se to the truth, it is very likely that human beings and the earths ecosystems will not be able to sustain the pace of change in their present surroundings. What will happen at the regional and local level, however, is much more difficult to predict though in some cases, will likely be even more devastating. From what has been shown in this paper, there is distinct reason to suspect that higher latitudes will experience greater overall warming than lower latitudes. If this is indeed the case, the release of vast stores of carbon from the tundra peat lands and boreal zone will reinforce global warming. Moreover, if there are further reductions in acidic emissions, which at current levels cause a counteracting effect, global warming will be accelerated. Put simply, this is not a good thing.Quantifying the extent of the potential damage is not only beyond the scope of this paper, but perhaps beyond human comprehension (at this point) and even worse, missing the point. The only certainty about future climatic change is indeed uncertainty of its extent. It might not be wrong, given such circumstances, to prepare for the worst. The picture that this study has painted is, quite apparently, confusing and sombre. However, there is a faint stroke of optimism that can be added. E. G. Nisbet notes that despite our losses, we are intellectually and physically richer than any other generation of humanity. Our poverty is spiritual. It is well within our power to be optimists, if we can dispel the cynicism of the past decades. If we are optimists, most things are possible. The challenge to cherish the planet, to construct a new global economy, is far less than the challenge, in 1940, to defeat the last threat against human hope. This strain of reasoning provides a welcome contrast to the depressing observation noted by Barrett at the opening of this study. And it is true, there is nothing to suggest that we are firmly locked into a...
