Product Description
Providing an up-to-date synthesis of all knowledge relevant to the climate change issue, this book ranges from the basic science documenting the need for policy action to the technologies, economic instruments and political strategies that can be employed in response to climate change. Ethical and cultural issues constraining the societal response to climate change are also discussed. This book provides a handbook for those who want to understand and contribute to meeting this challenge. It covers a very wide range of disciplines - core biophysical sciences involved with climate change (geosciences, atmospheric sciences, ocean sciences, ecology/biology) as well as economics, political science, health sciences, institutions and governance, sociology, ethics and philosophy, and engineering. As such it will be invaluable for a wide range of researchers and professionals wanting a cutting-edge synthesis of climate change issues, and for advanced student courses on climate change. ... Read more

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Visually rich, up-to-date, and authoritative, The Atlas of Global Conservation is a premier resource for everyone concerned about the natural world. Drawing from the best data available, it is an unprecedented guide to the state of the planet and our most pressing resource and environmental issues. Top scientists at The Nature Conservancy, the leading conservation organization working around the world to protect ecologically important lands and water, have joined forces to create this extraordinary reference. It features 79 richly-detailed, fullcolor maps and other graphics paired with an informative, inviting discussion of major trends across the world's terrestrial, marine, and freshwater environments. Interspersed throughout, essays by noted international authorities point the way forward in confronting some of our greatest conservation challenges.
• The most comprehensive single volume on global environmental conservation and future sustainability
• Includes the latest data on environmental threats, such as climate change, water use, habitat protection, deforestation and overfishing
• Full-color maps and graphics are designed to facilitate sideby-side comparisons, empowering readers to draw their own conclusions
• Brings together information that has been widely dispersed across myriad publications and databases in a format thatinvites evaluation and application
• Supporting data is available on an accompanying website ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

What man has done to this planet
Mankind has had an affect on nature ever since we since we discovered farming, from damming of rivers to fertilizing crops. Then came the Industrial Revolution and the waste and pollution we have put into the air since then--the greatest changes we have made to this planet we call home. In //The Atlas of Global Conservation//, the Nature Conservancy and other groups, attempt to document the changes that have taken place, both good and bad, whether concentrations of species or endangered waterways.

Each page brings up a different map, a different way of looking at the world, interspersed with articles on how we have changed our planet and what people are doing to lessen their impact. The maps are readable and easy to understand. At the end is a section on how people are doing their part to help conserve nature. This is a different way of looking at the world and an informative read that we can all benefit from and use to help our planet.

Want to Save the Planet? First we need the facts. And, they're here!
Going green, creation care, saving the planet--the motives are powerful in millions of individuals and families around the world. But where do we start? Everybody's got at least one or two good ideas.

First, it's wise to start with the facts. What's needed in our sphere of influence? What's happening in regions close to home--and half way around the world? Where ARE those grasslands we're trying to preserve? Where ARE those forests that we need to protect?

The Nature Conservancy, founded in 1951 and focused on taking a science-based approach toward environmental issues, is the overall "author" of this lavish volume from University of California Press. It's new for the spring of 2010, so the global information in these 80 full-color maps is as up-to-date as possible.

Here are examples: Want to see the spots on Earth with the greatest surviving mammal diversity? They're here in easy-to-understand color. Where are the Earth's small but crucial "dots" of protected marine life? They're shown here. Where are freshwater invasive species a threat? You'll see global patterns.

Invest in this book, show it to friends, discuss it in your small group--even bring it to Bible study in your congregation to show where Creation care is most crucial right now. ... Read more

Product Description
An exciting account of revolutionary new discoveries for understanding the earth's climate, and their implications for future scientific research and global environmental policy. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

Ice Chronicles Overview
I liked this book! It is a balance between a personal history of involvement and the scientific results obtained. The book provides an overview of the Greenland ice core/climate project and results obtained that point to long time climate variation, the mechanisms involved, and geologically recent warming. Important chapter references are provided for a scientifically oriented reader who might wish to examine details of the research and findings in more technical papers. After documenting climate change, the author explores human contributions to global warming in relationship to those caused by natural earth-sun systems, and discusses policy choices that we might make in the face of the new evidence about the history of earth's climate.

