Dear Delegate,
Understanding evidence from the past is important. So is making sense of recent trends. The real challenge, however, lies in understanding the complexities well enough to predict climate change.
Is global warming a scientific certainty or just a political liability? Why is the continued destruction of the Amazon rainforest relevant to the chemistry of global warming? The answer has to do with how Earth’s climate system is regulated and responds to change. There are many parts to the climate puzzle including incoming solar radiation, outgoing radiation from the earth, wind, and water currents, atmospheric gases, clouds, snow, and ice, volcanic gases and human activities. To fully understand global warming, we need to consider the rate at which changes is taking place and whether the climate system can respond at a similar rate. For example, we know that the Amazon rainforest is vanishing at these three times the rate it was less than 10years ago. By some evidence, 80% of Brazil ancient forest is already gone. How will these rapid changes affect the “steady-state” balance of climate regulation?
