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48
Trade flourished, in part because there were fewer storms at sea. The
Vikings discovered Greenland around 950. It was so warm there that colonists
supported themselves by pasturing cattle on what is now frozen tundra. Farming
moved farther north in Scandinavia, Russia and Japan. England was warm
enough to support a thriving wine industry. And in North Africa there is some
evidence that the Sahara shrank in response to the increase in rain.
There were negatives, of course, but over all, the medieval experience with
global warming should reassure us greatly. The latest evidence supports such
optimism, say many scientists. The prospective warming is expected to
moderate low nighttime and winter temperatures rather than raise day and
summertime highs. Thus, it will produce little added stress on plants, trees or
people.
The expected increase in carbon dioxide levels due to the burning of fossil
fuels could create a “plant heaven, “ because carbon dioxide acts as a fertilizer
for plants. More than a thousand experiments with food crops in 29 countries
show that doubling the world’s carbon dioxide would raise crop yields by half.
And forests all over the world should be more robust, allowing them to support
more wildlife. It may seem paradoxical , but a modest warming in the normally
cold and dry polar regions will actually mean more arctic ice, not less. If
temperatures warm a few degrees, there will be more moisture in the air, more
snowfall, more polar ice. Global-warming scaremongers have also claimed that
a warmer world could suffer more extreme weather. This too is unlikely. S.
Fred Singer, professor emeritus of Environmental Sciences at the University of
Virginia says, ”One would expect severe weather to be less frequent because of
reduced equator-to-pole temperature gradients.”
In other words, the smaller the temperature difference between the North
Pole and the equator, the milder the weather. Most of the warming, if it occurs,
will be toward the poles, with very little increase near the equator. Thus, there
would be less of the temperature difference that drives big storms.
History and science climatology indicate that we have nothing to fear. Any
global warming in the 21st century should be modest, bringing back one of the
most productive environments humans and wildlife have ever enjoyed.
Questions:
1. Does the author sound very optimistic about the global warming?
2. Is there any convincing evidence that the global warming once
affected positively the development of humans and flourishing of
the wildlife?
3. Do you agree with the author that doubling of carbon dioxide in the
air is only for good?
4. Which points from what is stated above would you disagree with
the author if you had a chance to talk to him?
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