Global Weirdness
Severe Storms, Deadly Heat Waves, Relentless Drought, Rising Seas and the Weather of the Future
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- € 10,99
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- € 10,99
Publisher Description
Sixty easty-to-read essays that enlarge our understanding of how climate change affects our daily lives, and arms us with the incontrovertible facts we need to make informed decisions about the future of the planet, and of humankind.
“A breath of fresh air: just the facts, efficient and easy to understand.” —Scientific American
Global Weirdness summarizes everything we know about the science of climate change, explains what is likely to happen to the climate in the future, and lays out, in practical terms, what we can do to avoid further shifts. Climate Central tackles basic questions such as:
-Is climate ever “normal”?
-Why and how do fossil-fuel burning and other human practices produce greenhouse gases?
-What natural forces have caused climate change in the past?
-What risks does climate change pose for human health?
-What accounts for the diminishment of mountain glaciers and small ice caps around the world since 1850?
-What are the economic costs and benefits of reducing carbon emissions?
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Climate Central Inc., a nonprofit, nonpartisan science and journalism organization, wrote this guide in response to Thomas Friedman's request in a 2010 New York Times column for the climate-science community to "convene its top experts" to provide a simple, unimpeachably peer-reviewed 50-page report "summarizing everything we already know about climate change in language that a sixth-grader could understand." Except for exceeding the requested length, the book admirably fulfills Friedman's request, and even at over 200 pages, it's an easily digestible read, with most chapters less than three pages long. Divided into four sections ("What the Science Says," "What's Actually Happening," "What's Likely to Happen in the Future," and "Can We Avoid the Risks of Climate Change?"), the book covers all the basics, including descriptions of Earth's previous climates and how hard it is for different cultures to adjust to changes; the difference between weather and climate; the greenhouse effect; and how climate scientists' predictions are coming true. Despite their inevitable inaccuracies, the book argues, climate models become increasingly reliable as they are refined. The book's simple language and strong documentation make it just right for younger readers or complete novices, but considering the current contentious political climate and the book's scary predictions, its calm tone feels odd.
