We analysed long-term temperature trends based on 12 homogenised series of monthly temperature data in Switzerland at elevations between 316 m.a.s.l. and 2490 m.a.s.l for the 20 th century (1901-2000) and for the last thirty years (1975-2004). Comparisons were made between these two periods, with changes standardised to decadal trends. Our results show mean decadal trends of þ0.135 C during the 20 th century and þ0.57 C based on the last three decades only. These trends are more than twice as high as the averaged temperature trends in the Northern Hemisphere. Most stations behave quite similarly, indicating that the increasing trends are linked to large-scale rather than local processes. Seasonal analyses show that the greatest temperature increase in the 1975-2004 period occurred during spring and summer whereas they were particularly weak in spring during the 20 th century. Recent temperature increases are as much related to increases in maximum temperatures as to increases in minimum temperature, a trend that was not apparent in the 1901-2000 period. The different seasonal warming rates may have important consequences for vegetation, natural disasters, human health, and energy consumption, amongst others. The strong increase in summer temperatures helps to explain the accelerated glacier retreat in the Alps since 1980.

We analyse trends over the past 32 years in drought variables in the context of forest fire research and climate change in Ticino, Southern Switzerland. January to April and in particular the month of March have become drier. This is the time of the year when forest fires are most frequent. Our results show an increasing trend in all climatic variables favourable to drought and forest fires, including the length of episodes without precipitation, sunshine duration and temperature, and a decrease in relative humidity. The only exception is the number of ''foehn'' days, which have not significantly increased.

This chapter summarizes research that both reflects and exemplifies the recent resurgence of interest in the social and psychological characteristics and processes that give rise to ideological forms. Ideology is an elusive, multifaceted construct that can usefully be analyzed in terms of “top-down” processes related to the social construction and dissemination of ideology as well as “bottom-up” processes, including dispositional and situational factors, that make certain ideological outcomes more likely than others. The chapter briefly summarizes the contents of this volume, focusing especially on the cognitive and motivational antecedents and consequences of adopting specific ideologies, the functions served by those ideologies, and the myriad ways in which people accept and justify (versus reject) aspects of the social and political worlds they inhabit. Current challenges and future directions for the study of ideology and system justification are also discussed.

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