"Kim Stanley Robinson - Forty Signs of Rain" - читать интересную книгу автора (Robinson Kim Stanley)

rise in atmospheric carbon dioxide, human agricultural productivity boomed. The Norse settled
Greenland during that period, and there were generally rising lifespans.тАЭ

тАЬThe end of the Black Death might account for that,тАЭ Charlie pointed out.

тАЬWell, maybe rising CO2> levels ended the Black Death.тАЭ

Charlie felt his jaw gape.

тАЬItтАЩs the bubbly in my club soda,тАЭ the President told him gently.

тАЬYes.тАЭ Charlie rallied. тАЬBut a greenhouse gas nevertheless. It holds in heat that would otherwise escape
back into space. And weтАЩre putting more than two billion tons of it into the atmosphere every year. ItтАЩs
like putting a plug in your exhaust pipe, sir. The car is bound to warm up. ThereтАЩs general agreement
from the scientific community that it causesreally significant warming. тАЭ

тАЬOur models show the recent temperature changes to be within the range of natural fluctuation,тАЭ Dr.
Strengloft replied. тАЬIn fact, temperatures in the stratosphere have gone down. ItтАЩs complex, and weтАЩre
studying it, and weтАЩre going to make the best and most cost-effective response to it, because weтАЩre
taking the time to do that. Meanwhile, weтАЩre already taking effective precautions. The President has
asked American businesses to keep to a new national goal of limiting the growth of carbon dioxide
emissions to one-third of the economyтАЩs rate of growth.тАЭ

тАЬBut thatтАЩs the same ratio of emissions to growth that we have already.тАЭ

тАЬYes, but the President has gone further, by asking American businesses to try to reduce that ratio over
the next decade by eighteen percent. ItтАЩs a growth-based approach that will accelerate new technologies,
and the partnerships that weтАЩll need with the developing world on climate change.тАЭ

As the President looked to Charlie to see what he would reply to this errant nonsense, Charlie felt Joe
stir on his back. This was unfortunate, as things were already complicated enough. The President and his
science advisor were not only ignoring the specifics of PhilтАЩs bill, they were actively attacking its
underlying concepts. Any hope Charlie had had that the President had come to throw his weight behind
some real dickering was gone.

And Joe was definitely stirring. His face was burrowed sideways into the back of CharlieтАЩs neck, as
usual, and now he began doing something that he sometimes did when napping: he latched onto the right
tendon at the back of CharlieтАЩs neck and began sucking it rhythmically, like a pacifier. Always before
Charlie had found this a sweet thing, one of the most momlike moments of his Mr. Momhood. Now he
had to steel himself to it and forge on.

The President said, тАЬI think we have to be very careful what kind of science we use in matters like
these.тАЭ

Joe sucked a ticklish spot and Charlie smiled reflexively and then grimaced, not wanting to appear
amused by this double-edged pronouncement.

тАЬNaturally thatтАЩs true, Mr. President. But the arguments for taking vigorous action are coming from a
broad range of scientific organizations, also governments, the UN, NGOs, universities, about
ninety-seven percent of all the scientists who have ever declared on the issue,тАЭ everyone but the very far