the sky, but even so, there is nothing
to be gained by resigning fatalis-
tically or becoming paralysed with
fear. One raw material that is still
not being exploited sufficiently is
human intelligence. The great hope
is that, if it were possible to imitate
photosynthesis on an economically
relevant scale, it might be possible
to escape from the greenhouse.
Conversations about the wind, rain,
snow and drought have lost their
innocence ever since every caprice
of the weather is interpreted as a
sign of the impending collapse of
the climate.
Frozen rain in July or green Christ-
mases are not in themselves an indi-
cation that the climate belts world-
wide are beginning to shift. Weath-
er is not the same as climate - only
the long-term records of weather
provide the overall impression
known as climate.
What is more threatening than
occasional weather escapades is
the columns of figures produced by
meteorological statisticians. They
illustrate more and more clearly
that our atmosphere is heating up at
an unhealthy pace.
Scientists talk of an involuntary
global experiment - on the earth's
living body. The amateurish "test
directors" - mankind, in other
words - are in danger of being
overwhelmed, especially if the
man-made climate change bears
down upon us so quickly that there
is no time to take precautions.
The statement that the climate has
always changed and indeed that
change is the only constant is as
true as it is meaningless: the threat
is posed not so much by climate
change as by the rapidity with
which it is taking place.
The threat does indeed reach up to
the sky, but even so, there is nothing
to be gained by resigning fatalis-
tically or becoming paralysed with
fear. One raw material that is still
not being exploited sufficiently is
human intelligence. The great hope
is that, if it were possible to imitate
photosynthesis on an economically
relevant scale, it might be possible
to escape from the greenhouse. Vissza