While global warming is a scientific fact, denied only by those politicians and industrialists who are threatened by its reality, how it will affect various regions of the planet remains uncertain. There is no doubt that polar ecosystems will be dramatically altered and that sea levels will rise significantly, flooding coastal regions, but other effects are less clear.
Most climatologists seem to believe that the global rise in temperature will make dry areas drier and wet areas wetter. Warmer ocean waters will augment the power of tropical storms and hurricanes and storms over terrestrial regions will drop more precipitation (in the form of rain or snow). In other words, both drought and flooding will stress natural ecosystems and human civilization.
This week's wildfires in California, fueled by dry vegetation and intense Santa Ana winds, appears to be another warning that our delayed and inadequate response to human-induced climate change will have tragic consequences. One begins to wonder where the safe zones will be as our climate continues to warm; flood-prone coasts and river valleys and fire-prone foothills and canyons seem to be most at risk but we will all be affected by the economic consequences.
Most climatologists seem to believe that the global rise in temperature will make dry areas drier and wet areas wetter. Warmer ocean waters will augment the power of tropical storms and hurricanes and storms over terrestrial regions will drop more precipitation (in the form of rain or snow). In other words, both drought and flooding will stress natural ecosystems and human civilization.
This week's wildfires in California, fueled by dry vegetation and intense Santa Ana winds, appears to be another warning that our delayed and inadequate response to human-induced climate change will have tragic consequences. One begins to wonder where the safe zones will be as our climate continues to warm; flood-prone coasts and river valleys and fire-prone foothills and canyons seem to be most at risk but we will all be affected by the economic consequences.
