Weather, climate and the land

Excerpt

NOWADAYS, people everywhere express concern about the unusual weather in different parts of the world. During the last decade or so, there was frequent drought in the African Sahel, western United States, and parts of the Soviet Union, China, and India. Simultaneously, there were recurring winter cold spells in the eastern United States and heavy rains accompanied by floods in China, southern India, and South Africa. All of this has prompted scientists and others to wonder if the world's climate is changing (3, 34).

Climatologists hold different and often opposing views about the extreme weather variability and climatic change (21). Some research indicates a global cooling trend, with the possible return to an ice age (1, 19, 31). Other research describes a warming trend, including the onset of the carbon dioxide-induced “greenhouse” effect (2, 11, 20).

There certainly is no unanimous view about these matters, and no trend has been established about the frequent occurrence …