A cool look at the overheated climate controversy
If you're interested in global warming and climate change, you're probably aware of how politicized the area has become, and how much hot air has been spewed by proponents and opponents of the idea that we humans are changing the climate, perhaps to a dangerous or catastrophic degree. In The Ice Chronicles, climatologist and arctic explorer Paul Mayewski and author Frank White bring cooler heads and cold, hard facts to the controversy.

The book, published in the fall of 2002, centers on the findings from the two-mile long ice core that Mayewski's team pulled from the center of the Greenland Ice Cap. This ice core, labeled GISP2, allowed scientists to track a wide range of climate variables in exquisite detail over the past 100,000 years. It produced many important findings that can help clarify the highly politicized climate controversy. The core reveals that Earth's climate is far from steady. Even without any contributions from manmade greenhouse gasses, ozone-depleting chemicals or particulates, regional and global conditions have swung from hot to cold and wet to dry many times, often with dramatic suddenness. Mayewski repeatedly makes the point that the climatologically calm, benign Holocene--the time period during which human civilization appeared and has developed--is a myth. The ten millennia or so since the end of the most recent ice age have been marked by two large global climate shifts, the Little Ice Age and the Medieval Warm Period, and many less drastic but still potent changes. He also presents intriguing evidence that some of these changes contributed to the downfall of several ancient civilizations, including the Mesopotamian Empire around 1200 BC, the Mayan Civilization around 900 AD, and the Norse colonies in Greenland around 1400 AD.

My only real criticism of the book is that it may present more of the nitty gritty history and findings of the GISP2 project than most readers want or need. Still, most of this is put into boxes which readers can dive into or skip as they choose.

While the research findings and their implications are fascinating, perhaps the most important contribution the authors make is their perspective. The data Mayewksi himself uncovered show that the climate is a complicated and sensitive system, pushed from regime to regime by a variety of natural forces. But Mayewski is equally clear that human activities, most notably the marked and well-documented increases in carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gasses, have joined the party, and must be considered in order to understand current conditions or predict future climate change. And he is clear that unless we take sensible steps to reduce our impacts on the system, we risk not just global warming and whatever changes that would bring, but increased climactic instability and unpredictability. To the authors' credit, they attempt to bring some calm into the climate debates by propounding ten realistic, commonsense principles. The reflect that, "No matter what we do, the climate will change." But they also admonish, "We should strive more for climate predictability than control," and "If we cannot have global control of climate policy, we must at least have global cooperation."

The Ice Chronicles is well worth reading, both for the hard-won scientific facts it presents and explains so clearly, and for the constructive, down-to-earth perspective it provides.

Robert Adler, author of Science Firsts: From the Creation of Science to the Science of Creation. (John Wiley & Sons, September 2002).

yesterday upon the stair.....
Primarily a history of an impressive project to analyse the layers of snow fall on the Greenland ice cap, the book suffers from lack of focus and from unfortunate efforts at being easily approachable and topical. It is strongest at revealing the influence of variation in earth's orbit on local Greenland (and nearby North American) climate, but even here the information is presented hurriedly and one comes away knowing little more of the various climaticaly significant orbital changes the data reveals.

