Avocados Growing in Ashland?

By Iain MacLeod on Thursday, January 25, 2001.

listen:

There is no question that our climate is warming. The source of the change is up for debate. Iain talks about a new study put out by the U.S Global Climate Change Research Program.

Web resources:

Read the U.S. Global Climate Change Research Program report

I'm Iain Macleod for the Audubon Society of New Hampshire, and this is Something Wild.

Global climate change seems like something you'd read about in supermarket tabloids - "Palm trees grow in Boston!" - but is climate change real? And what does it mean for New England? Inquiring minds want to know.

A new report put out by the U.S. Global Climate Change Research Program answers those very questions. Preparing for a Changing Climate tries to separate fact from fiction. Let's see if we can cover some of the highlights from this report:

First of all, is our climate warming? There is no question that it is. Solid evidence exists that the climate has warmed over the past century. In New England, the average temperature has increased seven-tenths of a degree.

Does such a small temperature increase really mean anything? Seven-tenths of a degree might not sound like very much, but when you realize that sap flows have already changed, ice out on our lakes in spring is already consistently earlier, and our snowfall is already reduced (last year notwithstanding), seven-tenths of a degree does make a huge difference.

Are humans causing any of this warming? Although natural factors can cause warming trends, there is strong scientific evidence that much of the temperature increase over the past century has been caused by human factors.

Most importantly, can one person do anything about global warming? The answer to that is a resounding yes. Reduce your energy consumption - in your car, your home and your business. In addition to helping the environment, you can often save money, too.

If you would like to know more about climate change in New England, a link to this report is on the Something Wild page at www.nhpr.org.

Something Wild is a joint production of the Audubon Society of New Hampshire, New Hampshire Public Radio and the Society for the Protection of New Hampshire Forests. For Something Wild, I'm Iain Macleod.