CLIMATE CHANGE

May 2004
		A team of international ecologists using a computer model to predict the effects of climate change say as many as 1 million species could be on the way to extinction by the year 2050. One of the study's authors, Lee Hannah, and environmental experts Daniel Botkin and Patrick Michaels answer your questions.

Forum Introduction Will climate change act as a catalyst for new species? Is climate change the result of human activity or a natural phenomena beyond our control? Do we know anything about species extinction rates from the relatively recent "little ice age"? Can climate change be reversed, as opposed to deterred? Does the impact being made by humans in this (brief) period really explain world-wide shifts in climate? For every study that claims to observe climate change, there are others that seem to refute it. Wouldn't we all be better served by a global campaign to address air quality? What, if any, are the potential upsides of global warming?	Climate change is one of the most persistent and complicated environmental issues. Scientists often have vastly different takes on the research done so far and what the results may mean. Lee Hannah is a senior fellow at Conservation International who helped write a study that says the climate changes expected to occur by 2050 may eventually lead to the extinction of as many as 1 million species. The team said the gradual warming of the Earth's atmosphere is causing certain species' habitats to move or shrink, which could lead to the species' decline. The study, published in the Jan. 8 issue of the journal Nature, created a stir. Daniel Botkin agrees global warming will have an effect on species but says the study did not take into account certain factors such as species adaptability. He taught environmental science at the University of California, Santa Barbara, wrote a book about forest ecology and developed a computer program to predict growth patterns in forests over many years. Patrick Michaels, another active participate in the climate change debate, is a research professor of environmental sciences at the University of Virginia, visiting scientist with the Marshall Institute in Washington, D.C., and a senior fellow in environmental studies at the CATO Institute. The three environmental experts answer your questions about the study and climate change in general.