At it's weakest point however, there is a sad attempt to relate the ice core data to global warming. This could be parodied as "there is no evidence of recent dramatic global warming in the ice core data, therefore global warming exists." To be kinder, the author feels "since I know global warming exists from other sources, the lack of data supporting global warming in my ice cores means this must be an entirely new sort of warming." There clearly is an easier explanation. ... Read more

Product Description
Individuals, international organizations and states are calling for the world to confront climate change. Efforts such as the Kyoto Protocol have produced intractable disputes and are deemed inadequate. This volume adopts two constructivist perspectives - norm-centred and discourse - to explore the social construction of climate change from a broad, theoretical level to particular cases. The contributors contend that climate change must be understood from the context of social settings, and that we ignore at our peril how power and knowledge structures are generated. They offer a greater understanding of why current efforts to mitigate climate change have failed and provide academics and policy makers with a new understanding of this important topic. ... Read more

Product Description
This book for the first time covers state-of-the-art researchin two domains which are largely complementary, but which have untilnow not made optimum use of their complementarity: remote sensingtechniques and climate models. The material presented in the bookcovers such diverse areas within satellite remote sensing techniquesas aerosol loading of the atmosphere, characterization of the landsurface (type and extent of vegetation, reflectivity of snow, land andvegetation), soil moisture, etc. Such parameters are importantdeterminants of the climate system and its evolution, and are oftenpoorly quantified in climate models; the advantage of remote sensingtechniques, which have a global coverage, therefore becomes obviousfor the climate modeling community.
The book is primarily aimed at advanced academic research, at PhD orpost-doctoral levels and beyond. ... Read more

Product Description
The Oxford Companion to Global Change is an up-to-date, comprehensive, interdisciplinary guide to the range of issues surrounding natural and human-induced changes in the Earth's environment. In one convenient volume, the Companion brings together current knowledge about the relations between technological, social, demographic, economic, and political factors as well as biological, chemical, and physical systems. It is an essential reference work for students, teachers, researchers, and other professionals seeking to understand any aspect of global change. ... Read more

Product Description
U.S.-Turkish relations, long a vital element of U.S. policy, have seriously deteriorated in recent years. However, the arrival of a new U.S. administration offers an opportunity to repair recent fissures. Priority should be given to harmonizing policy toward Iraq and the Middle East as well as Central Asia and the Caucasus. ... Read more

Product Description

Contested, multiparty elections are conventionally viewed as either an indicator of the start of democracy or a measure of its quality. In practice, the role that elections play in the transition from authoritarian rule is much more significant. Using as a starting point Guillermo O'Donnell and Phillipe C. Schmitter's 1986 classic, Transitions from Authoritarian Rule, and Robert Dahl's original formulation of democratization as the outcome of increasing the costs of repression while decreasing the costs of toleration, this volume subjects to critical empirical tests the thesis that repeated elections positively affect democratic rights and processes.

The first section uses global and quantitative regional studies based on new and unique data sets to present and rigorously evaluate the debate on the democratizing power of elections. The second section looks closely at specific electoral mechanisms and types of elections in Africa, post-Communist Europe and Eurasia, Latin America, the Middle East, and North Africa to uncover those that support the long-term institutionalization of a democratic transition. The concluding section develops and formalizes a theory of democratization by elections. Each chapter includes in-depth discussions of policy implications and a wealth of statistical information.

Featuring contributions by leading scholars of democracy, original research, and worldwide and country-specific data on elections and democracy, this collaborative exploration of the effect of elections on democratic transitions represents the cutting edge of comparative democratization studies.

Contributors: Jason Brownlee, Valerie J. Bunce, Larry Diamond, Axel Hadenius, Jonathan Hartlyn, Marc M. Howard, Staffan I. Lindberg, Jennifer L. McCoy, Bryon Moraski, Pippa Norris, Ellen Lust-Okar, Lise Rakner, Philip G. Roessler, Andreas Schedler, Jan Teorell, Nicolas van de Walle, Sharon L. Wolchik

Product Description
The international community is increasingly confronted with global environmental problems, which lead to distributional conflicts, unresolved equity issues and asymmetric distribution of the costs and benefits of environmental policy. The complexity of such problems requires the development of an international institutional framework, capable of coping with the long-run international aspects of global environmental change.

This book analyses some of the difficulties in the construction of such a framework and offers suggestions on how they might be overcome. The contributions in The Economics of Global Environmental Change address international trade, land-use change, biodiversity preservation, the management of water resources and the composition of water-related conflicts, global warming and strategic aspects of international environmental agreements.

