A weather prediction for 2007 and beyond
The subject of global warming, bubbling in the meteorological community (and elsewhere in academia) for several years, finally burst controversially into the public consciousness in 2006. It’s our prediction that it will be an increasingly controversial topic in 2007.
The Earth’s climate is changing; indeed, all evidence is that it has always done so and always will do so, but a new (and controversial) factor in the “change equation” is man’s role in future climatic shifts.
We have been proceeding headlong and, until now, blindly into a future of “climatic uncertainty” in the sense that there exists an unknown ratio between the benefits and costs of climate change. Decision makers need to weigh and compare the risks of premature or unnecessary actions with the risks of failing to take actions that subsequently prove to be warranted. The issues are complex, but man has finally begun to address them.
--By Richard Koeneman, WGN Weather Center Meteorologist