Word: co2
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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GLOBAL-WARMING SCENARIOS ARE MOSTLY GLOOM and doom. As humans burn more fossil fuels, more carbon dioxide (CO2) enters the atmosphere. CO2 traps the sun's heat, causing a warmer climate, rising sea levels and drastic changes in weather. The one bright spot seemed to be that because plants "breathe" CO2, they might be expected to thrive...
...European nations and Japan have been hailed as summit heroes for their willingness to support its agreements, but they will have to bolster their declared commitment to reducing greenhouse gases with realistic programs. For instance, part of Japan's strategy to stabilize CO2 emissions calls for building 20 nuclear power plants by the year 2000 and 40 by 2010. It stretches credibility to assume that Japanese citizens, already worried about nuclear risks, will agree to this massive initiative in their crowded communities. Similarly, countries like Italy have found an easy way to meet targets of greenhouse emissions by buying power...
GREENHOUSE GASES. It is known that the level of CO2, methane and other heat- trapping gases in the atmosphere has increased 50% since the start of the Industrial Revolution. Measurements also indicate that the world's average temperature has increased 1 degree F over the past 100 years. The rest is conjecture. Computer models suggest that as the buildup of greenhouse gases continues, average temperatures could jump 3 degrees F to 9 degrees F over the next 60 years. Some scientists speculate that even a small rise in average temperatures could lead to greater extremes in weather patterns from time...
...question of what to do about the world's remaining virgin forests. At the heart of the debate are the tropical rain forests -- and a fundamental difference in how each side sees them. To industrial countries they are a treasure trove of biodiversity and greenhouse-gas "sinks" that absorb CO2 and thus help keep global warming in check. To developing nations the forests are resources ripe for exploitation: potential farmland, a free source of fuel and a storehouse of exotic kinds of wood that command high prices overseas...
...separate conference in Kuala Lumpur earlier this month, Malaysia's feisty Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad reiterated the developing world's hard line on the issue. If the industrial nations think the rain forests are so important for biodiversity and CO2 storage, says Mahathir, why don't the rich, CO2-creating countries pay for the service of preserving those forests, instead of hectoring the poor countries not to utilize one of their few natural resources? Mahathir, of course, is not exactly a disinterested party; his country has been charged with rampant overlogging in peninsular Malaysia and Borneo...