Coping with Global Change What we can certainly do

Continued growth in population will lead to further use of fossil fuels and a rapid increase in the atmospheric pollution. Notice a morning smog above Kohima, a relatively smaller town as compared to our megalopolises.

Abstract: There appears to be a consensus now among climate scientists that man has significantly altered his environment by indiscriminate burning of fossil fuels; and this anthropogenic effect on climate has exceeded solar heating of the earth in the past two decades. Advanced models of climate have clearly shown that the unprecedented high temperatures recorded in the late nineties could not be explained if man made changes in the atmospheric chemistry are not taken into account. Therefore, it is time that we think about possible ways of coping with a warmer world in the near future.

The authors are Senior Professor and Project Director, ISRO_GBP, Geoscience Division, Physical Research Laboratory, Ahmedabad, Gujarat and  Advisor, Ministry of Earth Sciences, New Delhi, respectively.