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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 5, NUMBER 12, DECEMBER 1992

PERIODICALS...
IMPACTS OF CLIMATE CHANGE

Item #d92dec127

"Why Global Warming Could Take Britain by Storm," P. Simons, New Scientist, 35-38, Nov. 7, 1992. If global warming causes the world to become stormier, then storms originating in the eastern Atlantic arriving in Britain could be more powerful and dangerous. Improved forecasting will be essential if the effects of the disastrous Oct. 1987 storm are not to be repeated. (A critical comment appears in ibid., p. 54, Nov. 28.)

Item #d92dec128

"Israeli Researchers Planning for Global Climate Change on the Local Level," A.M. Gillis, BioScience, 587-589, Sep. 1992. Israel's plans for greening the desert changed because water is an unreliable variable. Details a new concept, savannization, which may allow more acreage to support plant life by making better use of water already in place. It may also be a logical weapon against climate changes.

Item #d92dec129

"When Nature Loses Its Cool," J.C. Ryan, World Watch, 10-16, Sep.-Oct. 1992.

Loss of species will become far worse when the effects of global warming are felt. Details the likely winners and losers, concluding that retaining biological diversity in a given area is a sound strategy for ensuring long-term survival and productivity, even for those who think of nature only as a factory producing goods for our use.

Item #d92dec130

"World Status: Global Greening," Energy Economist (London Financial Times), 17-22, Sep. 1992. Research funding on global warming has favored those who run computer simulations rather than those who look at nature with their own eyes. Summarizes extensive scientific evidence that global warming could lead to a global greening that would allow more food to be grown.

Item #d92dec131

"Flower Power: Rising Carbon Dioxide is Great for Plants," S.H. Wittwer, Policy Review, 4-9, Fall 1992. (Heritage Foundation, 214 Massachusetts Ave. NE, Washington DC 20002)

The author, a horticulturalist, explains one of the best-kept secrets about global warming: plant life would benefit greatly from a higher level of atmospheric CO₂. While these benefits do not necessarily mean that a doubling of CO₂ would be good for the planet, it is inappropriate for public discussion to focus only on hypothetical dangers and ignore the known benefits.

Item #d92dec132

"How CO₂ Enrichment Can Revitalize the Planet," S.B. Idso, OPEC Bull., 22-27, Mar. 1992. Rather than posing a clear and present danger, the greenhouse effect will augment the direct biological benefits of atmospheric CO₂ enrichment and help thrust the planet into a new era of enhanced biospheric production. The long-term threat of species extinction should be reversed, and the threat of a new glaciation could be averted.