Clouds have always given climate modelers fits. The clouds in their models are crude at best, and in the real world, researchers struggle to understand how clouds are responding to-and perhaps magnifying-greenhouse warming; But two new studies now show that much of the worry about clouds' role in the warming has been misdirected.

Focus on the whole forest and think big. That's the intent of a bill, introduced in the U.S. Senate, that would direct the Forest Service to fund large, collaborative projects to reduce fire risk, improve forest health and stimulate economic development.

Investments aimed at improving agricultural adaptation to climate change inevitably favor some crops and regions over others. An analysis of climate risks for crops in 12 food-insecure regions was conducted to identify adaptation priorities, based on statistical crop models and climate projections for 2030 from 20 general circulation models.

Some of the most profound and direct impacts of climate change over the next few decades will be on agricultural and food systems. A research by Lobell et al show that increasing temperatures and declining precipitation over semiarid regions are likely to reduce yields for corn, wheat, rice, and other primary crops in the next two decades. These changes could have a substantial impact on global food security.

Systems for management of water throughout the developed world have been designed and operated under the assumption of stationarity. Stationarity-the idea that natural systems fluctuate within an unchanging envelope of variability-is a foundational concept that permeates training and practice in water-resource engineering.

Global warming is not a uniform process. Mongolia, particularly at the high altitudes around Lake Hovsgol, has been warming more than twice as fast as the global average. Unique ecosystems are feeling the heat. Here at the transition between the steppe grassland and taiga, plants and animals are confronted with a changing environment-and the outlook is not good for the herders who are crowding up from the south.

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