This book provides an in-depth insight to the current state-of-the-art for both economists and non-economists interested in global environmental change. It will also be of great interest to those wanting an introduction to the economic perspective of an increasingly relevant environmental core problem, as well as to students and researchers in political science.

Contributors include: M. Cogoy, J. Eyckmans, M. Finus, E. Fraser, B. Friedl, B. Gebetsroither, M. Getzner, K. Hubacek, T. Kluge, S.A. Mason, A. Muller, K.W. Steininger, C. Van Beers ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Will prove to be of immense and timely interest
The latest edition to the Edward Elgar Publishing series 'New Horizons In Environmental Economics', "The Economics Of Global Environment Change" is co-edited by Mario Cogoy (Professor of international Economics, University of Trieste, Italy) and Karl W. Steininger (Professor of Economics, Wegener Center for Climate and Global Change, University of Graz, Austria). Benefitting from the contributions of acknowledged experts in their fields, this informed and informed compendium of information is organized into three main sections beginning with an introduction and overview of the subject of global climate change and its economic implications. Four major papers comprise the section on 'The Economics Dimensions of Global Environmental Change"; three contributions comprise the third section addresses issues related to 'International Cooperation in Global Environmental Change'. The contributors address the issues of distributions conflicts, unresolved equity issues, asymmetric distribution of the coasts and benefits of environmental policy, the d4evelopment of an international institutional framework, long-run international aspects of global environmental change; international trade, land-use change, biodiversity preservation, management of water resources and conflicts, as well as global warming and strategic aspects of international environmental agreements. An impressive and seminal body of work in compliance with the highest standards of research and scholarship making it an essential addition to academic, corporate, governmental, and environmental organization reference collections, "The Economics Of Global Environment Change" will prove to be of immense and timely interest to economists, environmentalists, academicians, and non-specialist general readers with an interest in the economic impact of global warming. ... Read more

Product Description
The Middle Holocene epoch (8,000 to 3,000 years ago) was a time of dramatic changes in the physical world and in human cultures. Across this span, climatic conditions changed rapidly, with cooling in the high to mid-latitudes and drying in the tropics. In many parts of the world, human groups became more complex, with early horticultural systems replaced by intensive agriculture and small-scale societies being replaced by larger, more hierarchial organizations. Climate Change and Cultural Dynamics explores the cause and effect relationship between climatic change and cultural transformations across the mid-Holocene (c. 4000 B.C.).

* Explores the role of climatic change on the development of society around the world
* Chapters detail diverse geographical regions
* Co-written by noted archaeologists and paleoclimatologists for non-specialists ... Read more

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This text focuses on the atmosphere and how it works as a global entity to maintain a given global climate or ozone shield and how it is influenced by human activity. A complete reference for students of environmental science and related fields, it introduces aspects of global change from a meteorological perspective. An accompanying guide to the Internet helps keep readers up to date on the latest information in the field. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Excellent technical introduction to global climate change
Whether you are entering a geophysical academic field or just interested in the process of global climate change and whether or not it is happeing, this book provides an excellent introduction to what is really going on in the atmosphere.
Covering not only global warming, but also long term climate change (ice ages), El Nino Southern Oscillation, the ozone hole, and changes in the carbon cycle, this book uses less than 150 pages to provide the reader a strong grasp of how the atmosphere might be changing.
What is missing from the book?Attention is focused only on the technical mechanisms of the role of the atmosphere in global climate change.The book does not address the role of human activites and hence is able to mostly maintain balance.Thus, it is a must read no matter which side of the global warming debate you stand on. ... Read more

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Environmental change is a key issue scientifically, politically and in the public mind. Global Change in the Holocene is a timely and wide-ranging reference addressing the changes which have occurred over the last 10,000 years in climate, sea level, ice coverage and all the major topics of global concern. A major focus is on the methods that can be used to reconstruct past change, including techniques such as radiocarbon dating, microfossil records, ice core analysis and tree-ring chronologies. This book will have a multidisciplinary appeal across subjects such as geography, the earth and environmental sciences, archaeology and geology. ... Read more

