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Global Climate Change Digest
A Guide to Information on Greenhouse Gases and Ozone Depletion
Published July 1988 through June 1999

FROM VOLUME 2, NUMBER 2, FEBRUARY 1989

REPORTS...
FROM WORLDWATCH INSTITUTE

Item #d89feb16

Order the following from Worldwatch Institute, 1776 Massachusetts Ave. NW, Washington DC 20036 (202-452-1999).

Item #d89feb17

State of the World--1988, L.R. Brown et al., 237 pp., 1988. (Also available through W.W. Norton Co., 37 Great Russell St., London WC1B 3NU, UK.)

This fifth in a series of annual assessments by the Institute, also available in several languages besides English, discusses chemical alteration of the atmosphere and resulting climate change as one of several urgent environmental problems. The first chapter assesses Earth's status with respect to climatic change, degradation of land, water and ecosystems, acid precipitation effects, and destructive energy policies. Other chapters by individual authors cover creating a sustainable energy future, raising energy efficiency, renewable energy, reforestation and other topics. Recommendations are given for stabilizing the earth's climate, sustainable development, conserving soil and planting trees. Calls for a new era of international cooperation on environmental problems, comparable to that of World War II reconstruction. Contains extensive reference notes.

Item #d89feb18

Protecting Life on Earth: Steps to Save the Ozone Layer (Worldwatch Paper 87), C.P. Shea, 46 pp., Dec. 1988.

Reviews current understanding of stratospheric ozone depletion and its effects on ultraviolet radiation reaching the earth, and calls for a severe reduction of ozone-depleting chemical emissions, including those not covered by the Montreal Protocol (methyl chloroform, carbon tetrachloride). Without these measures 5-20% more ultraviolet radiation will reach populated areas in the next 40 years, increasing human skin cancers and cataracts, inhibiting the human immune system, and reducing agricultural production and fish populations. Possible substitutes for such chemicals are reviewed, but action will take international political will, and industrial countries must share research and technology with developing ones.

Item #d89feb19

Environmental Refugees: A Yardstick of Habitability (Worldwatch Paper 86), J.L. Jacobson, 46 pp., Dec. 1988.

Environmental refugees, estimated to be in excess of 10 million, are the single largest class of displaced persons in the world today, and their rising numbers are the best available single indicator of changes in the earth's physical condition. Degradation of agricultural land is the major cause, but the potential effects of sea level rise from global climate change are enormous. A one-meter rise could result in 50 million refugees from various countries, especially when combined with land subsidence in the productive and densely populated river deltas of Egypt and Bangladesh.

Item #d89feb20

Action at the Grassroots: Fighting Poverty and Environmental Decline (Worldwatch Paper 88), A.B. Durning, 70 pp., Jan. 1988.

Discusses the steady development of local self-help and environmental movements that now involve hundreds of millions around the world in developed and undeveloped countries. National and international institutions must complement local action if grassroots efforts are to successfully resolve global problems such as global warming. Fundamental reforms in international development agencies such as the World Bank would help foster grassroots activities and increase the effectiveness of funds. Examples from various countries are described.