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HUMAN
SURVIVAL
TECHNOLOGY'S TOLL:
HAYWIRE WEATHER?
T
oday. "natural
causes~
can no
longe.. we full credit for upset
wea.ther and ehanging climate.
Modem technology is making man
an
unwitting yet potcntially signiticaot c:on·
tributor.
Mao, in bis far·reachiog industrial
and
agricultural actJYaties, is inadven·
ently altering at least some local or re·
gional meteorological pauems, if not
weather on a greater seale.
Between
1880
aod
1940
the earth's
average temperature rose sligbUy ovcr
one degree FahrenheiL According Lo
sorne scientists. Ibis
rise
was panly due
to an increasc in heat·absorbing carbon
dioxide - six billion tons of
which
are
belched skyward each year from gaso–
line-buming autos and heat-stoking fac–
tories.
But at the same t ime, maoy tons of
auborne particulates (smoke,
soot,
dust,
etc.) from
both
industrial and agricu1-
tural activities are either absorbing or
baclc-scattering the sun's heat, contrib·
uting, according to sorne wealhermen, to
a oooling trend wbich has dropped glo–
baltemperatures oearly
3/4
of a degree
in recent decades.
Sorne scientists feel if it were not for
this olfsetting factor, man's oontribution
to the carbon dioxíde in the
atm~herc
...,__...
Coüld"'
iii"Ct'"eaSe-
thC éa'rth
~s~
"ieniperature
an
addltlonol
two to three degrces witltin
the next century.
Overgrazing of land and lhe prospect
of deforestalion in
Lb
e tropics
pose
addi·
tional problems. Such pntctices
can
in·
crease the canh's albedo (amount of
sunlight reftccted back into space from
the earth), thus further contributing Lo
a
oool wealher trend.
Computer predactions bave dctcr·
maned that reducing tropical forest acre·
age in
Asia,
Soulh America, and ACrica
would reduce worldwide temperatures
by
1/3
of a degree. Accompanying
a
reduction in temperatures would be an
eight·inch decrease
10
ntiofall · in lbe
tropacs and
a
half-aneh drop in the
northem temperate z.ones.
A
reduction in rain oould also cause a
weakeniog of tropics-based air circula·
tion currents. Scientists fear th.at marked
alteratioo of lhese major systcms migbt
cventually upset tbe weather paucms of
whole c:ootinents.
HowCiries
Alfect
Weather
In the meantime, many climatologists
are f<X:U.!Iing their auention on
citlu
where a human causal link to upset
wca ther is most easlly observed.
Heat-generating furnaces, power
plants. and industrial complcxes, plus
heat-storing buildings, sidewalks,
and
streets keep cities warrner by day and
night. Evening winter temperatures
can be ten degrees warmer
in
a eity thao
in
nearby
rural
arcas.
Pan.iculate matte.. in poUuted air
can
even be a SOU!CC of city·induced rain.
Ciimatologists F. A. Hunt and S. A.
Cbangnon Jr. of the lllinois State Water
Survey found industrialized SL Louis rc–
ceiving
7%
more rain oo weekdays than
10
on weekeods. The researehers detec·
mioed that ftoating paniculatcs belch.ed
from factories were seedi.ng clouds (sup–
plying nuclei upon which moisture
could condense) - triggeriog the extra
wcekday rain.
Even more $Urprisiog
was
the disc:ov–
ery that ooe city's poUulion can cause
anotber city's rain.
Drifting pollutants can seed cJouds
hovering over suburbs
as
far as 30 miles
downwind of industrial arcas, triggering
10%
to
30%
more frequcnt rainfall than
in other comparable locations.
Chaognoo notes
La
Porte, Indiana. as
a
fa.mous
case in point. Located
30
miles
downwind (east} of beavily indus–
trialized Chicago, La Porte has
experienced an unusual increase in pre·
cipitation of
betwect
30%
aod
40%
since
1925.
Betweeo
1951
aod
196S -
a period of
rapid growth ao tbe steel industry -
La
Pone had
31%
more rain,
38%
more
thunderstorms, and
246
more days of
h.ailthan nearby weather stations in
llli·
nois, Indiana, and Michigan.
Althougb the
La
Pone
case
c:ontinues
10
be shrouded in some OOQtroversy, the
basie idea lhat a city
can
alfcct weather
beyond its own borders rcmains coo–
firmed. Fony-three pcrcent ofall Ameri·
- cans Jivins io c;ities
Or-;-tn
their dowowin'd
shadows are atrected by industrially in·
duced weather.
lncreasing evidence also iodacates that
man
may
be destroyiog tbe atmo–
sphere's protectave oz.one !ayer with the ·
exhaust from jet aircrafi, the productS of
nuclear tests, and the lluorocarbons used
in aerosol$.
Much has yct to be leamed about the
many factors that cootribute to ch.ang·
ing global weather pauerns.
So
far, il
would seem that man is alfecting lhe
eanh's weather more by accident than
he is in
delibcr~te
attempts at control.
Although man's activities may seem
mioiscule oompared to the forces that
generate weather, cümatologist Walter
Orr Roberts feels "lhere migbt
be
sorne
small, sensative poiots whcre
a sma/1
in·
tervention
may have
big e.ffects."
Howbig?
Dr. Stephen H. Schneider of lhe
Na–
tional Center for Atmospheric Research
otrers two possabilites: Ooe tbeory is that
air pollution will lead to
a
marked in–
cr-ease
in
the eanh's tempcrature, thus
melting the polar icecaps and raising
ocean levels above New York, London.
and other coastal cities.
Tbe second theory extrapolatcs the
present cooling trend leading to a new
ice
age in the near future.
According to Reíd Bryson. Darcctor of
lhe lnstitute for Environmental Studies
at Wisc:onsin University,
~this
is not
merely something of academic intercst.
h
is somelhing that,
if
it oontinues, will
aJI'ec! tbe wbole human oocupation of
the
earth,
liJe
e a billioo people starving."
Altbougb only theories, either ofthese
grim scenarios c:ould eventuall)' take
ceoter stage if n¡an's weather· warping
tech.nology continuos uochccked.
- Alexander R. Lukes
We haven't seen
lhe last óf the
great epidemias.
Throughout history, disease has been mankind's greatest .
enemy in terms of sheer loss of lile. The Black Plague of the
fourteenth century is estimated to have wiped out one third
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tury, the Influenza epidemic of 1918 c laimed more lives than
were lost durlng the first World War. Today, most people
feel that devastating epldemlcs are unllkely to occur in the
more advanced countries. Still, health offlcials wam that,
under certaln conditions, plague-like epldemlcs could OC·
cur. The book of Revelation, In the famous "four horsemen"
prophecy, predlcts a terrifylng time when dlsease, comblned
with war and lamine, wlll brlng unprecedented, worldwlde
devastation. For an interestlng look at dls·
ease epidemlcs - past, present and future
- please request your free copy of our
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Epidemics.
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MARCH 1976
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176