Product Description
This exciting compendium compiled from the pages of North America's leading green educator journal is packed with lesson plans, activities, experiments, and worksheets that teach about global warming. From calculating your school's CO2 emissions and Greenhouse experiments, to strategies for reducing school energy and supply consumption, Teaching About Climate Change provides the tools to get any classroom or community involved in making their school cool. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Great classroom resource
Nice book for the classroom teacher, applicable to a variety of grade levels.It's filled with positive actions that students can take - in & out of the classroom - to curb climate change.There's plenty of background information to make sense of it all, too. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (4)

de Mallac's Gandhi
Gandhi was a very complicated and brilliant man and an important teacher for the world today.De Mallac's little book is useful as a starting point in becoming acquainted with the Mahatma, but it suffers from being somewhat too short and from attempting to update Gandhi's approach to social change for the world of the 1990s.I am using this book in a class and I'm reading another short book about Gandhi on Kindle, Gandhi: A Very Short IntroductionThis second book strikes a better balance between brevity and presentation of a complex life than does de Mallac's.

Seven Steps To Global Change
Wow, I bought this book at a library booksale, and read it probably 1 year later. I was very interested in meditation, peaceful resolution and such. This book is amazing, so full of absoloute wisdom and radically true assesments. I'm a college student and I have been copying this book and giving it away at school functions. Everyone who has children should read this book to find out how the world will end up without a positive personality to lead us through.

Outstanding and Concise Summary of Gandhi's Strategies
This little book is a gem! It explains in concise, understandable language the seven key steps to making a positive contribution to the world.The beauty of the book, besides its simplicity and readability, is its practical suggestions for steps that we, as individuals, can take starting today! Focussing on: 1) selfless service; 2) right and fair labor; 3) nonviolence; 4) conciliation; 5) sharing in government; 6) re-education and 7) the sharing of resources, De Mallac skillfully maps out Gandhi's steps to global change.The book also contains a very practical action guide on what we can do immediately to make a difference in these seven areas, including suggestions such as volunteering for groups like the American Friends Service Committe (selfless service) and "not letting a single day go by without practicing some form of giving" (sharing of resources).The Book is filled with pearls of wisdom and resources. It also contains Suggested Readings, a Gandhi Chronology, Goals for Contemporary American Personal and Political Action, and a Declaration of Interdependence - a statement reflecting Gandian values. I'm surprised that this book is not more widely circulated or used as a college text on Gandhian values and nonviolent activism.It should be required reading for anyone seeking to make the world a better, more peaceful place to live.

Essential reading for a peaceful future
It is a small book but easily the single most important text I have ever read. A concise, clear depiction of the principles which motivated to Gandhi, and Dr. King like him, to commit their lives to peace.Unlike most books, De Mallac's appendix offers concrete ways in which to apply these principles and lists organziation devoted to non-violence. Every human should read it and integrate into their world view.NOW. ... Read more

Product Description
This IPCC Working Group II volume provides a completely up-to-date scientific assessment of the impacts of climate change, the vulnerability of natural and human environments, and the potential for response through adaptation. Written by the worlds leading experts, the IPCC volumes will again prove to be invaluable for researchers, students, and policymakers, and will form the standard reference works for policy decisions for government and industry worldwide. (Includes CD-ROM) ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Excellent Climate Change Resource - Although Technical
The second of three large volumes produced by the IPCC, the world's leading authority and source of information of unbiased climate change science.This second volume from Working Group II, as the title indicates, focuses on the impacts on human society and nature from climate change.The first volume lays out the science that has compelled scientists to take climate change seriously.This second volume is probably of interest to a smaller group of people, such as those who are interested in good background information to help develop policy or solutions to help assess and adapt to climate change.

