Word: respond
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...ecological crisis without any precedent in historic times is no longer a matter of any dispute worthy of recognition. And those who, for the purpose of maintaining balance in debate, take the contrarian view that there is significant uncertainty about whether it's real are hurting our ability to respond...
Sooner or later the earth's human inhabitants, so used to adapting the environment to suit their needs, will be forced to adapt themselves to the environment's demands. When that day comes, how will societies respond? How well will the world cope with the long-term changes that are likely to be in store...
...would societies respond, for example, if the oceans were to rise by 3 ft. to 5 ft. over the next century, as some scientists have predicted? One option would be to construct levees and dikes. The Netherlands, after all, has flourished more than 12 ft. below sea level for hundreds of years. Its newest bulwark is a 5.6-mile dam made up of 131-ft. steel locks that remain open during normal conditions, to preserve the tidal flow that feeds the rich local sea life, but can be closed when rough weather threatens. Venice is beginning to put into place...
...springing his ideas when the U.S. is unable to respond, Gorbachev guaranteed that he will retain the moral initiative that has made him the most popular world leader in much of Western Europe. Bush will thus start off in a position that has faced no other President: until Gorbachev's time, it was the U.S. that did most of the initiating and the Soviets that snorted and stalled and finally gave grudging responses. Now the choreography is reversed...
...savvy Soviet leader may only have been offering to yield what economic circumstances and a dwindling pool of draft-age youths would have led him to do anyway, but he did it with flair in a media-bathed forum. As the West's defense planners scrambled to respond to his initiative, the Kremlin's boss appeared to have scored a visionary diplomatic victory in a most unusual way: by withdrawing...