October 1, 2024--Written by John Egan for Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--"Hope for the best, prepare for the worst." That's the mantra of Jack Reacher, the hero in Lee Child's long-running series of mystery-action novels.

That might be the best way to characterize the evolving global sentiment about global warming. The unified optimism triggered by the signing of the Paris Agreement in 2015 seems to have been overtaken by pessimism.