The report goes out of its way to avoid politics and policy implications, in an attempt to be extremely unbiased.However, this rigid neutrality leads often to some very dull exposition and distillation of very boring studies.Nevertheless, the report is quite important, and I give it five stars for sheer comprehensiveness, if nothing else.One caveat:very technical, very dry, very slow reading.

The latter half of this review is an excerpt of the IPCC reports, from an article titled "Global warming: Stop worrying, start panicking?" by Hans Joachim Schellnhuber, as posted on the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences website. The following excerpt of the article sums up some of my feelings about the IPCC reports that Hans Schellnhuber put into words better than I could:

The scientific evidence about climate change comes in thousands of parcels, yet the monumental reports of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) are the guideposts for both experts and stakeholders. The IPCC format, perfected by the late Bert Bolin, is a painstaking self-interrogation process of the pertinent scientific community. In this process, virtually every stone in the cognitive landscape is turned and the findings, however mundane or ugly, are synthesized into encyclopedic accounts. Unfortunately, such an approach is inherently tuned for burying crucial insights under heaps of facts, figures, and error bars.

Also, by construction, the IPCC vessel tends to steer clear of value judgments that might be easily converted into "policy-prescriptive" statements. The downside of this well-meaning attitude is that the 2007 report does not, for instance, make a systematic attempt to characterize what dangerous anthropogenic interference (DAI) with the natural climate system is all about. Again, all of the relevant information is implicitly contained in the IPCC tomes, most notably in chapter 19 of the Working Group II report "Assessing key vulnerabilities and the risk from climate change". Yet even that chapter shies away from updating the "burning embers diagram" which provides a direct scientific way to gauge the political target of limiting global mean temperature rise to less than 2 degrees Celsius against avoided climate impacts.

Update February 2010:This is the IPCC report that has been in the news that "proves" to some people that the IPCC reports are full of mistakes and can't be trusted.I refer to an error on page 493 of this report (in the section on the Himalayas) that mistakenly stated "The likelihood of glaciers disappearing by 2035 is very high." Unfortunately, the author had used a World Wildlife Fund report which in turn had used a glaciologist's study that estimated that it was very likely Himalayan glaciers would disappear by the year 2350 (not 2035).This was a simple transcription error, but it definitely should have been caught before publication.As a result, certain industries have jumped on this mistake and called into question the credibility of the entire IPCC climate reports.Interestingly, IPCC's volume 1 Physical Science report of the same year contained a 45-page, perfectly valid and error-free chapter 4 on glaciers, snow and ice; and also several pages in chapter 10 on future glacier decline.So, if the author had just used the existing IPCC Volume 1 findings instead of using an improperly transcribed report, the error would not have been made.In no way does this slight error in any way negate the science behind global warming.Most journalists who covered this so-called story of "false science" that "proved" climate scientists were lying had never even seen this large volume before, let alone read a single word of it. Seriously, let's put this into perspective.One insignificant error in a 900-page dense, dense, report is not bad. ... Read more

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Examines the crucial issues facing society in the 1990s and how geography can contribute to their understanding and management. ... Read more

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Product Description

"The Sky's Not Falling: Why It's OK To Chill About Global Warming" is for parents sick of seeing their kids indoctrinated by has-been politicians and Hollywood stars. Unlike books written by would-be celebrities without any scientific or economics background, "The Sky's Not Falling" is everything a book about the environment written for kids should be: fact-filled, apolitical, fun and optimistic about the future of our magnificent, ever-changing planet.

Customer Reviews (49)

A "Hot Failure"
This book is terrible and utterly false! Global warming will affect everyone in a negative way.There is no way we can "just live with it" without all suffering serious consequences.You are trying to brainwash the minds of young children.This is what will really happen. 1. The world will heat up. 2. Because of this icebergs will melt, flooding coastal towns.3. Because of this polar bears, seals, and penguins will die.I don't know how you got this book published but I certainly won't be reading it or recommending it to anyone I know!

