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Study of Man's Impact on Climate
(SMIC) ,
sponsored by the Massachu–
setts Institute of Technology. Their
findings: "There can be little doubt
that roan, in the process of reshaping
bis environment in many ways, has
changed the climate of Iarge regions
of the earth, and he has probably had
sorne influence on global climate as
well."
The report Iists pollution of the
atmosphere as one of the most clearly
evident influences of roan on the
environment. Both as a result of
industrial activity and the burning of
crops and vegetation, particulate
matter hangs in the atmosphere.
There it interferes ·with solar and
infrared radiation. In other words,
this man-made interference affects
the heat balance, which in turn
causes climatic variation.
Modern transportation modes con–
tribute significantly to upsetting the
heat balance. First of course are
additional amounts of pollution emit- .
ted into the air from exhausts of
planes, autos, trucks, trains and
ships. Second, vast areas of land
surface have been covered by pave–
ment and asphalt. These man-made
coverings have altered the degree to
which the land reflects or absorbs the
sun's heat.
Dr. Reíd Bryson, well-known cli–
matologist of the Center for Climatic
Research at the University of Wis–
consin, sees a definite connection
between man-made dust in the atmo–
sphere, our modero urban way of life
and changing weather patterns.
Echoing the SMIC report about the·
effect of industrial and transporta–
tion pollution, he points out that the
dust from fires set by Third World
farmers to clear their land is more
significant than we might think,
"The smoke of slash-and-burn agri–
culture accounts for perhaps one
tenth to one fifth of all the material
humans put into the atmosphere."
The SMIC report also points out
that the methods people have chosen
to use for thousands of years in
agricultures and animal grazing have
modified large regions of the world.
Parts of Africa and Southwest Asia
have been reduced to semideserts by
overgrazing domestic animals. In
Europe, the Mediterranean area, the
10
Any nation able to control
the weather would have
the ultimate weapon to
use against an enemy
nation in time of war.
Eastern United States and the moun–
tainous areas from Turkey to Af–
ghanistan, as well as the tropics, dense
forests have been cut. "The net result
is the sorne 20 percent of the total area
of the continents has been drastically
changed, with a consequent change in
the heat and water budget."
Man has attempted to remedy arid
and semiarid conditions by pumping
up increasingly scarce reserves of
ground water to be used in irrigation.
Irrigation and man-made Jakes affect
the heat budget by adding water
vapor to the a ir. The influence .of
artificial lakes, diverted rivers and
drained swamps is also significant
locally because of the effect the
water vs land ratio has on the heat
balance.
In the book
Climates of Hunger
(Bryson-Murray), the many ways
big cities affect climate are de–
scribed. Pollution of city air is only
one of the modifying influences.
Others are the replacement of green
and open spaces by pavement, as–
phalt and tall buildings, which ab–
sorb sun energy at a high rate. Air
above cities is constantly being artifi–
cially warmed by man's activities:
Heat from car, truck and bus
engines, borne furnaces, air condi–
tioners and power plants. Then there
are the storm sewers and drainage
canals, which quickly get rid of large
quantities of water that would other–
wise absorb into the soil and be
evaporated out again by the sun.
Apart from the pollution aspect of
automobiles and planes, the sheer
physical movement of large amounts
of air by so many speeding vehicles
may have a local effect on the atmo–
sphere. We may add to the list of
suspected weather modifying agents,
aerosol sprays, high-flying rockets
and atmospheric bomb explosions.
Deliberate Tampering
But the story doesn't stop with acci–
dentally influencing the climate. For
years experiments have been con–
ducted to
deliberate/y
change weath–
er. Probably the most popular device
so far has been cloud seeding to induce
rain. Other methods have been tried
with varying degrees of success. More
plans are on the drawing boards.
Experimentation continues.
Dependable weather is a necessity.
It means food. Ruined crops mean
scarcer food, higher prices- even
food wars.
lf
roan can control bis
climate, it is reasoned, he can control
bis food supply. And besides, any
nation able to control the weather
would have the ultimate weapon to
use against an enemy nation in time
of war.
Tbe problem is that when efforts
are made to alter the weatber,
nobody really knows what he is deal–
ing with. The atmosphere surround–
ing our globe is more delicate than
scientists at first realized.
An outspoken view is that of
Joseph F. Goodavage in
Our Threat–
ened Planet.
After chiding weather modifica–
tion experts for their "Let's-try-this–
and-see-what-happens" attitude, he
blames a rash of recent record shat–
tering weather extremes on what
they have aiready done. He fears that
what we've seen so far is a sample of
what could happen once the ability to
manipulate the weather is sufficient–
ly advanced to make it possible to
deliberately change the climate.
"And you can bet that if it can be
done, someone is almost certain to
try it," he concludes.
Another Dimension
So far we have considered natural
and human factors responsible for
influencing weather. But there is
another dimension beyond the physi-
The
PLAIN TRUTH