American Notes ECOLOGY

Sure, a worldwide rise in temperatures brought on by increasing atmospheric concentrations of CO2 could produce coastal flooding, choking droughts, crop failures and widespread food shortages. But the greenhouse effect does have its sunny side.

Last week, after the most exhaustive study yet of the economic and agricultural consequences of global warming, a group of scientists announced that while some Sunbelt farming regions in the U.S. might be devastated by a 7 degrees F average increase in temperature, other regions farther north would enjoy a longer growing season, benefiting such crops as corn and soybeans.

Consumers, as usual, would get clobbered. The study, sponsored by the Environmental Protection Agency and published in the science journal Nature, notes that food prices could rise because of the reduced rainfall across the Southeast and Southwest.