David Peat

184 From Certainty to Uncertaintychange and the influx of less dense, fresh water may cause the flow ofocean currents to be modified. One major concern is the Gulf Stream.If its direction changes, then while the rest of the world heats up,Northern Europe could be plunged into a mini–ice age.A further concern is the rapidity of this warming. Balanced ecologiesof animals, insects, plants, and trees are tolerant to small climaticchanges. But if the temperature rises too quickly and too high, entireecosystems will be threatened. Many plants seed themselves each yearand so it won’t be too difficult for them to migrate and set up niches incooler regions. The same, however, is not true for trees. Climatic changein the past has been sufficiently slow to allow time for trees to move tomore appropriate regions. But a temperature rise occurring in just afew decades could wipe out some major forests and ecological resources.The world’s governments have been alerted to the possibility ofglobal warming and are talking about ways to reduce the amounts ofcarbon dioxide released into the atmosphere. Only time will tell howeffective these measures, if carried out, will be.ConclusionsThis chapter has only touched on just a few of the issues, dangers, and“disturbances” that face each one of us and our collective life on thisplanet. We could have explored the issues of genetically modified foods,the crisis over water supplies, how to dispose of nuclear waste, and ahost of other issues. But in case after case the overall principles involvedare more or less the same. We face a variety of ecological andenvironmental issues often brought about by human carelessness andthoughtlessness. We are constantly producing new technologies, newmaterials, and new products, yet we can never predict with 100% certaintywhat their impact will be on society and the environment. Someinformation will always be missing for us. Some risks will be unforeseen.Some implications may be more significant than we expected.What can we do if we can’t have complete control over the worldaround us? What is the point of plans and policies if we can’t really