Introduction - The Global Climate System: Patterns, Processes, and Teleconnections - page 10

people and climate may be approached in many ways, often under the heading of
Applied Climatology. Art, architecture, comfort, health, religion, and warfare are
but a few of the topics considered (Oliver 1991 ). Of particular interest in this work
is the role of people in what may be termed ''problem climates''. The best known
treatment of this topic is to be found in Trewartha's book The Earth's Problem
Climates ( 1966 ). This work explored anomalies across the globe but, obviously,
lacked explanations based upon the information that is available today.
Nonetheless, the very title begs the question of what is a problem climate? This
is thoughtfully considered in the following essay by Michael Glantz.
Given the growth of world population and the immense impact upon the
ecological systems of the Earth, the study of some problem climates faces a
challenge. Is a recognized problem, such as a long-term drought, the result of
natural climatic variation or is it the result of human activity.
1.3 ESSAY: Problem climates or problem societies?
Michael Glantz, National Center for Atmospheric Research
It cannot be denied that climate issues have made it to the top of the list of
things to talk about. Those things to talk about include climate change to be
sure, but also every week there is likely to be a weather or climate extreme
occurring somewhere on the globe. At different times of the year we hear
about adverse impacts of climate on agriculture, e.g. droughts in the out-of-
phase growing seasons in the Northern and Southern Hemispheres.
In addition to local, regional, and global concerns about specific climate
and weather extremes in their own right, there is a deepening concern world-
wide on the part of the public, political figures, and scientific researchers
about the adverse effects of a variable and changing climate on human
activities and the resources on which they depend: food production and
security, water resources, energy production, public health and safety, early
warning, economy and environment. Each of these concerns also raises
serious ethical and equity concerns.
The idea for this essay (and its title) is the result of three merging climate-
related concerns: (1) an apparent overemphasis on blaming climate for many
of society's woes such as food and water shortages and surpluses, and public
health and safety problems; (2) an apparent overemphasis on the speculation
about global warming and its impacts on societies (usually adverse and way
out into the future); and (3) an apparent underemphasis on society's ability to
influence the behavior of the atmosphere on all time and geographic scales.
As a result of this underemphasis, societies are not forceful or determined
enough to pursue changes in societal behavior in an attempt to minimize
human influences on the atmosphere and therefore on local to global climate.