Contemporary Environmental Readings (Volume 1)

It has become increasingly obvious that people s actions and interactions with the environment affect not only living conditions now, but also those of many generations to follow. Humans must address the effect they have on the Earth s climate and how their choices today will have an impact on future generations. In many parts of the world climate change and extreme climatic events such as severe droughts, floods, storms, tropical cyclones, heat-waves, freezes and extreme winds are one of the biggest production risk and uncertainty factors impacting agricultural systems performance and management. These events direct influence on the quantity and quality of agricultural production, and in many cases adversely affect it. Humans are changing the world s climate and with it the local, regional, and global weather. Scientists tell us that climate is what we expect, and weather is what we get. Climate change occurs when that average weather shifts over the long term in a specific location, a region, or the entire planet. Global warming and climate change are urgent topics. They are discussed on the news, in conversations, and are even the subjects of horror movies. How much is fact?