Looking to Cities, in Search of Global Warming’s Silver Lining

          The article, “Looking to Cities, in Search of Global Warming’s Silver Lining,” by Guy Gugliotta, discusses how urban areas are being used as testing grounds for environmental scientists today. Dr. Lewis H. Ziska, a plant physiologist for the Department of Agriculture, is included in the article for his studies of how plants are reacting to rising levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. Ziska and other researchers are performing experiments in cities, which can have similar environmental conditions to temperate climate zones on a heated planet in years to come if global warming continues as predicted. Dr. Kevin L. Griffin, a Columbia University ecophysiologist, is studying the “heat island effect” on red oak trees. He and his students performed a study in which the trees were planted in New York City and in the Catskill Mountains. The results of the experiment supported the theory that buildings and other man-made structures absorb heat from the sun and help the trees grow, also in addition to increased levels of carbon dioxide, nitrogen oxides, and ozone in the atmosphere that affect plant function. The point overall was that cities provide good places for scientists to test how future environmental conditions will affect plant growth, and that while certain aspects in the city, like a surplus of heat, may benefit plant growth, others, like pollutants, may not.

            I found this article to be well written in terms of diction and rhetoric, but partly scattered in reference to its flow of ideas. The article had different points mixed in without sensible order, which made for some confusion. I had to read certain parts over again, but the main idea could be understood. I thought the piece should have been organized by listing each scientist and their studies in consecutive order.

           I found this article to be very interesting. I also believe that this article is very important. The future of our planet depends on the work of environmental scientists like these much more than anyone might know or care to know. Many people readily expel concerns for the environment from their mind, while the powerful negative affects are already upon us.

posted for D. Borcich