To The Best of Our Knowledge from Wisconsin Public Radio

There's still debate about climate change, but one thing's for sure – these days nothing's sure about the weather. Northerners can golf in December, spring shows up early, and mosquitoes are movin' on up. In this hour of To the Best of Our Knowledge, wacky weather and what you can do to help. Also why the World Series may never be rained out again thanks to a new invention. And snow, rain, and rock n' roll.

Journalist Ross Gelbspan has been covering climate change for years. His book is called "The Heat Is On." Gelbspan tells Steve Paulson that the reality of global warming is widely accepted by the international scientific community and cites examples of the effects already being felt. Also, Guy Dauncey tells Jim Fleming some of the things ordinary people can do in their everyday lives to combat global warming. Dauncey's book is "Stormy Weather: 101 Solutions to Global Climate Change."

Andrew Woodcock and Chris Strong are meteorologists at the National Weather Service in Virginia, and moonlight for the band "Strangewax." They tell Anne Strainchamps how the weather finds its way into their lyrics and we hear some examples of their music. Also, Janice VanCleave is the author of the "Science for Every Kid" series of books. She tells Jim Fleming some of the experiments from the "Weather" volume, including how to build a cloud, and why the sky looks blue.

Historian Eric Durschmied is the author of "The Hinge Factor" and "The Weather Factor." He tells Steve Paulson about some of the significant battles throughout history that turned on a change in the weather, from the Romans' failure to conquer Germany to the typhoon that took out portions of the American Pacific fleet during WWII.

Books:

• Guy Dauncey, Stormy Weather: 101 Solutions to Global Climate Change (NSP)
• Eric Durschmied, The Hinge Factor and The Weather Factor (Arcade)
• Ross Gelbspan, The Heat Is On (Perseus)
• Janice VanCleave, Janice VanCleave's Weather: mind-boggling experiments you can turn into science fair projects (John Wiley & Sons, Inc)

Music:

• -Bennie Wallace, "Stormy Weather," Bordertown, track 2 (Blue Note)
• -Israel Kamakawiwo'ole, "Somewhere Over the Rainbow," Facing Future, track 14 (Bigboy)
• -Sweet Honey in the Rock, "I Remember, I Believe," Sacred Ground, track 1 (Earthbeat)
• -Various Artists, "The Spelling Song," from Rocko's Modern Life, The Best of Nicktoons, track 37 (Kid Rhino)
• -Various Artists, "Car Hop Song," The Flintstones: Modern Stone- Age Melodies, track 4 (Rhino)`
• Strangewax, Album: Chameleon (no label, but info at www.strangewax.com)
• Songs:
• "Snowman in Black," track 2
• "Rainino," trk 3
• "Mitchell," trk 4
• "She Was Like Lightning," trk 11

Distribution dates:

• week of 12/16/2001 - hour 2