Our research pointed to rapid global warming and the shifting of climate zones. Our climate models predict warmer and drier summers for Europe, with warmer and wetter winters.

The significant result of these future scenarios is the progressive raising of mean global temperatures and the movement of climate zones in connection with that. Almost everywhere on earth, the forestry industry will have to husband different types of trees than it has until now.

Humans have had a large one-of-a-kind influence on the climate.

We were not expecting to get caught up in the global warming debate when we published our initial research last September. But the whole question of global warming is something that has to be confronted.

Whether the process proves to be Kyoto or something else, let's acknowledge the urgency of global warming.

[In a recent issue of National Geographic entitled] Global Warming ... After a decade as Editor in Chief, I have a pretty good idea which articles will provoke a lot of angry letters. Well, we're about to do it again. Why would I publish articles that make people angry enough to stop subscribing? That's easy. These three stories cover subjects that are too important to ignore. This isn't science fiction or a Hollywood movie. But we are going to take you all over the world to show you the hard truth as scientists see it.