Word: planetful
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...difficult problem: how to create a strikingly original cover image. Their solution was to approach Christo, the famed Bulgarian-born environmental sculptor. In earlier works Christo had draped in plastic large sections of the earth -- a stretch of Australian coast, a canyon in Colorado -- but never the whole planet. This time Christo bundled a 16-in. globe in polyethylene and rag rope and drove more than 350 miles up and down New York's Long Island in search of the perfect combination of light, air and sea for a photograph. The result -- Wrapped Globe 1988 -- is a fitting symbol...
Ironically, the same greenhouse effect that may be so dislocating made earth hospitable to life in the first place. Without a heat-trapping blanket of naturally occurring CO2, the planet would have an average surface temperature of only 0 degrees F instead of 59 degrees F. Reason: like the glass panes of a greenhouse, CO2 molecules are transparent to visible light, allowing the sun's rays to warm the earth's surface. But when the surface gives off its excess heat, it does so not with visible light but with infrared radiation. And since CO2 absorbs infrared rays, some...
...first goal of that cooperative effort should be to gather the information needed to fashion effective policies. "We've got to get the earth in intensive care, to start to monitor the vital signs of the planet," said John Eddy of the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research in Boulder. This could be done by launching an International Earthwatch Program, possibly under the aegis of the United Nations, to coordinate multinational research projects and centralize essential data on the state of the world. Such an umbrella program could pool the results of hundreds of existing research efforts. A prime candidate...
...part, is at a turning point. The Reagan Administration, with its poor record on environmental issues, is coming to a close. President- elect Bush, who turned the pollution of Boston Harbor into a successful campaign issue, has an opportunity to show that he is serious about saving the planet -- even after the election. He sent out an encouraging signal last week by naming veteran conservationist William Reilly to head the Environmental Protection Agency. Reilly, 48, president of the World Wildlife Fund, promised a "new and constructive course" on environmental problems. It is none too soon...
Ultimately, no problem may be more threatening to the earth's environment than the proliferation of the human species. Today the planet holds more than 5 billion people. During the next century, world population will double, with 90% of that growth occurring in poorer, developing countries. African nations are expanding at the fastest rate. During the next 30 years, for example, the population of Kenya (annual growth rate: 4%) will jump from 23 million to 79 million; Nigeria's population (growth rate: 3%) will soar from 112 million to 274 million. Expansion is slower in Brazil, China, India and Indonesia...