A book for people who live in bubbles
I read this book because i wanted to hear a different opinion about global warming.After i finished reading it i realized that it was just another case of a human saying ''We didn`t do it,so we don`t have to fix it.'' Although the author was right,global warming is a natural process, she forgets to mention that humans are making the process go much faster.I was also not surprised when i heard that the author was funded by exxon and is not actually a climatolagist. I would not recomend this book to anyone because it supports inaction in a time when it is far better to be safe than sorry.

Buy it
Go right on and buy it. Now buy every other book you can find that is designed to discuss politics and current issues with children. Then sit them down and have them watch the news.

How do you feel when you think or talk about political issues? Frustrated? Angry? Indignant? Hopeless?

Congratulations, you've just dumped your adult miseries onto your child.

just food for thought
I was taking a look at this book, and then the reviews. Like one I read on another site, I wonder if most of the negative reviewers even read the books. I skimmed through it and one of the biggest points I noticed. Was not to truly attack global warming. But how people deal with environmental issues. And she is right. We, as a collective, look to the government to solve the problem. She is against this. And I can tell you one reason why she is right.

Rewind about 100 years ago. Something we take very much for granted now was just being invented; something that would truly change the world, something that was believed to be so physically impossible, that is wasn't even given a patent for several years. Even though the government was funding one engineer to invent the very same machine.

With virtually unlimited resources, this well know engineer, worked for sometime to invent this machine, and at his grand test... Failed, miserably. After that, is was thought to be impossible...yet... two relatively young, bicycle repairmen of all things, went to a little known place in north Carolina... and did the impossible. They flew... no government funding. No army of engineers and work me, Just two men with a dream, and determination.

What this book is suggesting, is we need to teach our children, how to learn. How you look and see things for them selves. And to use their own minds creatively. And that is how problems will be solved, the global warming basis is purely and easy way of doing this. Since all we hear is, with some exaggeration, "the sky is falling" but when you look deep into the science. Much of what is said. Doesn't work, and the rest. Is open for interpretation. Thinking for your self, Is the only solution.

And life's a bowl of (pesticide-ridden) cherries
While it's always important to examine all sides of an issue, overall this book scares the daylights out of me. It encourages children to ignore the obvious signs of our planet's distress. And THEY, even more than their parents will be the ones to suffer for the neglect.Even GWB is beginning to talk about the consequences of such ignorance. Don't be swayed by this false science that, as it turns out, was paid for by Exxon, who had this book published. ... Read more

Product Description
Global Warming: Understanding the Forecast is a comprehensive introduction to all aspects of global warming. Written in an accessible style, this important book examines the processes of climate change and climate stability, from the distant past to the distant future.

Examining the greenhouse effect, the carbon cycle, and what the future may hold for global climate, this text draws on a wide range of disciplines, and summarizes not only scientific evidence, but also economic and policy issues, related to global warming. A companion web site at (http://understandingtheforecast.org) provides access to interactive computer models of the physics and chemistry behind the global warming forecast, which can be used to support suggested student projects included at the end of each chapter. Solutions and artwork from the book are available to instructors at www.blackwellpublishing.com/archer.

Global Warming: Understanding the Forecast provides an essential introduction to this vital issue for both students and general readers, with or without a science background. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (7)

Excellent Primer
Based on a general undergrad course taught by author, this modest book is a very nice introduction to climate science and global warming.Following the arguments requires only a high school level knowledge of chemistry and algebra (knowledge that seems to be lacking in the Oklahoma Congressional delegation).Archer covers the basic features of the earth's energy budget, relevant physics and geochemistry, simplified modeling, and evidence for anthropogenic warming.The exposition is excellent with good use of figures, simple equations, and a direct writing style.As befits a textbook-style book, each chapter concludes with some exercises, useful references, and links to useful data and models.Given Archer's skill as a pedagogue, I would like to see some more discussion of economic models and mitigation strategies, which are really now the major issues.

