A weather prediction for 2008 and beyond
The subject of global warming, bubbling in the meteorological community (and elsewhere in academia) for several years, has burst controversially into the public consciousness. It’s our prediction that it will be an increasingly controversial topic in 2008 and beyond.
The Earth’s climate is changing. All evidence is that it has always done so and always will do so, but a new 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/costs of premature or unnecessary actions against the risks of failing to take actions that subsequently prove to be warranted. The issues are complex, but we are finally beginning to address them.
--By Richard Koeneman, WGN Weather Center Meteorologist