The Effects of Global Warming on Weather

There are hidden factors which scientists call "feedback mechanisms”。 No one knows quite how they will interact with the changing climate.Here's one example： plants and animals adapt to climate change over centuries.At the current estimate of half a degree centigrade of warming per decade,vegetation (植物) may not keep up.Climatologist James Hansen predicts climate zones will shift toward the poles by 50 to 75 kilometres a year—faster than trees can naturally migrate.Species that find themselves in an unfamiliar environment will die.The 1000-kilometer-wide strip of forest running through Canada,the USSR and Scandinavia could be cut by half.Millions of dying trees would soon lead to massive forest fires,releasing tons of CO2 and further boosting global warming.

There are dozens of other possible "feedback mechanism”。 Higher temperatures will fuel condensation and increase cloudiness,which may actually damp down global warming.Others,like the "albedo"effect,will do the opposite.The "albedo"effect is the amount of solar energy reflected by the earth's surface.As northern ice and snow melts and the darker sea and land pokes (戳) through,more heat will be absorbed,adding to the global temperature increase.

Even if we were to magically stop all greenhouse-gas emissions tomorrow the impact on global climate would continue for decades.Delay will simply make the problem worse.The fact is that some of us are doing quite well the way things are.In developed world prosperity has been built on 150 years of cheap fossil fuels.

Material progress has been linked to energy consumption.Today 75 percent of all the world's energy is consumed by a quarter of the world's population.The average rich-world resident adds about 3.2 tons of CO2 yearly to the atmosphere,more than four times the level added by each Third World citizen.The US,with just seven per cent of the global population,is responsible for 22 per cent of global warming.

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