ENVIRONMENT DATA: THEY ENLIGHTEN, PERPLEX

There is widespread agreement among scientists, politicians and government policy makers that close attention needs to be paid to the environment and how both human enterprises and natural occurrences are affecting this planet.

Regardless of affiliation or persuasion, most of us accept the stewardship of the natural assets which surround us.

But one person's approach to that responsibility may well differ from someone else's concern.

Moreover, scientific data continue to be confusing, misleading and alarming, no matter what your point of view.

To make matters worse, special-interest groups, often involving a relatively small number of individuals, have the ability in this technological age to generate alarms that aren't always accepted by others.

And so we have become familiar with terms like "greenhouse effect" and "ozone depletion" and "climate change."

Each of these areas is cause for genuine concern, but the extent to which any group will go to be the loudest has skewed the orderly and rational dissemination of information.

Last week, a report from the United Nations-sponsored Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change generated front-page headlines with a summary of a report that says the human influence on Earth's climate is greater than suspected just five years ago, when the groups last issued its findings.

Interestingly, at the same time the U.N. report was making news, The Weather Channel was airing an hour-long report on global warming that allotted equal time to alarmists and to those who say the data are insufficient.

In that broadcast, some scientists noted that excessive carbon dioxide, for example, has a beneficial impact on trees and other plants.

Even the U.N. report made the curious observation that global warming could actually be speeded up by worldwide efforts to reduce industrial sulfate releases. The buildup of atmospheric sulfates has the effect of keeping the atmosphere cooler. Much of the documented increase in temperatures since 1995, according to the report, can be attributed to decreased industrial pollution.

Meanwhile, it goes without saying that Third World countries struggling to avoid starvation will continue to contribute to the problem.

And unless some way can be found for developed nations to help feed, clothe, house and employ their less-fortunate neighbors, the full weight of dealing with future environmental problems will fall on the shoulders of the haves, not the have-nots.