Dire Predictions : Understanding Global Warming
ISBN: 9780136044352 | 0136044352
Edition: 1stFormat: Hardcover
Publisher: Prentice Hall
Pub. Date: 1/1/2009
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For any science or social science course in need of a basic understanding of IPCC reports. Periodic reports from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) evaluate the risk of climate change brought on by humans. But the sheer volume of scientific data remains inscrutable to the general public, particularly to those who may still question the validity of climate change. In just over 200 pages, this practical text presents and expands upon the essential findings in a visually stunning and undeniably powerful way to the lay reader. Scientific findings that provide validity to the implications of climate change are presented in clear-cut graphic elements, striking images, and understandable analogies.
| Introduction | p. 6 |
| About the IPCC | p. 8 |
| About the authors | p. 9 |
| What is up with the weather (and the climate!)? | p. 10 |
| Climate Change Basics | |
| The relative impacts of humans and nature on climate | p. 18 |
| Taking action in the face of uncertainty | p. 20 |
| Why is it called the greenhouse effect? | p. 22 |
| Feedback loops compound the greenhouse effect... MORE | p. 24 |
| What are the important greenhouse gases, and where do they come from? | p. 26 |
| Isn't carbon dioxide causing the hole in the ozone layer? | p. 30 |
| Greenhouse gases on the rise | p. 32 |
| Couldn't the increase in atmospheric CO2 be the result of natural cycles? | p. 34 |
| It's getting hotter down here! | p. 36 |
| Is our atmosphere really warming? | p. 38 |
| Back to the future | p. 40 |
| But weren't scientists warning us of an imminent Ice Age only decades ago? | p. 44 |
| How does modem warming differ from past warming trends? | p. 46 |
| What can a decade of western North American drought tell us about the future? | p. 48 |
| What can the European heat wave of 2003 tell us about the future? | p. 52 |
| A tempest in a greenhouse | p. 56 |
| The vanishing snows of Kilimanjaro | p. 58 |
| The day after tomorrow | p. 60 |
| The last interglacial | p. 62 |
| How to build a climate model | p. 64 |
| Profile: James Hansen | p. 66 |
| Comparing climate model predictions with observations | p. 68 |
| Regional vs global trends | p. 70 |
| "Fingerprints" distinguish human and natural impacts on climate | p. 72 |
| Climate Change Projections | |
| How sensitive is the climate? | p. 78 |
| Fossil-fuel emissions scenarios | p. 86 |
| The next century | p. 88 |
| The geographical pattern of future warming | p. 92 |
| Carbon-cycle feedbacks | p. 94 |
| Melting ice and rising sea level | p. 98 |
| Future changes in extreme weather | p. 100 |
| Stabilizing atmospheric CO2 | p. 104 |
| The Impacts of Climate Change | |
| The rising impact of global warming | p. 108 |
| Is it time to sell that beach house? | p. 110 |
| Ecosystems | p. 112 |
| Coral reefs | p. 114 |
| The highway to extinction? | p. 118 |
| Profile: James Lovelock | p. 120 |
| Too much and too little | p. 122 |
| Is warming from carbon dioxide leading to more air pollution? | p. 126 |
| War | p. 128 |
| Famine | p. 130 |
| ...Pestilence and death | p. 132 |
| Earth, wind, and fire | p. 134 |
| Too wet and too hot | p. 136 |
| The polar meltdown | p. 138 |
| Vulnerability and Adaptation to Climate Change | |
| Is global warming the last straw for vulnerable ecosystems? | p. 142 |
| What is the best course for the coming century? | p. 144 |
| It's the economy, stupid! | p. 146 |
| A finger in the dike | p. 148 |
| Water-management strategies | p. 150 |
| A hard row to hoe | p. 152 |
| Solving Global Warming | |
| Solving global warming | p. 156 |
| Where do all those emissions come from? | p. 158 |
| Keeping the power turned on | p. 160 |
| On the road again | p. 162 |
| Building green | p. 166 |
| Industrial CO2 pollution | p. 168 |
| Greener acres | p. 170 |
| Forests | p. 174 |
| Waste | p. 176 |
| Geoengineering | p. 178 |
| But what can I do about it? | p. 180 |
| What's your carbon footprint? | p. 182 |
| Global problems require international cooperation | p. 184 |
| Can we achieve sustainable development? | p. 188 |
| The ethics of climate change | p. 190 |
| The known unknowns and the unknown unknowns | p. 192 |
| The urgency of climate change | p. 194 |
| Glossary | p. 198 |
| Index | p. 204 |
| Picture Credits/Author Acknowledgements | p. 208 |
| Table of Contents provided by Ingram. All Rights Reserved. |
Michael E. Mann is an Associate Professor in the Departments of Meteorology and Geosciences at Pennsylvania State University and the Director of the Penn State Earth System Science Center. Lee R. Kump is a Professor in the Department of Geosciences at Pennsylvania State University and an associate of the Penn State Earth System Science Center and the Penn State Astrobiology Research Center.
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