“The last 10,000 to 20,000 years have witnessed a period of dramatic growth in human civilization. Indeed, our growth during this time is unique among all species, but it has been highly dependent on the overall consistency of the climate.” — Heidi Cullen Copy Share Image
“Bjerknes had come up with equations capable of describing the behavior of the atmosphere. The state of the atmosphere at any point could be… — Heidi Cullen Copy Share Image
“Sahel’s rainfall, thanks to El Niño. During an El Niño event, the Sahel is typically expected to experience a drought, whereas during a La… — Heidi Cullen Copy Share Image
“mechanisms of weather predictions are very similar to those of climate predictions. So if we’re comfortable trusting local forecasters’ predictions about weather, we should… — Heidi Cullen Copy Share Image
“The instrument Keeling built, the gas chromatograph, works by passing infrared (IR) light through a sample of air and measuring the amount of IR… — Heidi Cullen Copy Share Image
“But the latest climate models paint a very bleak picture. According to their predictions, by the 2040s such summers will be happening every other… — Heidi Cullen Copy Share Image
“The Fourth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) synthesized the results from eighteen climate models used by groups around the… — Heidi Cullen Copy Share Image
“In the past 100 years alone, the region experienced three devastating droughts. The first stretched from 1910 to 1916; the second stretched from 1941… — Heidi Cullen Copy Share Image
“The climate models showed that greenhouse gas emissions had contributed to an increase in such summers, from one in 1,000 years to at least… — Heidi Cullen Copy Share Image
“ozone and particulate matter contribute to 8,800 deaths and $71 billion in health care costs every year. The connection with global warming is nothing… — Heidi Cullen Copy Share Image
“The goal was to build a model that represented the climate system. This was no small task. Weather models are concerned only about what’s… — Heidi Cullen Copy Share Image
“Giannini discovered that ocean temperatures helped regulate the strength of the African monsoon. What was even more fascinating was how each ocean played a… — Heidi Cullen Copy Share Image
“Using satellites capable of measuring cloud cover from space, Chiang showed that there was an increase in high clouds during El Niño years. Specifically,… — Heidi Cullen Copy Share Image
“Another issue, called the single-action bias,2 is the human habit of taking just one action in response to a problem in situations where multiple… — Heidi Cullen Copy Share Image
“Predictions often give us an illusion of control in situations that are inherently out of our control. Nothing exemplifies this better than our relationship… — Heidi Cullen Copy Share Image
“Each location I’ve chosen has its own Achilles’ heel, a vulnerability that unabated climate change will expose and exploit until the place is forever… — Heidi Cullen Copy Share Image
