Climate change with global warming has arrived on the U.S. mid-continent. Violent storms followed by development of dust bowl conditions bring reality to disbelieving residents. Calvin Carpenter, retired physical science professor, has become inspired to ghost write a series of Internet messages containing the basic elements of atmospheric science and the greenhouse effect, neighbors and friends begin to give thoughtful analysis to his words. Calvin, coping with lost love, and Kathy, committed to her music profession after the recent death of husband, are destined to enjoy frequent contact and become caring neighbors. Effects of a monster storm require unique solutions and foster an enduring love. They begin to rediscover the need for a human culture living in harmony with the land and lead their community in adapting to the natural laws of modified climate. Embedded in this story are factual descriptions of the relevant science for readers to give analytic thought to global warming.


Alex Cook is the pseudonym for Clyde R. Burnett, a retired physics professor and atmospheric scientist. He developed an expertise in spectroscopic measurements of atmospheric constituents and has been active in securing atmospheric data from Colorado, Alaska, Florida, Micronesia, and New Zealand, relating to the concern of stratospheric ozone destruction. He is responsible, along with his students and colleagues, for securing the longest published series of measurements of atmospheric hydroxyl (an atmospheric constituent involved in the photochemistry of ozone) in the world. Dr. Burnett is knowledgeable about the physics of the greenhouse effect and is familiar with the recent scientific literature on climate change. He has lived in the Front Range high country of Colorado for over 30 years, and has dedicated his weekends as volunteer naturalist at Golden Gate Canyon State Park, Colorado and, in wintertime sojourns to Boca Raton, Florida, at the Arthur Marshall Loxahatchee National Wildlife Refuge.