Huntsville, AL – The director of the Earth System Science Center at the University of Alabama in Huntsville is optimistic about the Earth's climate. And John Christy says he believes the world 50 years from now will be a better place for his two grandchildren.
Christy, who also is Alabama's state climatologist, describes his view of the future in a chapter of the book, "The Way We Will Be 50 Years from Today: 60 of the World's Greatest Minds Share Their Visions of the Next Half Century."
The book released Tuesday was edited by Mike Wallace, the former longtime "60 Minutes" reporter and anchor.
Christy writes that he can't know whether the Earth will see more or fewer hurricanes or speculate about their intensity.
But he says he hopes by the year 2058 "sensible decisions will have been made to prevent vulnerable and expensive infrastructure from being built in harm's way on our active coast lines."
Christy and research partner Roy Spencer, a principal research scientist at the Science Center, began using satellites to take the Earth's temperature 20 years ago.
Their readings show the Earth warming at a much slower rate than the readings that others point to as evidence of human-induced global warning. Their views have been controversial.
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Information from: The Birmingham News
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