Prospects for Future Climate Change and the Reasons for Early Action

Abstract

impacts of climate change, provided a bridge of understanding from the basic physics and chemistry of the climate system to the important scientific results of the IPCC assessments, especially those relevant to decisionmakers. In addition, MacCracken eloquently articulated the underlying reasoning needed to build an intuitive understanding of the IPCC conclusions and their implications for humanity. This paper presents a discussion of the 2008 A&WMA Critical Review by invited panelists and others who chose to comment. It includes written submissions and presentation of transcripts that were, in a few instances, edited for conciseness, to minimize redundancy, and to provide supporting and instructional citations. Substantial deviations from the intent of a discussant are unintentional and can be addressed in a follow-up letter to the journal. The invited discussants are listed below. • Dr. Mark Jacobson is the director of the Atmosphere and Energy Program and professor of civil and environmental engineering at Stanford University. He holds a B.S. in civil engineering (Stanford, 1988), an A.B. in economics (Stanford, 1988), an M.S. in environmental engineering (Stanford, 1988), an M.S. in atmospheric sciences (UCLA, 1991), and a Ph.D. in atmospheric sciences (UCLA, 1991). His work relates primarily to the development and application of numerical models to understand better the effects of air pollutants on climate and air quality and to the analysis and impacts of energy systems.

Metabolic features involved in drought stress tolerance mechanisms in peanut nodules and their contribution to biological nitrogen fixation

“…Legumes are important sources of oil, fiber, micronutrients, minerals, and vegetable proteins suitable for livestock feed and human consumption [1,2]. Besides, they can fix nitrogen as a result of their ability to form symbiotic associations with rhizobia.…”

Legume Nitrogen Utilization Under Drought Stress

“…Grain and forage legumes are grown on around 15% of the arable surface of the Earth, being the second most important crop after cereals attending to world first crop production (FAOSTAT; Graham and Vance, 2003). The economic relevance of legume crops is related to both their importance as a protein source for animal feed and human nutrition and their use as raw material in the industry (Edgerton et al, 2008).…”

Squaring the Circle: In Quest for Sustainability

“…Even if these assessments may be to some extent biased and exaggerated, they still point to a very disturbing state of affairs. There is a very substantial body of research that illustrates the continued environmental degradation and climate change and provides eloquent support for such assessments (Edgerton et al, 2008;Ellis, 2013;Moraes et al, 2013). This lack of progress naturally raises questions as to the viability of our current approaches to sustainability; moreover, it creates serious doubts in the minds of many as to whether achieving sustainability is even a realistic goal (Robinson, 2004).…”

“…This notion has considerable staying power. Scientists from many different fields marshal massive data and use them in their studies—some more alarmist than others—to demonstrate that our environment is in a state of precipitous decline and, if no major changes are made, will reach a level of degradation that will make our life on this planet very difficult, if not indeed impossible (Gowdy, ; Edgerton et al ., ; Hale, ; Fan et al ., ; Zickfeld et al ., ).…”