First rate introduction to the science behind global warming
Brief, lucid, comprehensive, and objective. Covers an amazing amount of material in a short space. Brevity, however, is occasionally a flaw. For many of the topics, I found myself wishing there was more detail. Although everything is fully explained, readers having some basic science knowledge will find this book easier to follow. There is one serious flaw, there is a large number of typographical errors (some figures are badly scrambled).and a few of the illustrations are badly flawed. Find the list errata in the author's website.

Needs some repair.
You will need to visit understandingtheforecast.org right away, to download the errata. There are 32 errors listed in the errata, as of 17 December 2008.Four figures need to be replaced, though one is an update to reflect the 2007 IPCC report.Unfortunately, the replacement figures are not the same size as those in the book.You cannot merely paste them over; you will need to tape them as a flap, so that you can still read the caption.You will likely find more typos in the book than those listed in the errata.Depending on how valuable your time is, you may effectively double the price of the book.

In addition to the typos, there are some serious errors in the book.The author is a geochemist.The opening chapter on the greenhouse effect, "The layer model", is incorrect for anything but epsilon=1 (epsilon being the emissivity).A term for radiation from the surface is missing entirely from the last equation on page 25.That term would have a factor of (1-epsilon).Fortunately, the solutions listed in Table 3.1 are for epsilon=1, but that is not stated explicitly in the text.Furthermore, there is confusion about the use of the same symbol, epsilon, for both the emissivity of the atmosphereand the surface.You can repair Chapter 3 (or ignore it) by referringto the Wikipedia for "Idealized greenhouse model".

A minor error appears on 157,in regards to the storm surge associated with a hurricane. We read "These are caused by the low atmospheric pressure inside a hurricane lifting up the sea surface".An elementary hydrostatic calculation reveals the a 100 millibar pressure deficit would lift the ocean surface by merely one meter.Storm surges associated with hurricanes are cause by the wind. See the Wikipedia for "Storm Surge".

On page 89: "If we were to precipitate the CO2 into a snowfall of dry ice ... 7cm of snow on the ground." The correct answer is 4 mm. In Figure 9.2: the label should be Gton C/TW yr.

Some of the presentation of the greenhouse effect is outstanding.Chapter 4, and particularly the figures of the spectra at the top of the atmosphere, give a wonderful graphic presentation of radiative forcing and its logarithmic dependence on carbon dioxide concentration. The equilibrium warming that would result from the radiative forcing is again shown with recourse to a spectra.These spectra for the warmed atmosphere provide a excellent starting point for a discussion of the feedbacks (assuming the discussants understand the spectra), which make the forecast uncertain.

The book really shines in the presentation of the chemistry, the carbon cycle and energy policy.

With a little repair by the reader, the book is turned into a five star book.

Basic mechanisms demystified
There are some annoying typographical errors in this book, otherwise I would give
it five stars --- visit the book's website for a list of errata.

Plenty of books tell you about global warming, but this book really does
dymystify the nuts and bolts of how climate scientists know what they
say they know. The book says it is based on a course for non-scientists and
it shows --- the explanations are clearly honed from experience of explaining
scientific concepts to non-scientists. It is always difficult for scientists
in any field to convey the depth of knowledge which has accumulated over
a long period of time to people coming from other disciplines, but this book
does a pretty good job.

Excellent undergrad-level description of the climate
The climate books by Flannery, Kolbert, etc. tend to be anecdotal, with qualitative descriptions of how the climate works.While I think those books are valuable, what's been missing is a more technical description of the physics of the climate system that's accessible to people who aren't physics majors.This book is it.It serves as a bridge between the fully qualitative books and highly technical textbooks requiring calculus.There is some math in it, so math-phobes might approach it with caution.I think the book would be especially useful to scientists or grad students who want to know something about the climate problem, but don't want to invest a lot of time in reading dense textbooks or journal articles.I'm going to have my incoming grad students who did not major in atmospheric sciences read it in order to educate themselves quickly about the climate. ... Read more