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(verb) of a character which prevents the compositor from earning the usual wages; -- opposed to fat; as, lean copy, matter, or type. Lean(noun) that part of flesh which consist principally of muscle without the fat. Lean(noun) unremunerative copy or work.