A WarmerClimate Enriches The Earth (NAPSA}—Backabout 50 million few temperature ups and downs. For instance, about 1,300 to 1,000 years ago, the world was about two to five degrees warmer than it is today. Known as TheLittle Climatic Optimum, it was a time of tremendous advances in city building, in exploration, in cathedral building and university building, says Dr. Sallie Louise Bal- iunas of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, because people were not victims of the cold so much. They could go out and grow crops. They were healthier. They were longer-lived. In the American southwest, the Anasazi Indian civilization reached its peak during that time, as people were able to farm twice the amount of land asbefore. Now, scientists explain, we may be heading for a similar improvement in climate, perhaps because of increased sunspot activity, perhaps because of an increase of CO, in the atmosphere. In either case, says the University of Virginia’s Environmental Sciences professor, Patrick BRO I o I I of the HooverInstitution at Stanford University, it was about 20 degrees warmerthan it is today. Since then, he explains, the earth has gradually cooled, with a A Return to the Climatic Optimum? Change in Temperature (C) years ago, the earth was a pretty hot place to live. In fact, according to Thomas Gale Moore, Senior Fellow -2 al “4 1816 141210 8 6 Thousands of Years (B.P) 4 2.0 @ Between four and seven thousand years ago, Earth was much warmer than it is today. Scientists call that The Climatic Opti- mum and Sayit was a great time for human, plant and animal development. J. Michaels, this is “a good thing...lengthening the growing season and making plants grow better.” Adds Dr. Moore “A slightly warmer world and an enriched carbon dioxide world will mean plant growth is more vigorous.” You can learn more about earth’s climate, past, present and possible future from the experts at the Greening Earth Society, a not- for-profit, grass roots organization of people who believe humans are a part of nature, not apart from nature. It can be found online at www.greeningearthsociety.org or you can call 800-529-4503.
