ABSTRACT
The magnitude of the changes we are imposing on the world’s climate pattern is made obvious from the perspective of history, but in any given year our attention is likely to focus on the swirl of contemporary events — and specific problems with pollution, particularly of the air. No sooner had the political dust of Eastern Europe’s revolution against communism settled in 1989 than the world gasped in horror at the unbelievable levels of pollution — especially air pollution — throughout the communist world. We learned, for example, that in some areas of Poland, children are regularly taken underground into deep mines to gain some respite from the buildup of gases and pollution of all sorts in the air. One can almost imagine their teachers emerging tentatively from the mine, carrying canaries to warn the children when it’s no longer safe for them to stay above the ground.
