ABSTRACT
Several interrelated topics must be examined in assessing how to respond to the threat of greenhouse warming. First, it is necessary to examine the basic phenomena which affect the climatic system. Second, the events or conditions producing stress on the system need to be considered. The climate system has complex feedback mechanisms, which may play out in ways that reduce or enhance global warming. Human systems like agriculture and natural systems of plants and animals both react and adjust to changes in weather patterns. The National Academy of Sciences, National Academy of Engineering, and Institute of Medicine released a report on the subject called “Policy Implications of Greenhouse Warming”. Policy decisions could be improved by careful gathering of data and targeted research in several areas: field research on effects of carbon dioxide enhancement, data of all kinds on climate change, improved weather forecasts, climate feedback mechanisms, and social and economic interactions with climate change.
