Editorial
The Role of the Insurance Industry in the CO2-Climate Debate: If the ongoing rise in the air's CO2 content causes global warming, and if global warming increases the number and severity of natural catastrophes, insurance companies will be forced to increase the premiums they charge their clients for protection against these eventualities, will they not?  If you answer this question in the affirmative, do you think the nature of their business has anything to do with their claims that this chain of events is true, when a wealth of real-world evidence suggests it is false?

Subject Index Summaries
Sea Level (European Measurements): Climate alarmists typically claim that 20th century warming was "unprecedented" over the past millennium and then some.  On the basis of this claim they further claim that the past century's warming has caused sea levels to rise at unprecedented rates and extreme weather events to likewise become more frequent and severe.  Sea level data from Europe, however, suggest something quite different.

Biospheric Productivity (Terrestrial: Worldwide): Between 1980 and 2000, the earth weathered two of the warmest decades in the instrumental temperature record, three intense and persistent El Niño events, and the eruption of Mt. Pinatubo.  Concurrently, the air's CO2 content increased by 9%, while human population grew by 37%.  It was a bad time for the biosphere.  Or was it?

Journal Reviews
Changes in Extreme Temperatures in China Over the Past Half-Century: How dramatic have they been?  And how have they impacted the health of the Chinese people?

Cyclical Flooding in California, USA: What causes it?  And what does it portend for the future?

Cooling and Cold Temperatures Heighten Risk of Ischemic Stroke in Korea: This newest study is simply another example of the well-documented fact that cooling and cold temperatures heighten the risk of dying from any number of maladies most everywhere, and that a modest amount of global warming would actually be good for human health.

Effects of Elevated CO2 on Legume Nitrogen Fixation in a Grassland Ecosystem: A study conducted at the Cedar Creek Natural History Area Long-Term Ecological Research site in Minnesota, USA, provides a fascinating window on the future with respect to the functioning of some of earth's natural ecosystems.

Response of Cotton to Elevated UV-B Radiation and CO2: Will the positive effects of atmospheric CO2 enrichment on cotton growth and development outweigh the deleterious effects of enhanced levels of UV-B radiation that could occur in response to continued stratospheric ozone depletion?