Ozone Depletion, Greenhouse Gases, and Climate Change (1989) / Chapter Skim
Currently Skimming:
2 Global Change and the Changing Atmosphere
2 Global Change and the Changing Atmosphere
Pages 4-9
The Chapter Skim interface presents what we've algorithmically identified as the most significant single chunk of text within every page in the chapter.
Select key terms on the right to highlight them within pages of the chapter.
From page 4... ...
He put forward almost as a matter of religious faith, considering the lack of observations at the time the notion that a fuller understanding of many of the atmospheric and related problems of the day would be served not by greater specialization in narrow subdisciplines but rather by trying to fashion a concept of the biosphere as a whole. LittIe research developed along these lines over the next 20 to 30 years because there were neither data nor instruments nor testable theories that would let anyone go beyond the assertion that the integrated, interdisciplinary perspective might be a useful approach.
|
From page 5... ...
Sometimes it appears that administrative perspectives have forced scientists to look at the interactions among elements of global change.
|
From page 6... ...
A couple of years ago in Berne, Switzerland, the International Council of Scientific Unions General Assembly anointed IGBP with the avowed goal of describing and understanding interactive physical and biological processes that regulate the total earth system and the unique environment that it provides for life, the changes that are occurring within this system, and the manner in which they are influenced by human activities. Now, that ~ a goal of basic research in the earth sciences that is difficult to disagree with.
|
From page 7... ...
Third, we must take steps to ensure that the organizations we do have in place do not impede research that is crossing over their historical boundaries of self-definition. Finally, the ultimate challenge is to identify which, if any, new organizational frameworks would make a positive contribution to our ability to get on with the substantive work of understanding global change.
|
From page 8... ...
Finally, the symposium audience consists of most of the Important Washington tribes: the Congress, the executive agencies, the nongovernmental organizations, and the press, all of whom are going to be necessary if a global change program is really to move forward and advance us some steps on the way to an understanding of the geosphere-biosphere system. ~ look forward to seeing what interactions scientific, administrative, and political this particular mix will provoke.
|
From page 9... ...
AD of the good works to date associated with global change through NASA, NSF initiatives, and the National Research Council have produced a good foundation but have not moved to a level allowing one to give congressional testimony and to talk to colleagues on the Hill and elsewhere and say, "Here is the research we are planning to do." Until we do that, the opportunities may come and go without our having a compelling rationale for pushing commitment and action.
|
Key Terms
This material may be derived from roughly machine-read images, and so is provided only to facilitate research.
More
information on Chapter Skim is available.