First, absorption helps people by preventing high-energy radiation from reaching the surface which limits our exposure to harmful radiation. The atmosphere absorbs most of the radiation from the ultraviolet region through the X-ray region. The second way in which absorption helps the earth is as a heat source for it.
*lean times (ahead). Fig. a future period of lowered income or revenue; a future period when there will be shortages of goods and suffering. (*Typically: be ~; cause ~; have ~; mean ~ .) The economy is going sour which means lean times ahead.
LEAN principles are all centered on process improvement which leads ultimately to improved efficiency which leads to higher profitability. The concept is simple but getting there is usually harder that one can imagine. One of the vast building blocks of LEAN relates to quick changeover setup. The faster the changeover times, the less downtime of equipment. Remember DOWNTIME is the definition of the Eight Deadly Waste of a manufacturing environment.