As can be seen your graph, our
climate models make a wide range
of predictions (perhaps 0.5 - 5 degC, a 10-fold uncertainty) about how much «committed warming» will occur in the
future under any stabilization scenario, so we don't seem to have a decent understanding
of these processes.
• The readiness
of the nation to predict and avoid public and occupational health problems caused by heat waves and severe storms • Characterization and quantification
of relationships between
climate variability, health outcomes, and the main determinants
of vulnerability within and between populations • Development
of reliable methods to connect
climate - related changes in food systems and water supplies to health
under different conditions •
Prediction of future risks in response to
climate change scenarios and
of reductions in the baseline level
of morbidity, mortality, or vulnerability • Identification
of the available resources, limitations
of, and potential actions by the current U.S. health care system to prevent, prepare for, and respond to
climate - related health hazards and to build adaptive capacity among vulnerable segments
of the U.S. population
«We challenge ecologists to incorporate species interactions and dispersal differences into
future predictions of biodiversity
under climate change, and we suggest that conservation biologists should consider concentrating protection efforts on those species that disperse poorly and interact strongly.»