Planting is a no-lose option that provides enough social, environmental and economic benefits to justify program costs, irrespective of the outcome of the greenhouse debate. The Commonwealth Secretariat has just completed a study of the implications of the greenhouse effect for Guyana and other low-lying countries and small islands, and protective strategies available. The article explains, for instance, the evolution of the rip-rap design sea wall, devised to be cheaper and more effective than the traditional design. Profiles a biologist turned networker, Tom Lovejoy, who bridges the gap between science and the public to save the tropical rain forests. If power is to be used more rationally, Soviet energy prices will have to be raised to a realistic level but, in the current state of social and ethnic tension, such a move could be political suicide.
Soviet citizens have little incentive to save energy.
A climate researcher from the University of East Anglia explains techniques for determining the historical record of mean global temperatures, using a variety of sources. The climatological and human implications of the recent temperature record are discussed. In an interview, British Ambassador Sir Crispin Tickell predicts the coming year will be one of intense preparation to develop a coordinated response to global warming. The director of the laboratory of climatology at Arizona State University maintains that the skepticism and caution concerning global warming applied by scientists in the professional journals are lost in the transfer of information to the popular press. A better set of policy decisions will result from a more balanced view of the greenhouse issue.