CARBON DIOXIDE

The long-term cycle of solar activity may not be the dominant influence over the next decades; that may come from the increasing amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. The increase could partly be due to human activity, such as fossil fuel burning and deforestation in the Third World.

However, we have already spent too much of our precious space on climate, so we will only refer readers to a new and excellent introduction for laymen, and one of its beauties is that it is free:

To which we add our usual reservation: Yes, the evidence is mounting that an increasing C02 Concentration could lead to undesirable (though precisely unknown) climatic changes, but no, we will not use this as an argument for nuclear power, which is superior to fossils in every single respect (e.g., waste disposal), and does not need the support of speculative fears that only blur its clear-cut, proven advantages.