Word: planetful
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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...been waiting impatiently to hear what Bill Clinton would say last Wednesday--because the whole world would be affected. The President had promised four months ago at the United Nations that the U.S. would at last make a stand against global warming, the ominous trend that threatens the planet with climatic upheaval: melting glaciers, rising sea levels and more frequent and vicious storms. In December, 160 nations will meet in Kyoto, Japan, to forge a treaty to combat climate change, but until last week the U.S. refused to put its cards on the negotiating table. And without the forceful leadership...
...politicians started talking seriously about the problem in the late 1980s, the relationship between the proliferation of carbon dioxide and a warming world was largely theoretical. Scientists knew that CO2 and other gases trap the sun's energy; in fact, without any CO2 at all in the atmosphere, the planet would be frozen solid. The notion that extra, human-generated CO2 might drive temperatures too far the other way was convincing. But if warming was on the way, it was too gradual to be detected...
Flora and fauna are showing the impact of a hotter planet too. Animals that thrive in warmer climates, like the Edith's checkerspot butterfly in the American West, have begun to extend their range northward, while cold-loving creatures such as brook trout have vanished in some areas. Plants are pushing to higher latitudes and higher altitudes. Tropical diseases, including malaria and dengue fever, have begun to move into regions that were once too cold for their insect carriers...
...Special CP Advisory: Every Sunday in November, noon, on Cinemax: a different "Planet of the Apes" movie. I recommend missing some football for at least three of them...
...millions who logged on to download Pathfinder pictures will testify, the mission was an unqualified success. So dry those tears. When we finally make it to the Red Planet in person, the robot's frozen corpse can become the main attraction at the first Martian theme park...